Mandate Manufacturer Disposal?

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Imagine if all tech manufacturers were mandated to dispose of products they manufactured?

Cell phones, TV, microwaves and other tech gadgets could all be sent back to the orioginal manufacturer (at their expense) for disposal or reconditioning instead of sitting on our shelves because there are no places that will accept them for recycling.

Would they continue to make devices that can't be serviced? Cell phones with fixed, non-replaceable batteries for instance.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The manufacturers? Why not those doing the actual selling? Also, makes no difference who you try to get to do it they'll just cover the cost by raising the price on the goods.

 

[dullard]

I don't think you'll get much of your desired effect by making them dispose of it. I think what you actually are after is making them maintain it.

Think of a highway. Right now they go through a bidding process to select the absolute cheapest construction method with the absolute cheapest contractors. But then a few years down the line, it could be potholed, buckled, or unusable. So we go through another bidding process to repair or repave it over and over again with the cheapest possible solution. The end result is a bunch of bad roads, a bunch of construction, and a bunch of spending. Wouldn't it be better to have the contractor maintain the highway for 50 years after they build it? Then they have the incentive to make a highway that lasts 50 years with the least overall long-term cost. They'd charge more upfront (lets say put some excess into a trust to fund the maintenance regardless of the construction company financial stability). But the long-term cost would be the cheapest for tax payers and we wouldn't have to deal with constant bad roads and constant construction.

If phone manufacturers replaced broken screens and replaced aging batteries at the 2 year mark, think about how much incentive they would have to include stronger glass, easier battery replacement, and less battery destroying charging methods.

 

[Captante]

I'd be in favor of requiring companies to make devices repairable and to make parts available for a certain period of time after sales cease.... long-term I suspect cost would go down that way too.

The problem IMO is that you're talking about a complete change in philosophy for most companies .... it won't come easy that's for sure!

 

[manly]

Imagine if all tech manufacturers were mandated to dispose of products they manufactured?

Cell phones, TV, microwaves and other tech gadgets could all be sent back to the orioginal manufacturer (at their expense) for disposal or reconditioning instead of sitting on our shelves because there are no places that will accept them for recycling.

Would they continue to make devices that can't be serviced? Cell phones with fixed, non-replaceable batteries for instance.

I don't think the designs have to completely change necessarily. iPhones are ridiculously integrated, but you can get a battery replacement conveniently. Other repairs are somewhat possible as well (just not by the consumer). The biggest problem currently is the designs all require gluing the front and back together, which makes repair difficult even for professionals.

The e-waste problem is pretty bad, but arguably single use plastics are even dumber. We really need to move away from the status quo where almost everything is made cheaply to be disposable.

The manufacturers? Why not those doing the actual selling? Also, makes no difference who you try to get to do it they'll just cover the cost by raising the price on the goods.

Judging from just Apple alone, the lion's share of profits is collected by the manufacturers. Perhaps you're suggesting that the retailers could help with collection of e-waste, and I agree. But the only pockets deep enough to pay for this would be the manufacturers. Best Buy is pretty good at collecting some e-waste for recycling, but I imagine they aren't thrilled about the costs incurred.

 

[nakedfrog]

The e-waste problem is pretty bad, but arguably single use plastics are even dumber. We really need to move away from the status quo where almost everything is made cheaply to be disposable.

Very much so. Now we're at a point where we "recycle" it by putting it on a boat and sending it to another country where they just burn it and deposit it into the air anyway

 

[shortylickens]

We'd all be paying double or triple what we are now. OR, they would find some way to cut corners in order to reduce costs, and we'd have the same waste problem we do now, or worse.

 

[nakedfrog]

We'd all be paying double or triple what we are now. OR, they would find some way to cut corners in order to reduce costs, and we'd have the same waste problem we do now, or worse.

Pay now or pay later, with interest. And maybe cancer!

 

[lxskllr]

Stuff probably should cost more. It's crazy you can buy a fully functional smart phone for the price a walkman cost in the 80s, and the batteries don't even leak!

 

[nakedfrog]

Stuff probably should cost more. It's crazy you can buy a fully functional smart phone for the price a walkman cost in the 80s, and the batteries don't even leak!

That Walkman would probably still work today, might need some new belts. The smart phone in 35 years? Eeeeh...

 

[lxskllr]

That Walkman would probably still work today, might need some new belts. The smart phone in 35 years? Eeeeh...

Well, the new non replaceable batteries kinda fuck the smartphones, but with a replaceable battery, you could still do a lot with an old phone, even if it wasn't using it for telephony, or using web browsers. If nothing else, it'll still play music as well as the day it rolled off the line.

