[LINK] Reuse, recycle, renew, regenerate

[Kim Holburn]

Isn't the aphorism: "reduce, reuse, recycle".  The way I remember it  
"recycle" is the last resort.

Where I am at the moment there are road side clothes stalls selling  
clothes like jeans and jackets for about AUS$3.  Real clothes,  
probably made in China.  Some people wear them and throw them out get  
new ones.  How can this be good?

Everything now is being made to be disposed of, but it's not just  
that, it's made in such a way that it can't be easily repaired.  It's  
just not designed ever to be repaired.  Perhaps this can be reversed  
but I don't see how at the moment.  Even if manufacturing moves to  
small automated universal assembly units, the manufacturing processes  
are so sophisticated that repair becomes very difficult.  I grew up  
in a time when you could fix things.  I used to love taking things  
apart and fixing them - well I still like taking things apart ;-)   
Who fixes a broken mobile phone now?  You just get a new one.  If you  
insist, they replace it.  Perhaps the only solution would be  
legislation to say force manufacturers to make appliances repairable  
and to take them back if they break, but that would be difficult in a  
global market with say cheap Chinese or Indian goods flooding in.

I had an old washing machine that I got about twenty five years ago.   
It kept on going for a very long time.  When I pulled it apart to fix  
it occasionally, it had this enormous gear box with levers and gears  
and belts and timers and stuff, all mechanical.  It weighed an  
enormous amount, a lot of steel in there.   My latest washing  
machine, about 5 years old was really only a bowl, a motor, a pump, a  
couple of pipes and electric valves, a bunch of sensors and a  
computer.  It is very light, I can lift it easily.  It is very, very  
much simpler mechanically and the design is capable of being made to  
last a lot longer.

Kim

On 2007/Apr/28, at 2:22 PM, Ivan Trundle wrote:
> In response to the parallel thread discussing recycling phones etc,  
> here's part of what I'm trying to highlight:
>
> http://www.business.uts.edu.au/cacom/articles/profiles/bower2.html
>
> Whilst this initiative encourages people to re-use and not simply  
> recycle, we still have the inherent problem of early disposal of  
> material possessions.
>
> But it goes deeper than that: a conversation with a retail outlet  
> manager only today highlights the other part of the problem: he  
> described how new washing machines are built to last less than 5  
> years these days, and replacement parts are almost impossible to  
> get for many leading brands, simply because it is cheaper to ditch  
> them.
>
> So on the one hand we have dissatisfied consumers who feel better  
> by buying new 'stuff' (computers, phones, washing machines,  
> whatever...), product designers who know that building things to  
> last too long is folly since the manufacturer wants to sell more,  
> more often, and retailers who are more than willing to sell more,  
> more often yet tell their customers that things are not built to  
> last (so perhaps that extended warranty is a good idea).
>
> All in all, we (as consumers) need to demand less of our products,  
> yet more of our product manufacturers.
>
> Anyone with an interest in this might want to read an incredible  
> story about the floor-covering company, Interface Carpets. They are  
> on the right track, in every sense. And what an inspiration in the  
> art of re-use, and making less of a footprint on the Earth.
>
> iT
>
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--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961