Throwaway society
Throwaway society is a term that was coined by critics of the affluent or consumer society . It describes a society that is essentially shaped by a so-called throw-away mentality, i.e. a mentality that is characterized by rapid consumption ( consumerism ), wasteful use of natural resources (energy, material) and environmental pollution . The throw-away mentality tends towards disposable products, even if they are actually consumer goods that have the character of long-term consumer goods , and neglects the careful care and maintenance of objects as well as long-term production in favor of quick replacement with new goods.
Causes and effects
Throwaway mentality
The throw-away mentality is a pejorative term used to describe an attitude that is not geared towards sustainability and that often also dumps repairable or fully usable goods in favor of new ones.
The term also includes a critical view of overproduction and the production of unnecessary or short-lived objects in a consumer society whose consumer behavior is oriented towards the possibilities of consumption and less towards necessity.
Against this background, it also stands for the thoughtless disposal of waste in the countryside, on the street or in green spaces for reasons of convenience (or out of exuberance or desire for provocation or deviant behavior ) immediately after the end of the consumer act (e.g. beer cans in the landscape; see littering ).
Inexpensive production and affordable price
Thanks to industrial production in series and in large numbers, many objects can now be manufactured very cheaply. So very low sales prices are possible. Repairs and maintenance are often more expensive. The low purchase price of the products makes it easier to replace the product and purchase a new one.
Rapid technological advancement
Especially in the field of entertainment electronics, communication equipment and electrical devices, the standards change so quickly due to technological progress that even high-quality products no longer correspond to the state of the art after just a few months. The device is often replaced even though the previous device is still functional.
Rapidly changing fashions and striving for variety
A similar effect can be observed with products for which the aesthetic appearance is important; Clothing, shoes, furnishings, crockery, etc. Clothing in particular is often disposed of because after a short period of time (often only a few months) it no longer corresponds to the zeitgeist or current fashion and is thus sorted out despite being in good condition. The clothing industry is following and promoting this trend. Trendy companies change their collections after just a few weeks. Short-lived product cycles drive sales. Repair of clothing or shoes takes place, if at all, almost exclusively in the high-priced sector.
The concept of fashion has also been expanded to include things that were not subject to it in the past - such as furniture that a few decades ago were bought for a lifetime, but are now replaced for reasons of changed taste, although they are still in good condition are. The same also applies to home textiles such as bed linen or towels, which in the past were often purchased as trousseau in particularly good quality so that they could be used for a lifetime.
Low shelf life
Often there is no longer any production for a long shelf life and longevity. This results in an unfavorable feedback of the causal factors “low price”, “throwaway mentality” and “short shelf life”: non-durable products generally have lower production costs. Inexpensive products tend to generate a willingness to exchange them, so they don't have to last that long to pay off.
For example, clothing is produced that shows clear signs of wear and tear after a short time and a few washes. Especially providers in the low-price segment (e.g. KiK or Primark ) are criticized for such a concept. Appropriate marketing promotes constant renewal.
Similar developments can be seen in almost all categories of consumer goods, including household appliances. Many household items used to last a generation. Many of these objects and devices can now be manufactured very cheaply through industrial production methods. The low price allows for a new purchase. Here, too, shorter product usage times go hand in hand with reduced quality, since, from the manufacturer's point of view, the products do not have to be designed for longevity and price advantages come to the fore when purchasing.
While pieces of furniture were “inherited” just a few decades ago, nowadays much inexpensive furniture can hardly survive a move.
Disposable products
The plastic bag is one of the symbols of the throwaway society. Often added as a free service to shopping, it is rarely used. The counterpart is the textile shopping bag . So-called single-use products are only designed for one-time use. For example, single- use tableware is used to save the effort of cleaning and return transport. Another area of application is disposable packaging instead of reusable packaging in retail, prominent examples here are disposable systems in the beverage industry (e.g. beverage cartons , one-way bottles, one-way cans ) and the fast-food industry (e.g. pizza boxes, hamburger boxes, menu trays , Coffee mug). According to a proposal by the EU Commission , certain single -use products, such as plastic drinking straws , are to be banned in the EU in the future. In addition, one would like to oblige the manufacturers to contribute to the cleaning costs , such as B. the cigarette manufacturers for collecting cigarette butts on beaches etc.
