Take, make and dispose isn't funny
According to Worldmeters.info there have been over 108,783,000 (and growing) computers sold this year alone.
While this may sound impressive, one has to consider what happens to old devices when we decide to take a new model. The impact of throwing away old devices versus reusing them has consequences that go beyond reducing e-waste in landfills. It can in fact create a sustainable model that impacts individuals, organizations and communities everywhere.
The circular economy is the opposite of the current linear economic model that has been so far existing. A circular economic model “is restorative or regenerative by intention and design. It replaces the end-of-life concept with restoration, it shifts towards the use of renewable energy, it eliminates the use of toxic chemicals which impair reuse and return to the biosphere, and it aims for the elimination of waste”, according to the World Economic Forum.
We are always exiting to see that slowly, more countries think of creating circular business models. It is not easy but on the long term it is worth-full. The "new" recycled products, being computers, mobile phones, TVs, or heavier electronics such washing machines and cooking robots are given clear warranty and a restored life.
One of the new companies we met some months ago during Female Founders events and enjoyed their pitch is www.refurbed.de. Engaged in the circular economy model, they are an online refurbished market place that are giving a second life to those mobiles, laptops, tablets (and in the future many more) at a much affordable price.
In the end, we all love what's new, new technologies, new shapes and colors, new features. But we need to look at the end of their user life: most of our products are made to last a certain length of time and die after, without any possibility for us, as users, to repair or exchange any parts, even for minor defects. That is the concept of "take, make and dispose", for which there is no future sustainability.
