What is it about?

It is generally considered to be safer for the environment to repair a malfunctioning product for further reuse than to dispose of it and replace it with a newly manufactured product, unless the product is being replaced with a more energy efficient alternative. However, whereas United States has long been labelled a ‘throwaway society’, this paper presents the results of an international consumer survey which demonstrates that as other nations develop with respect to GDP per Capita (Gross Domestic Product per Capita), they too start transitioning into throwaway societies. This transition then calls into account of just how environmentally damaging this practice will become.

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Why is it important?

A consumer survey was conducted in seven different countries to see if there were differences, by country in terms of GDP per Capita, from the survey participants’ responses to either replacing or repairing a malfunctioning household product that they presumable owned. There were 1,030 surveys participants. GDP per Capita in the countries where the surveys took place ranged from a low of $14,450.20 (China) to a high of $56,115.70 (United States). Within the survey, the survey participants were shown pictures of eight different, but very common, household appliances. It was apparent from the pictures that the appliances were in a state of disrepair. The survey participants, after examining the pictures, were then asked what their first thoughts about the appliance were if they had owned that appliance. The response could either be to have the product repaired or to have the product replaced. A logit regression was run for each of the eight common household products shown to the survey participants with the dependent variable being either to replace or repair the product. Of the independent variables tested, the most consistent variables were both GDP per Capita and Education level. Both of these variables were highly significant in each of the eight regressions. In addition, both of these variables had positive coefficients in all of the eight regressions. The survey results reveal that the three countries with the lowest GDP per Capita, China, Mexico and Turkey, responded more frequently to repairing the product in question. On the other hand, the two countries with the highest GDP per Capita, United States and the UK, were more likely to respond that they would replace the product in question. The two countries, whose GDP per Capita were in the middle of the sample (Russia and Malaysia), had a response rate of replacing the product that was higher than either China, Mexico and Turkey, but lower than that of United States and the UK. Meaning that they are also transitioning towards a throwaway society just as United States and the UK have. The survey results also demonstrate that the probability of selecting the replace option was much higher for the more inexpensive products, but lower for the expensive products in all sampled countries. However, United States and the UK both had the highest probability of selecting the replace option for all of the goods presented within the survey. This result also demonstrates that with the cheaper products, meaning price in terms of wages, regardless of the country, the replace response was higher than the more expensive products. It is clear, therefore, that as the price of the more expensive products continue to decline, or as wages increase within emerging markets, then these currently, more expensive, products will also be viewed as ‘cheaper’ and, therefore, the probability of survey respondents selecting the replace option will only increase (perhaps in twenty to twenty five years from now).

Perspectives

Despite the fact that for years United States has been labelled a ‘throwaway society’, this was not always the case. Not so long ago, it was very common for Americans to repair products with the same frequency that other countries repair products today. However, United States transition into a throwaway society was a natural course of events. As United States GDP per Capita increased the cost of newly manufactured products came down relative to the average Americans’ wage rate. In addition, as United States GDP per Capita increased, so too did the wage rate of service technicians within United States This, of course, means that the cost of newly manufactured products compared to the cost of repairing a product has continued to come down over the years. Because of this, many consumers feel justified in not repairing the product or appliance in question, rather they dispose of it and replace it with a newly manufactured product. This, of course, has environmental consequences such as more raw material extraction, higher emissions from the manufacturing process, more landfill use, etc. However, this manuscript shows that as other countries continue to develop, then more and more nations will join the ranks of United States as a throwaway society. In the future, as this happens, the environmental consequences will become that much more severe and will need to be addressed. There are policy options that could be put into place to increase the ratio of replacement costs to repair costs. One common policy option is to impose a tipping fee for large scale appliances that are set for waste removal (Huang, Halstead, & Saunders, 2011; Strathman, Rufolo, & Mildner, 1995). The tipping fee would have to be set high enough to encourage the appliance to be repaired when it malfunctions as opposed to being replaced. However, this could inadvertently lead to illegal dumping of appliances which would create even more environmental damage (United Nations Human Settlement Program, 2010). Another policy response would be for governments, particularly in developed nations, to subsidize tuition for vocational education. This could increase the supply of young repair technicians which would drive down the wage rate of repair technicians. However, the ethics of this policy would have to be questioned as the overall goal would be to increase the number of repair technicians in the hopes of reducing the wage rate. On the other hand, a tax credit could be given to those who work in the field. This might increase the supply of repair technicians. However, proper controls would have to be put into place to ensure that there was no cheating as many people would want to opt for the tax credit. On the other hand, a more simple approach would be to alleviate or reduce the sales tax for all repair services (McCollough, 2010). This approach would hopefully lead to a reduction in the repair cost for an appliance or product. Manufacturers could be compelled to design their products so that the products would be more repairable (Cooper, 2005; Page, 2014). Yet, this is difficult to legislate as firms might see this regulation as an unnecessary burden which reduces profits. Furthermore, this might inspire firms to relocate to countries that do not have this regulation in place. However, if consumers would demand this, then firms would most likely respond. Society might find consumers demanding this attribute if a tipping fee was placed on discarded, large appliances and other products. Manufacturers could also offer longer lasting warranties on their products which would entice consumers to repair the appliance if it malfunctions. Manufacturers might have to charge a fee to extend a warranty beyond that which is common. To increase the length of time for a warranty, governments could reduce or alleviate the sales tax on a warranty. All of these policy options will be needed to increase the ratio of replacement costs to repair costs. But again, the results of this survey demonstrate that as GDP per Capita increases around the world, consumers will find newly manufactured products more affordable. Furthermore, new manufacturing techniques will continue to drive down the price of newly manufactured products. Also, as GDP per Capita increases around the world, wages will most likely increase for repair technicians as they had in United States Extrapolating into the future, it is clear to see that more and more nations will be transitioning into a throwaway society (Hume, 2010; Robins, 2009) and this will be a highly unsustainable event.

Mehmet Fatih Bayramoglu
Bulent Ecevit University

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This page is a summary of: Transitioning into a ‘throwaway planet’, International Journal of Consumer Studies, November 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/ijcs.12402.
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