The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is calling for a scrappage scheme to be introduced similar to the current cash for old cars scheme.

The BRC said that by introducing the new scheme a message would be sent out to households that by switching to low emission generating products, fuel bills could be cut. As with the current car scrappage scheme consumers would receive a discount on a new appliance that is much more energy efficient by trading in their old appliances.

A modern fridge uses just half the energy of an older model from the 1990’s, over its entire lifetime it would easily pay for itself in saved fuel bills. Consumers are put off upgrading to a newer model because of the up front costs, a fridge scrappage scheme would help solve this problem.

The BRC also asked for VAT to be removed from energy efficient appliances, this would cost the government just under £510 Million in lost VAT receipts but would lead to CO2 emissions being cut by a massive 1.3 million tonnes every year.

The car scrappage scheme which gives car buyers a £2000 discount on a new model has proved extremely successful with orders hitting just under 155,000 since it was introduced.