It has been an interesting summer at home and at the office. We have had a fair share of mechanical breakdown. Among the biggies have been my laptop and our washing machine. First came the laptop. While I could have sent it out, I found out that it was likely the motherboard that fried and would likely cost me up to $500 to repair. At the same time, I managed to buy a newer machine, with much more power and memory for just under $450. Granted it was a floor model, but who cares about that anyhow? Smartly, I have been backing up my old laptop on a regular basis, so it worked out fine on the data side. But here I sit with an old laptop. It is need of repair, but how can I justify the expense, when it becomes more obsolete with every passing day. I have these fantasies of building a creative art piece suing it and other LED screens from other tech stuff of mine that has died, but let’s face it, it will likely never happen.
With the rise in our business around social media marketing and web design, I had been in need of a new phone. I bought a great phone that I am in love with, but this kind of consumption generates a lot of e waste. I generally update every couple of years, so this time I bought a brand new release in the hopes that I would not have to upgrade again in 2 years. But most consumers are on a regular 1-2 year upgrade cycle, and that is a lot of phones ending up in the waste stream. They can be recycled, but many are not. And e-waste is becoming a big issue, as many of the components of computers and cell phones are precious or semi precious metals that are not a renewable resource. Moreover, the heavy metals in some of these parts will leach into the groundwater when placed in some landfills-where it can contaminate groundwater and make its way to streams, oceans, etc. Technology has a price tag that we rarely think about-disposal.
I bought a front loading washer a few years ago. Our old one came with the house, but was likely purchased in the 70′s or early 80′s. It held up well and worked until it died completely from massive systems failure. Since the dryer was on its last legs as well, I bought a new set-Energy Star compliant and watched a huge reduction in water consumption and energy use of the following couple of years. Now it is acting up. I am in a similar position as the computer, in that I bought a new, but retired model, scratch and dent set for a song. It has worked well, but repair costs are so high that it will likely end up costing more to repair than the machine did itself. My first attempt at self repair (thanks to Google searches and forums) was unsuccessful. I will make another attempt, but hate the idea of spending a fortune to repair a machine for what I would spend for a new model that might be even more efficient than mine. Still, it is a lot of metal, a lot of rubber, a lot of labor that went into making this machine, and I feel like it has not lived its full life potential.
Throwing out anything that has not lived up to its potential seems somehow like eating veal or buying eggs that are not cage free. Everything that we buy has an embodied energy that cannot be replaced. It takes energy to harvest material, whether it is mined metals or the grown cotton of your shirt. It takes energy to turn those raw materials into parts or spin that cotton into threads. It takes energy to transport the raw goods to the factories where more energy is spent to turn it into the final product. That final product uses more energy to be transported to a store, where a retailer spend energy to display and sell it. By the time it gets into your home, it may have made it enough miles to circle the globe and used uncounted amounts of coal fired electricity and petroleum products. Everything you buy should be used and last, or it can just be counted as one more way we are wasting energy.
We live in a VERY disposable society. It is cheaper to replace than to repair in many instances. We build things not to last, but to be cheap-a move that allows more people to throw away more stuff and produce more trash. At least most companies are now on board with recycling or refurbishing your old appliances. Or there are plenty of places that can make use of things that need to be repaired. We produce machines so rapidly and so cheaply, that it becomes nearly impossible to make a living repairing machines and make a living wage. I repaired a television once and it cost me $200. When it broke down again, I had to give up-it was 10 years old and a new television of a similar size was less than $300. You can do the math.
It used to be that you bought an appliance and it was yours for life. Televisions and stereos were supposed to be owned so long, they were designed to be pieces of furniture. Though filled with toxic chemicals and coolants that sometimes had to be refilled, refrigerators made in the fifties often still work today-albeit inefficiently. Same with cars-a well maintained car from the 50′s and 60′s could run for several hundred thousand miles. It would be repaired and dents pulled, and metal painted and re chromed. Many of todays cars have replaced large amounts of metal with fiberglass and plastics. One accident and a car could easily be totaled. When I was a teen, several of my friends owned cars that had been totaled and brought back to life-not likely to be seen in many modern models.
Before you are so eager to buy that new appliance, or techno gadget, remember to consider how much use you can still get out of it.
