Loyal Consumers, Disloyal Industries
You keep the device for a long time, keep it clean, until it breaks – but then...
One very useful way to reduce the consumption of raw materials, is to keep using the devices for as long as possible – and repair them, if possible, when something minor inside breaks.
It is just not very common.
I know people who buy new microwave ovens and similar every year or every second year, simply because they want a different color or a different placement in the kitchen, that requires a different size or shape. So they throw away the “old” one, which is still almost new, and which definitely could have been used for a lot longer.
I also know people who keep such devices for as long as they last, but when anything breaks, or even just when the chrome color on a plastic button gets a little worn to look at, they replace the device.
There is a certain satisfaction in replacing a device with a slightly wrong shape or color, or beginning wear on some parts. People like to consume, feel some kind of victory when carrying home the prey that they managed to shoot at their shopping hunt (with their credit card). And it’s easy: go to an electronics superstore and buy any of the models they have. Take it home, put it where the old one was, and throw away the old one.
With everything in a microwave oven designed to be used for thousands of hours, and with the average household using it only very rarely, most of these devices won’t be used up. They could still live a useful life for many more years, if only their owners would accept it.
But what happens if you want such a device to live longer?
I tried that not long ago. Several years earlier, I had bought a new microwave oven with built-in mini oven and steam function, and several other amazing features. It was expensive, but it seemed to fulfill all the needs and wishes I could have for such a device, and it even looked very solid. So, all that considered, I was willing to pay the high price.
For me, as for so many others, this device in reality lived a somewhat quiet life. It turned out that the steam function was designed by idiots, in that it couldn’t be used independently of the hot air function, which would blow away the steam immediately. Also, the mini oven function was very limited, as it wasn’t strong enough to maintain a correct temperature for such as baking, meaning that the bread or cookies simply never would get done in that oven.
But the microwave part was great! It was without a rotating disc, meaning that the full space inside the oven could be used for placing food, and there were ribs and plates, like a normal oven. It could even be used with metal pans, which is usually a no-go with microwave ovens.
Quite an amazing device for the features that actually worked. It also had turning knobs that could be pushed into the front plate, for easy cleaning, and the electronics was designed so cleverly, that it had two different stand-by modes: one with the typical clock showing the time, and one without. Using the latter would consume an astonishingly low 0.008W only!
I used it for cooking my oatmeal porridge in the morning and other small tasks, plus for an occasional larger cooking task. But on very many days, it wasn’t used at all, as it often goes with microwave ovens.
After several years, it began making a noise when working. Such a noise that probably came from a worn or broken bearing on a rotating part, perhaps the fan. I started looking for any shop or repair shop that could potentially repair the oven, but there were none. They all wanted to sell me a new one, not repair the old one. I then looked for spare parts, thinking that I perhaps could repair it myself, but there were none to have. Apparently, the model was too old, so the manufacturer didn’t make it anymore, and didn’t market parts for it either.
I considered opening the device and take a look, because, if it was only a bearing, then maybe I could find something like it somewhere, and then replace it myself. But then I had second thoughts: what if something else would break soon? Say, the magnetron (microwave generator) or some other moving parts. Would I be able to get such a part then? And it was likely that something more would break sooner or later, as these things and their parts don’t last forever. I think the manual even mentioned a number of years such a magnetron could be expected to survive, and we had passed that already.
So, I gave up. At first, I continued using the oven for another couple of years, but the noise got worse, and I started getting nervous that it would break completely, maybe even burst into fire or something else that I didn’t want to experience. With a heavy heart, I therefore began looking for a new one. I couldn’t get a similar model, as they were no longer produced. Not a new version of it, either. I had to go a different way and buy separate microwave and mini ovens. And so it ended: one of each bought, the old device taken out of use, heading for the recycling station.
I had been willing to continue using the old oven virtually forever, if only I could trust that any defects could be repaired. The manufacturer could have sold me spare parts, even at too high prices for what they realistically would be worth (which is what such companies usually do, according to my experience, if they sell any parts at all), but they were not interested.
The new devices may or may not last for a long time, but I can probably expect a similar situation when anything goes wrong with them some day. Nobody willing to repair them, and no spare parts to have.
It would be easier for me to just, routinely, throw away and replace these devices every second year, like some other people do it. But what about the environment?
One of my new devices is apparently from Australia, the other from the USA. I live in Sweden, so the complete devices have been transported quite a distance for me to get them. Before that, all the parts and raw materials have travelled around the globe, probably several times, when being sent from one production facility to the next. Lots of resources have been spent on producing these things, and there are still lots to spend on getting them out of this world, for the materials to be recycled – if that is even possible, and if anyone will do it.
I am just one of billions of people on Earth, who every few years replace a device of some kind, like this. My guess is that each of us, on average, throw away something and buy new at least every second year – one device or the other – leading to billions of devices scrapped every year.
What if most of these devices could have been made to last longer? Say, twice as long? It would require spare parts to be available, and some people willing to do the repairs, but this way, we could save half of the devices each year from being scrapped, which would correspond to a huge amount of saved resources.
But, as loyal I am to the manufacturer, wanting to keep using their product, just as disloyal they are to me, as the consumer, because it is more feasible for them to sell me a new product and let me scrap the old one.
Nobody seems to care about the wasted resources, or even all the trouble there is in replacing and scrapping. It’s all about sales and profit.