Disposable society

[Tak]

It has come to a point when a lot of the time it is cheaper to get a new one that repair an old one on many electrical items leading to vast amounts of electronics in landfills.

There is now the WEEE (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6250080.stm) Directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment).

This means
Manufacturers have to fund recycling schemes, while retailers must offer take-back services to customers.

The only thing is, in FAQ bit (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6253250.stm) the it says
Households are under no obligation to recycle their e-waste as far as the WEEE Directive is concerned. However, they will "discouraged" from throwing away items that contain potentially harmful substances.

Whilst many of us will probably use the recycling facilities, how many other people will? There seems to be no benefit for a consumer to do this, and with the mentality many people have today I can see a lot of people not bothering purely for that very reason.

[Garp]

We have literally hundreds upon hundreds of old servers stacked up the front of one of our Data Centres at work. All of these are awaiting WEEE recycling. The problem has always been that arranging recycling is a pain in the neck, and also costs companies significant cash. There had to be one of two things occur, either subsidies from the government or legislation passed to enforce it. The latter has occurred, and slowly but surely the cost of recycling is coming down. There are now more and more specialist companies out there that deal with the disposal and recycling of goods on behalf of companies. Clara has taken that route, using a single company to handle our recycling needs as it is just too complicated and too time intensive to arrange it on the kind of scale we're doing it (not huge amounts, but still regularly enough).

The same thing goes with the home. I have no idea how I would even set about trying to get, say, a washing machine recycled, or a fridge? Who would I contact, how much would it set me back? A tip local to my parents set up a white goods recycling place where you could dump your white goods and they'd sort it all out for a small fee. You still had to get your goods there though!

[Garp]

problem with the take back service is that it rarely has the fact that you've requested and paid for that on the sheet, which means they won't take it.

Thanks Tesco :angry:

You know, for some reason that just doesn't surprise me about Tesco.. we had the delivery driver swearing blind he'd given us everything on the delivery sheet, despite the fact we'd not had any of the stuff to go in the freezer. Rich just point blank refused to sign the delivery sheet until we got it all, despite all the protests from the delivery driver. Mysteriously 4 delivery crates of goods appeared from the back of his Van not long afterwards..

[Nutcase]

Where I used to work has been operating to WEEE standards for a few years - taking in redundant IT stuff, and either stripping and recycling the components and base materials, or reselling to new users, mostly eastern europe. Because a lot of the kit is resold, and it's done on a brokerage basis, the original owners get a fair bit of money back to offset the costs of recycling.

A lot of big companies use them, including banks etc. and several of the equipment manufacturers use them as well for their WEEE obligations.

[Dymetrie]

Spotted this (http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=55400&in_page_id=34) in the metro (not Daz) this morning (well, read it over someone's shoulder :p)..

Many civic amenity sites will have new facilities for handling Weee, and a few retailers will even take back Weee themselves, either in-store or when they deliver new kit. The UK has initially been set a target of collecting 4kg of Weee from each of us every year – that's about a quarter of our total techno waste.

There are worries that due to the new WEEE directive then consumer goods may increase in price, considering how much more we pay for some goods than other countries then I find that disgusting. I still remember when the PS3 was being touted as due to be released at US$400 and £400, if we end up paying a premium due to WEEE policy then it won't be worth buying new things anymore :/

[killerkebab]

If we end up paying a premium due to WEEE policy then it won't be worth buying new things anymore :/I am starting to wonder if that is such a bad thing. Companies may end up being forced to develop machines and components built to last in the wake of huge disposal costs - though you could easily argue that this is a very utopian view.

[Fayshun]

Notice how Currys are advertising the fact they *have* to take your old fridge away as an unique selling point in their TV ads?

[William]

I've been looking at cars recently, and most of the cars I see on the road are 05 plates. So I reckon the mean average age of a cars on the road is probably about 7-8 years, which is ridiculous because there is absolutely nothing wrong with a 15 year old car, it's all A to B.

Oh yeah, the main part of my arguement, look at the resources needed in making a car, its just pure insane in the amount of man hours, raw materials, planning, electricity. After 10 years they get chucked and everyone wants a new one all the time. If you ask me, its totalitarian as the bastard-child of Hitler and Pinochet but car companies should be forced to make cars that are built like breeze blocks and buyers of cars should have to sign a contract to keep and run that car for 15-20 years after it is built and probably have to pay some sort of disposal tax if they want to get rid of it whilst it still runs.

[Nutcase]

Apart from my work van, which I don't get a say on, the newest vehicle I have is 1989. The 1983, then 1978. My paren'ts newest car is 1971, and the other one 1963!

We make 'em last ;D

17 new engines and 5 new bodies but it's the same car...