Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Should companies be responsible?

What would happen if companies were held to account for the goods they produce throughout their products entire life-cycle? As an example in this situation, a producer of a mobile phone would therefore be responsible for all of the discarded or redundant mobile phones they produce. I think this is a marvellous situation to ponder.

Would producers end up producing products that were likely to last longer, have more recyclable or reusable content and reduce the number of new models they are produced? What other situations would arise from this? Perhaps there would be a return of repairers, rather than the standard response "it would be cheaper to buy a new one than investigate the issue and then repair the problem" or "parts are no longer available for that model".

I believe there would likely be less landfill, less pollution, more sustainability and longevity of products. Producers would become more savvy with their products, more responsible with their choice of components, increase the amount of recycled content, as well as the increasing the capability for  their products to be recycled.

To me the opportunities and positive outcomes as a result of such a scenario are endless and something that perhaps we could strive towards and maybe mark the end of endless consumption that modern, western society seems to have entered into. Pin It

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