This article engages the issue of Waste Management which is surely one of the top global challenges in the 21st century. The practice of Recycle is not only a matter of hierarchy but also of application. An aluminum foil packaging for food cannot, after use, be repaired or reused. Recycling such aluminum foil is an ideal alternative to waste dump. It can be recycled forever which makes such Recycling integral to Circular Economy with zero waste. The practice of Repair must be seen in the context of modern Manufacturing. Automation in Manufacturing has crashed down unit cost of production. Repair continues to be largely manual. With rising Standards of Living, even unskilled manual labour in present times is costlier than a graduate engineer a decade ago or a technical specialist 2 decades ago. 2 decades ago it was feasible to economically change the worn-out soles of a pair of shoes by a cobbler & gain a fresh lease of life. In present times, the cost of a cobbler changing the soles is almost the same as buying a new pair of shoes. Manual Repair of shoes is so expensive that the profession of cobblers has seen a steep drop in practitioners. We need to see 21st century Waste Management through the lens of 21st century Economics & Society.
You are right . Everything cannot be repaired, reused or refurbished. Some have necessarily to be recycled .Very relevant observations. I liked your final punch line. 21st century waste management has to be seen thro lens of 21st century economics & society !
The economics of skilled labour is a valid point. This means we have to work innovatively . The repair business as part of the circular economy can be huge in the coming years and in a sense it is going back to our original way of working .
Some thoughts here ...
- make DIY doable and possible with active online support. Design products to suit this.
- Generate repair & maintenance as a competence area .So far, this has been neglected and and everybody does not get into it e.g engineers prefer design or engineering.
- Develop network of repair professionals and setups so they become accessible .
Quite frequently , if we need to repair something we dont know where to get it done and end up sending an appliance or material to trash or to the scrap dealer .. The latter is preferable.
True. DIY has developed in Western countries largely for getting products as unassembled kits at low cost. Your point of developing DIY as widely known & easy-to-use Repair Kits is the way forward.
This article engages the issue of Waste Management which is surely one of the top global challenges in the 21st century. The practice of Recycle is not only a matter of hierarchy but also of application. An aluminum foil packaging for food cannot, after use, be repaired or reused. Recycling such aluminum foil is an ideal alternative to waste dump. It can be recycled forever which makes such Recycling integral to Circular Economy with zero waste. The practice of Repair must be seen in the context of modern Manufacturing. Automation in Manufacturing has crashed down unit cost of production. Repair continues to be largely manual. With rising Standards of Living, even unskilled manual labour in present times is costlier than a graduate engineer a decade ago or a technical specialist 2 decades ago. 2 decades ago it was feasible to economically change the worn-out soles of a pair of shoes by a cobbler & gain a fresh lease of life. In present times, the cost of a cobbler changing the soles is almost the same as buying a new pair of shoes. Manual Repair of shoes is so expensive that the profession of cobblers has seen a steep drop in practitioners. We need to see 21st century Waste Management through the lens of 21st century Economics & Society.
You are right . Everything cannot be repaired, reused or refurbished. Some have necessarily to be recycled .Very relevant observations. I liked your final punch line. 21st century waste management has to be seen thro lens of 21st century economics & society !
The economics of skilled labour is a valid point. This means we have to work innovatively . The repair business as part of the circular economy can be huge in the coming years and in a sense it is going back to our original way of working .
Some thoughts here ...
- make DIY doable and possible with active online support. Design products to suit this.
- Generate repair & maintenance as a competence area .So far, this has been neglected and and everybody does not get into it e.g engineers prefer design or engineering.
- Develop network of repair professionals and setups so they become accessible .
Quite frequently , if we need to repair something we dont know where to get it done and end up sending an appliance or material to trash or to the scrap dealer .. The latter is preferable.
True. DIY has developed in Western countries largely for getting products as unassembled kits at low cost. Your point of developing DIY as widely known & easy-to-use Repair Kits is the way forward.