transparent orange with white words “PLANNED ONSOLESCENCE”background imitate is iPhone cords and a set of grey ear buds wrapped around a couple broken black smart phones. The photo is of the phones hanging by the cords but flipped so it looks like they are upright on the cords.

WRW: Planned Obsolescence

Wednesday for #WasteReductionWeek is E-Waste and I think it’s an absolute vacuous conversation to point at recycling when the elephant in the room is planned obsolescence. 

Planned obsolescence is the act of building and designing into a product a limited useful life or even purposefully weak design. Vomit. 

Cell phones are the perfect example, build to make it through a two year contract and then new contract = new phone. Rather insidious if you ask me and I imagine head nods of collusion across those industries. 

So, YES, recycle your damn electronic waste! *Internet search – electronic waste recycling winnipeg* 

YES, buy less tech and pick greener options when you can. 

But, know that if planned obsolescence continues to thrive it doesn’t matter what we do on the individual level. 

So what to do, fix your phones until they crumble, write an email if that’s your thing, choose secondhand AS much as you can, and never landfill your e-waste. 

Love you bunches. 


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