How Planned And Perceived Obsolescence Invade Our Lives

However, there have been attempts to stop this. The United States is the only industrialized country who does not have an international treaty which makes it illegal to export or traffic toxic e-waste. The idea is to stop dumping e-waste on the world’s poorest, poverty struck nations and to work towards safer waste management within the country. The European Union provides a model for industrial regulation, hoping that the burden of the e-waste would be put on manufacturers instead of the consumers. On the other hand, a more fitting choice would be to begin manufacturing the devices with an end of life plan. As of right now cell phones are designed to make disassembly difficult. Instead, ideas have been proposed to sell the devices with prearranged disposal service or to allow users to exchange their old phone for a new one instead of throwing them away improperly. With the idea in mind that individuals play a role in environmental sustainability, this provides incentive that people would be more interested in trading in their old phones for new ones while saving the earth at the same

As Americans, we are privileged to many luxuries. Not every country allows its citizens to start their own businesses or provides the education it takes to run a company. Our free market system allows for many different goods and services to compete fairly for people's dollars. The freedom given to us by our forefathers grants the opportunity to choose between these goods and services. Put all these realities together and it's no wonder we have so many different forms of products. A relatively recent phenomenon that has subsequently emerged in our society is the prevalence of disposable products. Because of their convenience, efficiency, and relatively

It has become the new “norm” with people to replace their electronics because their devices become out of date or they feel like they have to have the latest thing. In the article “Our E-Waste Problem Is Ridiculous, And Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping,” by Christina Bonnington, the author discusses how people buy new electronics every year when they come out and the old ones get abandoned. She also talks about how many people aren’t properly recycling their old devices and how some electronics can be impossible to recycle the right way. She also talks

People must change from a culture of pure consumerism to one of sustained consumerism where consideration is given to the products lifetime and disposal.

I found the Story of Stuff Project, very interesting. It is an important project, considering that it is inviting people to become change makers. In the video, one can observe that we are victims of consumerism. As a consequence, we buy things and dispose them irresponsibly. However, we also have to consider that repairs shops are scarce, because the manufacturers one us to buy their new products. For instance, not long ago, I bought LED (light Emitting Diode) and CFL bulbs (Compact Florescent Lights), for a considerable increment in price. I got them, because my Edison workers assured me that they were costly, but have a minimum of five years life. Some of them did not even last five months. Therefore, while the techno logy exists, companies do not use to our benefit, considering that they will lose profits, if the make excellent product with long life periods.

The American people can be easily swayed into buying whatever they are told, and throwing away anything it replaces. This fatal flaw in society is proved by Vance Packard in his book “The Waste Makers”. He tells how corporations tricked the American public into living a wasteful life where they use something once and throw it away. A concept that had previously been unconceivable, but now was the way of living. He also proves how people had succumbed to buying things for convenience alone and nothing more. These companies did anything in their power to trick the consumer and improve their profit margins. Sometimes to their own dismay they would over sell their products and hurt themselves. Then immediately trick the public into believing another lie. Packard’s findings on the wastefulness of the American economy is irrefutable and unequivocal.

In 1949 Harvey J Earl of General Motors pioneered ‘Planned Obsolescence’. He realised that by adding fashionable products when new trends come in older products would be discarded in favour of the latest fashion.

During the class presentation of the article Talking Trash, my fellow classmates presented their facts and opinions. For their powerpoint presentation, the two presenters expressed that when it comes to the topic of recycling, most of us would agree that it is good and necessary. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is the question of time. Whereas some are convinced that recycling is worth the extra spent seconds, the majority maintain their laziness. The presenters had personally admitted to this statement being true for themselves. Furthermore, while they did admit as much, many, themselves included, often take for granted recyclable products and tend to toss them into the garbage bin rather than where they belong in order to be recycled.

Since 1955, after Life magazine named it so, the United States of America has been called “The Throwaway Society.” In the United States, society is based on the principal of convenience. In every aspect of life, Americans seek to maximize their output while minimizing their input. Americans buy fast food so that they can eat without the burden of grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning up. Americans get their clothes dry cleaned so that they do not have to worry about the burden of washing, drying, and hanging up their own clothes. And Americans want everything in a neat, ready-to-use package to avoid the burden of preparing it themselves. But these millions of disposable bags, disposable bottles, and disposable cups add up to be a whole

Consumer attitudes towards disposal are currently mostly divided between sending items to landfill or to the charity shop, these methods appear to have been chosen mostly out of convenience, (Birtwistle and Moore 2007) therefore the next stage to alter consumer behaviours would be to ensure consumers dispose in a socially responsible way. Research has shown that even when consumers dispose in a sustainable way,

In the United States we live in a disposable society. We throw out plastic products after one use and dispose of gently used clothing and electronics. These products can take hundreds of years to decompose in a landfill or can affect

Manufacture of products has made our air, water and land full of toxins. Our cars give out carbon dioxide emissions, some people still toss their laptops, computers, tables and phone in the landfalls instead of recycling them. According to the EPA, currently about 60% of discarded electronics end up in the trash. While many states are passing laws to prevent e-waste from going into their landfills and incinerators, it’s still legal to trash electronics in many states. This is a problem because the hazardous chemicals in them could leach out of landfills into groundwater and streams (“EPA,” n.d., para3). Those plastic bags we get at the market, Americans use 380 billion plastic bags a year and they do not break down Anderson,

In the Industrial Revolution, or World War II, they “scraped” and recycled old items as much as they could because they needed to help the war effort. Now, we don’t save as much as we used to. Many times we just throw them away and that is not helping the world. Getting rid of old and useless electronics is a problem that will not go away unless we do something about it (www.getinthescrap.org).

A huge issue with mass consumerism is the amount of waste it creates. This increasing demand for consumables is creating unnecessary pollution and byproducts. With the latest advances in technology being produced at such an alarming rate, products eventually get cast off and people are pressured to keep up with the supply of new, more luxurious items. Much of our waste problem is to be accounted for by the intentional flimsiness and unrepair-ability of the labor-saving devices and gad­gets that we have become addicted to (Berry, 1997). Unfortunately for us, this leads to bigger and bigger piles of trash. Additionally, our lack of recycling is astonishing and

Consumers also know that usefulness can fade, and the pleasure that came from new purchases can be fleeting. Apart from the usual solution to this problem, which is to buy more new items, it’s worth thinking that getting rid of items that are no longer needed or wanted can feel as good as getting it. Freecycle.org has made a name for themselves by doing just that. The concept has worked so well and because of word of mouth, many people want to become more “eco-friendly”, everyone cares about the environment and they want to do their part. One of the reasons they’ve been so successful, is because everybody wants to do their part to help the environment.