4 ms·

Been there - but it still sucks !!! as a commentary of our society - and our inability to make lasting things for long-term FEAR OF LOSING PROFIT. Every first-

Been there - but it still sucks !!! as a commentary of our society - and our inability to make lasting things for long-term FEAR OF LOSING PROFIT. Every first-world item made should have a 2nd/3rd world plan for it. When your comfy butt is done with thing - you should be able/required to hand-down iten to next party, and you should be happy paying the premieum to use the item freshly new, as well as be happy that you cared for it such that the next person still gets an appreciated object. THE LAST THING we need is for a primary buyer of [THING] to think the *next step* to their use is trash/landfill. If you disagree with me, hand me the hammer that you have in the garage from your great grandfather and maybe then he can knock some sense into to.

usefulcat 3y ago
> our inability to make lasting things for long-term FEAR OF LOSING PROFIT. I agree that’s part of the problem, but even if that weren’t an issue you’d still have the (IMO) much bigger problem of most consumers preferring whatever product is cheapest.
- samstave 3y ago
  This is why thos who make plastic products shoul be held to greater account... Wht saddens me, and I seem to see lit. nobodoy talking about is our glamourisizing 3d plastics printing of billions of arbitrary objects - and where these plastics will end up in the ecos... 3d printers (I have an ender3) should be urged to have a recycling platform. Personally - I want a 3d recycling machine which will shred HDPE, melt it to pellets and make a filiment extrusion for the 3d printer. We should have the 3d printing community building recycling stations from 3d filiment and object fails etc... and try to close the loop as much as possible. (lookng at you cosplayers of microplastic contamination for internet points)
  - datadrivenangel 3y ago
    You can build or buy a filament recycling machine. The issue is that it costs more than a 3D printer, and often times the filament is not as good later, so you end up spending time and energy recycling when it would be less time and energy to create new filament. It would probably be better to put that time and money into insulating your house and growing flowers for local birds and bees.
  - progman32 3y ago
    Unfortunately there isn't a true, affordable (for an individual or small group) circular solution that I've found. I've taken to gathering all my scraps in a bucket (not mixing plastic types) then occasionally having a "recycling day" to melt them down into bars, rods, or sheets, which are then used for other things using more traditional manufacturing techniques. I made some very pretty swirly vases on the lathe, for example. It's not ideal.
- bombolo 3y ago
  That's why we need regulations and mandatory 10-15yrs warranty
ng12 3y ago
There are externalities with this approach. A big issue with clothing donations, for example, is they put local textile manufacturers out of business. Why buy locally made whatever when you can get second-hand name-brand clothing for cheap?
- InitialLastName 3y ago
  There's a "paying the window-breakers to keep the glass-makers in business" illogic to that. Why work to prevent any waste when we can just hire more people to generate more wasteful things?
  - ng12 3y ago
    Because it's inequitable. You rely on an impoverished underclass to prevent your waste, while harming their ability to change the situation.
    - brightlancer 3y ago
      > Because it's inequitable. I presume you mean "inequitable" as in "unfair", and that's just life: life is unfair. And as peoples have very different ideas of what is "fair", we should be very careful using _force_ to try and make things "fair". > You rely on an impoverished underclass to prevent your waste, while harming their ability to change the situation. As a practical matter, letting poorer nations develop their own manufacturing and become wealthier is almost always better for everyone. A rising tide lifts all boats. The problem is that developed nations like the US have argued it's "unfair" for poorer nations to ban imports of second-hand clothes while getting certain preferential treatment to export new clothes to the US. For example, Rwanda banned imports of second-hand clothes and so their manufacturers face higher taxes (than other "developing" nations in Africa) when exporting clothes to the US, which puts Rwandan businesses at a disadvantage. What's the "equitable" solution there? Who decides what is "equitable"? What if peoples disagree? Instead, an appeal to self-interest should tell us that letting Rwanda and other poorer nations engage in _some_ economic protectionism against developed nations is likely to work out better for the developed nations.
bityard 3y ago
There are many of us that actively seek out bargains on good used tools and equipment through estate sales and the like. But it takes lots of free time. The average homeowner and contractor do not have hours to waste on getting 50% off a $200 tool.

usefulcat 3y ago

> our inability to make lasting things for long-term FEAR OF LOSING PROFIT. I agree that’s part of the problem, but even if that weren’t an issue you’d still have the (IMO) much bigger problem of most consumers preferring whatever product is cheapest.

samstave 3y ago
This is why thos who make plastic products shoul be held to greater account... Wht saddens me, and I seem to see lit. nobodoy talking about is our glamourisizing 3d plastics printing of billions of arbitrary objects - and where these plastics will end up in the ecos... 3d printers (I have an ender3) should be urged to have a recycling platform. Personally - I want a 3d recycling machine which will shred HDPE, melt it to pellets and make a filiment extrusion for the 3d printer. We should have the 3d printing community building recycling stations from 3d filiment and object fails etc... and try to close the loop as much as possible. (lookng at you cosplayers of microplastic contamination for internet points)
- datadrivenangel 3y ago
  You can build or buy a filament recycling machine. The issue is that it costs more than a 3D printer, and often times the filament is not as good later, so you end up spending time and energy recycling when it would be less time and energy to create new filament. It would probably be better to put that time and money into insulating your house and growing flowers for local birds and bees.
- progman32 3y ago
  Unfortunately there isn't a true, affordable (for an individual or small group) circular solution that I've found. I've taken to gathering all my scraps in a bucket (not mixing plastic types) then occasionally having a "recycling day" to melt them down into bars, rods, or sheets, which are then used for other things using more traditional manufacturing techniques. I made some very pretty swirly vases on the lathe, for example. It's not ideal.
bombolo 3y ago
That's why we need regulations and mandatory 10-15yrs warranty

ng12 3y ago

There are externalities with this approach. A big issue with clothing donations, for example, is they put local textile manufacturers out of business. Why buy locally made whatever when you can get second-hand name-brand clothing for cheap?

InitialLastName 3y ago
There's a "paying the window-breakers to keep the glass-makers in business" illogic to that. Why work to prevent any waste when we can just hire more people to generate more wasteful things?
- ng12 3y ago
  Because it's inequitable. You rely on an impoverished underclass to prevent your waste, while harming their ability to change the situation.
  - brightlancer 3y ago
    > Because it's inequitable. I presume you mean "inequitable" as in "unfair", and that's just life: life is unfair. And as peoples have very different ideas of what is "fair", we should be very careful using _force_ to try and make things "fair". > You rely on an impoverished underclass to prevent your waste, while harming their ability to change the situation. As a practical matter, letting poorer nations develop their own manufacturing and become wealthier is almost always better for everyone. A rising tide lifts all boats. The problem is that developed nations like the US have argued it's "unfair" for poorer nations to ban imports of second-hand clothes while getting certain preferential treatment to export new clothes to the US. For example, Rwanda banned imports of second-hand clothes and so their manufacturers face higher taxes (than other "developing" nations in Africa) when exporting clothes to the US, which puts Rwandan businesses at a disadvantage. What's the "equitable" solution there? Who decides what is "equitable"? What if peoples disagree? Instead, an appeal to self-interest should tell us that letting Rwanda and other poorer nations engage in _some_ economic protectionism against developed nations is likely to work out better for the developed nations.

bityard 3y ago

There are many of us that actively seek out bargains on good used tools and equipment through estate sales and the like. But it takes lots of free time. The average homeowner and contractor do not have hours to waste on getting 50% off a $200 tool.