Gram UK’s latest webinar tackled the topical issue of the EU Eco Design Directive and its relevance following the referendum and was held last week.

Joined by Mark Kendall, director at Inox Equip and vice chairman at CEDA, Richard Smith, heavy equipment category controller at Bunzl Lockhart and Peter Farrell, sales director at C&C Catering; Glenn Roberts, managing director of Hoshizaki Gram UK navigated the conversation through the subject.

Given that refrigeration is responsible for in excess of 30 per cent of a kitchen’s energy consumption, it is little wonder that the refrigeration category is the first to be scrutinised by legislators. Launched on 1 July, all refrigeration units must now adhere to a rigorous testing process and clearly label their energy efficiency rating against new Minimum Energy Performance standards (MEPs) set by the EU.

The webinar tackled several key issues: What is the EU Ecodesign Directive? Who does is affect? And who is aware of its launch? As well as, looking at what role the EU Ecodesign Directive plays following the referendum vote.

The webinar panel agreed that there seems to be a fundamental lack of awareness on the EU Ecodesign Directive and how it impacts the whole supply chain, from manufacturer through to the end user. Peter Farrell brought the discussion back to Gram’s first webinar, which examined the need for education in the industry to help work towards a more sustainable future. He suggested that the directive was currently a grey area, with manufacturers largely in the know through necessity, while end users relied on kitchen houses, consultants, designers and distributors to provide legislative compliant equipment.

Mark Kendall continued the debate by acknowledging that consultants, distributors and designers had a responsibility to understand the EU Ecodesign Directive enabling them to properly inform their clients. Richard Smith picked up on this point by adding distributors and designers play a major role in conveying industry relevant messages. He continued that manufacturers had worked hard to make information on the EU Ecodesign Directive readily available to the supply chain with still more to come over the next six to eight weeks and it now needs to be used correctly to ensure the information gets the cut through required.

Glenn agreed that preparations for the EU Eco design directive had hugely impacted refrigeration manufacturers with a considerable amount of time and financial resources invested. He said that Hoshizaki Gram has worked hard to be completely transparent with its labelling information and offer some clarity on the new directive.

When quizzed on the EU Ecodesign Directive and whether it should be seen as a positive thing for the industry, the panel agreed that it should be largely accepted as a positive step towards safe guarding a sustainable future for foodservice. Peter Farrell sees the new legislation as the optimum way of providing an approved like for like comparison, allowing buyers to confidently purchase the most energy efficient equipment for their budget.

On the subject as to whether the EU Eco Design Directive is here to stay, the panel absolutely agreed that it was.

Five key points to emerge from the webinar were: more needs to be done to raise awareness of the EU Ecodesign Directive; there needs to be a bigger focus on education within the industry to help operators understand the benefits of being energy efficient; the benefits of considering the overall life cycle cost over the initial purchase price need to become the mindset of operators; it is likely that the EU Ecodesign Directive will be seen not only as a benchmark for the category but for heavy equipment as a whole; and the EU Eco Design Directive MEPs are here to stay.

To view the webinar visit www.thegogreendebate.co.uk