Why does planned obsolescence exist

Some Amazon Kindles are constructed using glued plastic casing that is all but impossible to prise open. The reluctance of big companies to release information about the workings of their products is a constant source of frustration.

All this is being closely watched by a Brussels-based organisation called the European Environmental Bureau. Yet this prospect is still five or six years away, while Brexit means that even such belated moves may not apply in the UK, and our own mound of discarded electronic stuff could just carry on growing.

Schweitzer has a few betes noires. Anything where you have an issue with the battery is really problematic, because they are all lithium-ion. Those are really rare, valuable resources. But because head-headphones are so small, people just throw them in their waste bins. All of their stuff: Kindles, the hardware connected with Amazon Prime — apparently it has a very short lifespan. Say your phone is kinda old and buggy. A refurbisher could switch the battery out, maybe reinstall the operating system and get another two years.

When I contact Amazon, a spokesperson says it is committed to sustainability. We also design our products to last so that customers do not have to upgrade to new hardware every year — in fact, many of our products are still in use after five years.

Volunteers meet people who arrive with items that needs fixing, and in the process learn about bringing products back to life. The network now extends to 36 countries. At the top are coffee machines. No 2 is trousers. Computers and laptops come in at No 8, and smartphones are absent. But we have seen growing interest in people becoming skilled in those areas. Many workers, including children , end up getting sick.

Choose brands whose products we know last longer; demand products at shops with a longer service life. More information: Interpol , Greenpeace. Planned obsolescence: How is the generation of waste affected by it? Ghana: the toxicity problem - All these pieces of hardware contain dangerous chemical substances and materials which pose a serious threat to both people and the environment, as well as high levels of toxic lead , cadmium, chemical substances like phthalates DEHP and DBP —which interfere in reproduction —and carcinogenic chlorinated dioxins.

Some add clauses to their user agreements so people often unknowingly agree not to fix their own products. This is an inconvenience for many, and one which arguably hits poorer and geographically isolated consumers harder. The lifespan of electronic goods is becoming shorter , with the number of defective appliances replaced within five years increasing from 3. At the same time, with increasingly smarter tech, such as that used in phones, e-waste and resource requirements increase with each new model.

Not to mention the danger to health associated with the kind of recycling of components that takes place in the informal sector, particularly in developing countries.

But others suspect it is a strategy topush consumers towards a new upgrade. Against this backdrop, Apple announced it would allow throttling to be turned on and off on its phones. We recently produced a set of recommendations for Securing Trust in the Internet of Things which included calls for:. A commitment from the Argentinean presidency of the G20 to continue improving trust in the digital world gives consumer organisations and other groups the opportunity to further develop this work and identify practical solutions.

Once enough information is collated, they will be able to target their product testing and advise on which brands to avoid. Although the reporting tool is not only for Internet of Things products, difficulties with fixing or keeping connected devices secure in the long term are key issues for durability in the Internet of Things.