 

[nakedfrog]

Well, the new non replaceable batteries kinda fuck the smartphones, but with a replaceable battery, you could still do a lot with an old phone, even if it wasn't using it for telephony, or using web browsers. If nothing else, it'll still play music as well as the day it rolled off the line.

Well, I suppose I can say my first smartphone (an HTC Eris from 2009) still works. But my Razr HD and LG G3 both only made it 3 years before they had to be replaced due to issues (power button on the Razr, possibly a ribbon cable failure in the G3, not sure). But my LG G6 would probably be fine if I could replace the battery.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What we need is better right to repair laws, and products should be built with repairability in mind. Products should also be reasonably recyclable. It might be much to ask manufacturers to handle disposal but at very least they should be forced to ensure that they are easy enough to dispose/recycle.

 

[deadlyapp]

People are talking about maintaining things like laptops, cell phones, etc - why would you even want to when the design cycle on those is less than a few years? You could even blame software for making them obsolete rather than the hardware.

Also - I would hate to subsidize people who treat their equipment like shit just so we all have long term warranties / maintenance on our devices/equipment/etc.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

People are talking about maintaining things like laptops, cell phones, etc -

I'm talking about returning stuff to manufacturers who might be better able to recycle/reuse materials or dispose of them in a controlled manner instead of end users filling cabinets, closets or landfills, or tossing them out the window along the road.

 

[nakedfrog]

People are talking about maintaining things like laptops, cell phones, etc - why would you even want to when the design cycle on those is less than a few years? You could even blame software for making them obsolete rather than the hardware.

Also - I would hate to subsidize people who treat their equipment like shit just so we all have long term warranties / maintenance on our devices/equipment/etc.

Because we generate too much trash needlessly? My ten year old laptop can still do all the things it used to do, other than run on battery (unless I buy a replacement battery/rebuild the battery with new cells), and a 12 year old netbook is currently consuming 14W to act as my NAS.

 

[deadlyapp]

I'm talking about returning stuff to manufacturers who might be better able to recycle/reuse materials or dispose of them in a controlled manner instead of end users filling cabinets, closets or landfills, or tossing them out the window along the road.

I don't think it's a bad idea, but more than likely they'll just turn it over to a recycler also, and it may end up in a landfill somewhere else in the world anyways. Capitalism always wins.

Because we generate too much trash needlessly? My ten year old laptop can still do all the things it used to do, other than run on battery (unless I buy a replacement battery/rebuild the battery with new cells), and a 12 year old netbook is currently consuming 14W to act as my NAS.

You (and most of this forum) are not typical users. Most people have no need for multiple laptops, so once their current one is deemed "obsolete" because it won't run the newest game, or acts too slow, or etc etc - it's going to go to scrap. Same with TVs, cars, phones, etc. Not saying it's right

 

[nakedfrog]

You (and most of this forum) are not typical users. Most people have no need for multiple laptops, so once their current one is deemed "obsolete" because it won't run the newest game, or acts too slow, or etc etc - it's going to go to scrap. Same with TVs, cars, phones, etc. Not saying it's right

I mean, that's true, but you asked why people would want to maintain them, so I answered
I have a 37" 1080P LCD TV that I got free on FB after I moved here that I'm keeping because it has the full range of inputs on it, component, composite, HDMI, coax, s-video, VGA... and I'd originally just gone there for the loveseat they were giving away Then they said "hey, do you want this TV too?"

 

[manly]

People are talking about maintaining things like laptops, cell phones, etc - why would you even want to when the design cycle on those is less than a few years? You could even blame software for making them obsolete rather than the hardware.

Also - I would hate to subsidize people who treat their equipment like shit just so we all have long term warranties / maintenance on our devices/equipment/etc.

Check your calendar, it's 2022. There hasn't been a whole of innovation in the PC space for a long time, and typical users wouldn't notice much difference between a good 2016 laptop running Windows 10 and a brand new one.

Apple is supporting its smartphones for approx. 6 years, and in recent iPhoneOS releases, the UX on the oldest phones isn't being wrecked by installing the newest OS. Obviously you won't get the same experience on an iPhone 7 as you would on an iPhone 13 Pro, but that's to be expected. But what's happening is that SoCs are becoming mature (just like PC CPUs a number of years ago), and the pace of innovation has slowed dramatically.

So the main problem with keeping older devices is that the batteries wear down (or poor update support by the Android OEMs). If you're suggesting laptops and mobile devices become obsolete in "less than a few years," that's absurd.