Stop buying new stuff, says government advisor

kabayiri

BACKFRMTHEEDGE wrote: »

We never bother to repair anything, it's usually a waste of money.

Take white goods, they usually last averagely 7 years - by the time they break there are usually better, greener and more economical models on the market that will save you more money in the long run.

Old computers don't have enough memory...

Old phones don't do anything...

Honestly, can't think of anything worth repairing...we'll always just replace rather than chase good money after bad. Works for us.

And the counter to that. I kept a piece of hifi which was 30 years old constantly up to date. I sold it recently for *more* money than I paid for it 30 years ago, and it performed flawlessly and still does.

Of course, it was British made and quality.

There are British turntables designed in the 50s and 60s which are in such demand now they fetch extreme prices, four figures is not uncommon.

There is always a different way. A company could make a lucrative business out of service and repair. A company like Quad used to pride itself on stocking parts for every amplifier it has ever made, and it's been around for decades.

We will soon be charged *more* for chucking something away than for buying it if we continue consuming landfill sites.

zagubov

kabayiri wrote: »

Here's a great example of our consumption culture.

Microsoft XP support will be stopped this year. There are still hundreds of thousands , if not millions of PCs happily running as an administration or office machine. Some companies will be forced to dump the machine and upgrade to something like Windows 7.

Hey, but in a free market, one should be able to pay a separate company to pay for specific Microsoft XP support right? Nope! There is no way Microsoft will release any code base under a public support license.

I can't see a rapid retreat from the consumption culture anytime soon.

I'm still running my PowerPC mac from way back when, Still runs dropbox in Tiger. The Office 2004's better than the Office 2008 it can also run (actually Word 5.1 was better than both!). Got all my music on it. Would like to run it for longer but can't stream telly on it (well it can but painfully, and it used to be excellent).

Hate hate hate upgrading as so many good old programmes stop running and nobody warns you.

lostinrates

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Interesting view. I happen to think that generally speaking, most things are far more reliable now. Cars are a prime example. When you bought any car in 1970, you knew it would not last the decade due to rust alone, let alone 99 replacement parts that were necessary so often. Same with televisions. Always a valve blowing here, or the screen 'wearing out'....!

Hmm.

I've had two or from the seventies, and a lorry in my adult lifetime (I'm in my thirties, so my vehicles were older than me). The reason one of the LR is n't on its wheels is because my DH had a rollover in it three years ago, we'd bought it a year before.:rotfl:

We have a friend who has some god forsaken car he considered Iconic from the seventies (1978) which he drives to gigs all around the UK and he maintains himself.


In some other countries one sees things from the seventies that have been well maintains and in working order......so......I'm not sure this is quite true of old things, though I accept it is of new stuff.

Loughton_Monkey

N1AK wrote: »

I can't imagine you're remotely interested, but we tend to list similar items on freeCycle rather than dump them......

Thanks.

I've searched for this and "think" I've joined a local team. But I have seldom seen such an amateur/difficult website to use. Not very user friendly to say the least. Still won't let me offer anything yet. Seems my membership is "pending".

Loughton_Monkey

lostinrates wrote: »

Hmm.

I've had two or from the seventies, and a lorry in my adult lifetime.

I had a company car. Vauxhall Viva. 18 months old. Bulkhead behind the accelerator/brake pedals totally rusted through. Foot down on the brake and a huge panel of rusted metal came off and dragged on the ground.....

Then there was a friend's Datsun. About 4 years old. Had mats on the floor in front of the two rear seats. Lift up either one and you could see the road underneath.

Fiats and Lancias were a complete joke then. Rusted away within a coule of years I recall....

Graham_Devon

kabayiri wrote: »

Here's a great example of our consumption culture.

Microsoft XP support will be stopped this year. There are still hundreds of thousands , if not millions of PCs happily running as an administration or office machine. Some companies will be forced to dump the machine and upgrade to something like Windows 7.

Hey, but in a free market, one should be able to pay a separate company to pay for specific Microsoft XP support right? Nope! There is no way Microsoft will release any code base under a public support license.

I can't see a rapid retreat from the consumption culture anytime soon.

The worst thing MS did in this case, IMO, was to stop IE updates after IE8 on XP, forcing many peoples hand. Of course, you can run firefox, but lots of custom stuff is built for IE.

cepheus

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Interesting piece this one.

The governments energy department senior advisor has suggested we should make more of an effort to repair stuff when it goes wrong, instead of simply buying new.

This would reduce carbon emissions, energy usage and create a new "repair sector" worth £1bn to the economy.

Reducing waste would also save british business £17bn a year in waste costs.

However, his biggest "enemy" as it were, it just that, our economy, which is based on continually buying and throwing away.


It's a compelling argument. Go back a few decades and indeed, you had the TV repair man who'd come to your house in his van etc. There used to be electronics repair shops etc etc. The price of buying new was often more costly than repairing.

However, our economy has changed and become far more reliant on consumption. Indeed, someone speaking about the motor industry the other day stated that the new car sales are excellent as you are locking in consumers to the 4 year cycle.

So could our economy now cope with less consumption, but an increase in repairs?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10557236/Stop-buying-new-appliances-and-cars-and-repair-them-instead-Government-adviser-says.html

Yes this is an important subject. Why waste materials and work hard to earn more to buy new stuff when you don't need new stuff anyway? We fall into the classic 'mind hole' of contemporary economics of consumption and GNP for the sake of it rather than improving the quality of life.

BTW The link with the forum title 'debate house prices and the economy' is very tenuous. Is it an excuse for another discussion time thread, or is this one more troll free, barring the obvious offenders?

prowla

kabayiri wrote: »

Here's a great example of our consumption culture.

Microsoft XP support will be stopped this year. There are still hundreds of thousands , if not millions of PCs happily running as an administration or office machine. Some companies will be forced to dump the machine and upgrade to something like Windows 7.

Hey, but in a free market, one should be able to pay a separate company to pay for specific Microsoft XP support right? Nope! There is no way Microsoft will release any code base under a public support license.

I can't see a rapid retreat from the consumption culture anytime soon.

Nobody is being forced to dump XP though; it's a lifestyle choice to move to a newer release (I don't say upgrade, because the latest release of Windows is a backward step).

And further, in the context of money saving, you can move to a free OS if you choose.

prowla

kabayiri wrote: »

And the counter to that. I kept a piece of hifi which was 30 years old constantly up to date. I sold it recently for *more* money than I paid for it 30 years ago, and it performed flawlessly and still does.

Of course, it was British made and quality.

There are British turntables designed in the 50s and 60s which are in such demand now they fetch extreme prices, four figures is not uncommon.

There is always a different way. A company could make a lucrative business out of service and repair. A company like Quad used to pride itself on stocking parts for every amplifier it has ever made, and it's been around for decades.

We will soon be charged *more* for chucking something away than for buying it if we continue consuming landfill sites.

I've still got my 90s (and 80s) British hi-fi, and I've no immediate plans to update, though perhaps the current streaming products would be a step forward. (I've almost reached the highest branch on the olive tree, but they've just gone silly and announced a £100k+ amplifier.)

prowla

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Thanks.

I've searched for this and "think" I've joined a local team. But I have seldom seen such an amateur/difficult website to use. Not very user friendly to say the least. Still won't let me offer anything yet. Seems my membership is "pending".

This week I've given away some computer CPUs left over from upgrades, and a suitcase of old computer CDs.

I'm just about to head out and pick up a sleeping bag and a quilt.