My wife and I are in the process of cleaning out my father-in-law's deceased estate. We're doing our best to recycle wherever possible and ensure things don't just end up dumped in landfill but it's been extremely difficult to find appropriate and accessible recycling services.
Just last week we were prepared to deliver a ute full of chemicals for safe disposal when we were told at the last minute the facility had burnt down and chemical collection probably won't be online again for another six months. For a city the size of Sydney, this is an absolute farce.
Simple and accessible e-waste recycling too should be run by local governments year-round, not one weekend every blue moon. And don't get me started on the utter sham that is plastics "recycling".
Sure, there are private operators scattered here and there but, frankly, I don't trust a lot of them to do the right thing and it shouldn't be this onerous to responsibly recycle and dispose of our rubbish and waste.
With the quality and longevity of consumer goods and clothing in rapid decline it feels like this problem is only getting worse by the year. I don't have kids and don't intend to have any but it genuinely sickens me the way we are trashing this planet for future generations in the interest of consumption and short-term convenience. Does anyone else feel this way or am I missing the bigger picture here?
@tenpercent: I agree with the bulk of your message, but could make a few corrections:
I'm not sure this is grounded in fact. QLD has had 1 million hectares of deforestation for the cattle industry in the last 5 years alone, and 2 million hectares in the 5 years before that. This is neither a halt nor a turnaround.
I agree with you about greed driving unethical corporate culture, but I would also state that surviving as a business has always been difficult. Thousands of businesses go bankrupt every year. Without continuous profit, businesses eventually fail because the economy around them is continually growing. I would argue it's more the structure of our economy that is at fault rather than the decisions of individual businesses which are trying to survive and thrive in a culture where they will be simply replaced by another (that uses even more cost-saving strategies) when they fail.
We keep voting in governments that are almost solely focused on increasing the wealth of voting citizens, which is why not much changes in the economy and society at a structural level. Partly we ourselves are to blame. We are greedy.
I can't really comment on this because I just haven't experienced it. I've only bought 1 fridge (still going strong after 4 years) in my life, the last one was a hand-me-down which lasted 2 decades and was still going strong when I sold it. My washing machine is also still going strong after 4 years. My Delonghi coffee machine has so far lasted 4 years of daily use. Samsung TV now at 5 years with daily use. The one before that lasted 7 years. My iMac is 14 years old and refuses to die. With t-shirts, I find it is mainly the washing machine that wears them out, especially if your washing machine has a rough spin cycle.
I would also point out that up until about the 1970s or 1980s, goods like fridges, TVs and washing machines were so expensive (in comparison with wages) that it did not always make sense to buy a new one when they failed. They were often repaired instead of replaced. This is why you may have the idea that in the old days, white goods were more reliable. Nowadays, with products being so cheap in comparison with our wages, there is now a culture of replacing products with new ones when they fail, rather than repairing them.