Waste not want not

I GREW up in a family of handymen. My father was an electrical engineer by profession. He was also a foreman, tin miner and bicycle shop proprietor before that. Coming from a poor family, he had to work his way up. And having experienced hardship, he was prudent with money. To him, nothing was to be discarded if it could be repaired.

He tinkered with them when he was not working. I saw him bringing back to life electric kettles, automatic rice cookers and ovens. For larger appliances that required specialised tools and parts like televisions and refrigerators, he had a list of regular repairmen to fix them.

My mother was equally as resourceful, having gone through tough times during the Japanese occupation in World War Two. She was adept with the sewing machine. She made her own clothes, my pyjamas, sofa covers, curtains, pillow cases and patchwork blankets.

The blankets she gave away to friends and relatives who needed one. She mended clothes so expertly that it was hard to tell where the torn spots were. She even built a chicken coop all by herself to rear poultry, which she slaughtered and cooked during festive seasons.

My parents’ frugality ensured the longevity of appliances such as table fans, electric iron and transistor radios. If they broke down, my father repaired them. Regrettably, I didn’t inherit even one bit of my parents’ skills and thriftiness.

I was curious as a kid. I used to disassemble toys and appliances, and subsequently destroyed them beyond repair, much to my parents’ consternation. Fortunately, my mother’s electric iron and kettle have survived to this day, which I treasure dearly.

But we live in a throwaway society now. Appliances and clothes are cheaper to be replaced than repaired. As technology progresses, newer and more feature-rich appliances have taken over our homes and offices.

Bulky CRT televisions are replaced by slim LED televisions. Video cassette recorders and video compact disc players are superseded by DVD players. Likewise, we swap our smartphones for newer models every couple of years.

I have never given much thought to what happens to all those old computers, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines and even clothes I discarded over the years. Surely they have to be dumped somewhere after they have outlived their useful lifespan.

It was only in recent days my attention to this matter was jolted by an article on Greenpeace and iFixit castigating smartphone companies over the culture of producing devices that are discarded rather than repairable.

Greenpeace and iFixit found only two out of 13 models of smartphone reviewed had easily replaceable batteries. This meant that consumer have to replace the device when the battery life declines. In a campaign to promote the reduction of ewaste, Greenpeace is pushing for repairable and long lasting electronics.

According to the Department of Environment, electrical and electronic waste that comes from household, commercial, institutional and other sources that use appliances similar to that from households are known as household e-waste. Such e-waste is yet to be specifically regulated under current laws. Improper recycling and disposal of these items pose high risk of pollution and health hazards.

Household e-waste in Malaysia can only be collected by registered or authorised agents. They include local authorities, concessionaire companies, charitable organisations and retailers. The e-waste is then sent to accredited facilities that are properly equipped to recycle, treat or dispose of toxic materials in a proper manner. Currently, Malaysia is only looking at processing six types of household e-waste, namely televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, personal computers, and smartphones.

However, most times, these appliances are usually collected by used newspaper dealers and scavengers. They take what they can easily salvage and discard the rest. Improper disposable of these items means they will ultimately end up in landfills where they will leach toxic materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic into the soil and surrounding environment, and cause a host of negative health issues including brain damage, cancer and lung disorders.

A study by the United Nations University of 12 countries in East and South East Asia, including Malaysia, revealed a 63 per cent increase of e-waste in five years between 2010 and 2015, which totalled 12.3 million tonnes.

This will be a growing problem as societies become more affluent, their purchasing power increases, and these appliances and devices are used and discarded in even larger numbers. What is more worrying is that the computers and smartphones have an average lifespan of only two years.

In an innovative move, the Swedish government will give tax breaks for repair on items such as bicycles and refrigerator to reduce waste and protect the environment. VAT on repairs to items like bicycles and clothes was slashed from 25 per cent to 12 per cent. Taxpayers can also claim back from income tax half of the labour cost of household appliances.

We need to think of how we use our appliances and how we can extend their lifespan with proper maintenance and repairs. If we want to live in a greener world free from dangerous toxins arising from e-waste, we all have to play our part by reducing the amount of appliances that we discard and send them for proper disposal and recycling where possible. As consumers, we should think less of acquiring the latest devices or appliances if what we currently have are still in working conditions. Imagine the amount of money we can save.

It will be an added bonus if our government can take a leaf from the Swedish book and give tax rebates and reduction in GST for repairs of such appliances. This can potentially give birth to a repair industry. It will also be good if manufacturers can produce devices that last longer and are more repairable as promoted by Greenpeace. There has to be a balance between profit and protecting the environment for future generations.