Disposable products are to be clearly distinguished from the throwaway society, especially in the sanitary and medical sector, as well as in other areas where hygiene is important: e.g. B. Disposable glove , disposable overall , disposable syringe and toilet paper .
Low reparability of products
Even high-quality and correspondingly expensive products are now often designed in such a way that they cannot be repaired or can only be repaired with disproportionate effort , even with a minor defect , for example by encapsulating electronic components, riveting and gluing instead of screwing, or screwing with shear bolts . This means that even components that wear out quickly (such as batteries ) can often no longer be replaced. From the manufacturer's point of view, this is due to modern product design and efficient production methods, where ease of repair has to be weighed against many other factors; safety concerns are also raised that a repair could allegedly reduce the safety of the product. The organizational effort (fault analysis, procurement of spare parts , transport / travel, etc.) often exceeds the value of the defective part and often the entire product. In addition, spare parts are often no longer available after a short time or are only sold at high prices that make repairs no longer worthwhile.
The use of manufacturer-specific shapes of the screw heads, which can only be loosened with a suitable special tool, or one-way screws that can only be turned in one direction, on the other hand, deliberately complicates dismantling and thus increases the repair effort.
Critics argue that the purpose of this is to force a consumer to buy entire assemblies or new devices, even if there is a small defect in the relevant part . These practices are favored by the fact that, with a few exceptions, which can result from the European ecodesign guidelines , manufacturers do not have to follow any legal requirements for spare parts stocks or the principle of reparability of their products.
Deliberately built-in weaknesses by the manufacturer to limit the service life of a product and to encourage the consumer to buy a new one are also referred to as planned obsolescence . For example, the Phoebus cartel of 1924, which limited the maximum service life of incandescent lamps to 1000 operating hours, although the technically possible life expectancy of conventional incandescent lamps was already longer at that time , is accused of planned obsolescence.
At the same time, however, the willingness of buyers to carry out minor repairs has decreased, especially in the area of textiles. Today, worn clothing is rarely repaired. Fashion trends for shoes , for example , also mean that repairs are often impossible due to manufacturing, and professions such as shoemaker are dying out.
criticism
The accusation of the “throwaway society” is directed primarily against the western industrialized countries .
See also
literature
- Wolfgang M. Heckl : The culture of repair . Hanser, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-446-43678-7 .
- Wolfgang König : History of the throwaway society. The downside of consumption. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2019, ISBN 978-3-515-12500-0 .
- Christian Kreiß : Planned wear and tear: How industry drives us to consume more and more and faster - and how we can defend ourselves against it . Europa Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-944305-51-6 .
- Jürgen Reuss, Cosima Dannoritzer: Buying for the garbage dump: The principle of planned obsolescence . Orange Press, Freiburg im Breisgau 2013, ISBN 978-3-936086-66-9 .
- Burkhardt Röper, Rolf Marfeld: Is there any planned wear and tear? Investigations on the obsolescence thesis , Schwartz, Göttingen 1976, ISBN 3-509-00953-3 (= writings of the Commission for Economic and Social Change , Volume 137).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : The EU agrees on a ban on single-use plastic. In: nzz.ch . December 19, 2018, accessed December 19, 2018 .
- ^ Erik Poppe: Repair Policy in Germany. Between product wear and spare parts. (PDF file; 1440 kB), SUSTAINUM - Institute for Sustainable Economics Berlin 2014, pp. 32–51.
- ^ Documentary by Cosima Dannoritzer , Buy for the garbage dump , 75 minutes, 2010. ( Online ( Memento from November 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ))
- ↑ Nike versus Gucci: Sneakers are the latest luxury fashion battlefield. In: Grailify - Sneaker News. Retrieved March 4, 2020 .
- ↑ https://www.uni-muenchen.de/aktuelles/medien/spotlight/2013_mektiven/einsichten_muell_mauch.html