VHe wears a wrecked vacuum cleaner and a torn-off refrigerator door on his chest, the porthole of a washing machine in front of his navel, and a few discarded mobile phones are grouped where other people have their ears. The whole guy who is marching determinedly to the entrance to Messe Berlin consists of electronic waste from head to toe.
It bears the programmatic name of value giant and wants to signal that the consumer electronics and household appliance sectors involved have discovered their green conscience. The industrial organization GFU, as the organizer of the fair, made this clear time and again, sustainability is the theme of the fair.
Relevant market analyzes show that the time is ripe for this topic, King Customer sees himself as an ecologically conscious being, is even willing to spend more money in order to move up to a two-level higher efficiency class with a new purchase or to achieve better repairability, but, absolutely expected, also depending on income and other social parameters. There are ideas that postulate an increased repair and recycling rate at least as a side effect. Blue Movement, a Bosch spin-off, offers the supply of household appliances as a rental service and organizes delivery, installation, repair, replacement, collection and refurbishment as an all-round carefree package.
That won’t necessarily save the planet
The company Wertgarantie insures technical devices and, in the event of damage, pays for repairs that the customer might otherwise have avoided in favor of purchasing a new one. That won’t necessarily save the planet; rather, if it is possible to implement better and better what environmental consultant Helmut Spoo called for in his contribution, namely the transition from the linear economy to the circular economy, including the industrial recovery of raw materials.
Of course, growing eco-awareness brings conflicting goals in sectors that always promise greater comfort and more enjoyment of life with their products. TVs with maxi screens, 8k resolution and HDR contrast still end up in the red area of the energy label that the EU introduced in March last year with their power consumption.
Five-digit cost
The flagship products among household appliances, such as washing machines or refrigerators, are much better at reconciling comfort and lower consumption values. This is shown by the innovations from exhibitors such as Bosch, Miele and Siemens. What BSH came up with the brand name Solitaire for is more in line with luxury than ecological conscience: a sink that as such disappears from view. A decorative plate allows the water to run through fine slits, lowering it creates the classic sink, the faucet dispenses the wet element with or without carbon dioxide and at all conceivable temperatures. Five-digit cost. Siemens is launching a coffee machine called the EQ 900, which uses “bean intelligence” to devise highly individual treatments for each raw material that is delivered.
As you can see, it would be too bad to regard the marching scrap comrades as an allegorical warning sign for a crisis-ridden IFA development. Admittedly, the organizers of the trade fair got themselves into trouble through poor communication and a few intrigues regarding a possible change of location. And the corona pandemic has already hit the trade fair industry badly.
But the key data of the IFA 2022 known so far do not look bad. 80 percent of the exhibition space is rented, almost all major brands are represented, apart from one and a half exceptions. This year, Philips is not presenting all companies that offer products of this brand, and Sony is reducing its commitment to a presence for specialist retailers. So there won’t be a large audience hall this time.
Good news at the end: All accompanying trade fair formats, such as the future department IFA Next or the congress IFA Plus Summit, are starting again. Not least because of this: a visit to the IFA will be worthwhile, you can look forward to new ideas and fine products. From September 2nd to 6th at the radio tower.