[desine]

With no disrespect (especially with children, I know their destructive tendencies well enough), this sounds like a shunning of responsibility, and irks me. Our cheap, disposable consumer goods are ending up in landfills, our plastic waste has permeated every square inch of the earth, and we continue to justify these destructive habits.

If you need something, you should care for it, you should maintain it, and you should commit to a certain level of care. Not caring about your possessions and seeing them as disposable validates the business models of shelling out crap quality products and the further destruction of our environment.

[imiric]

I was about to post a similar comment, but you summed it up nicely.

The landfill reality and the pollution they cause, especially from e-waste, is devastating: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/burning-truth-...

[bigmattystyles]

We should charge the disposal cost upfront at the point of purchase. I know it’s political suicide but it would solve quite a few issues.

[mavhc]

Tax everything the amount it costs to clean up the pollution it causes, from electricity to food. 2 side effects: people will make things that produce less pollution, and people will make cleaning up pollution cheaper

[fwipsy]

Maybe not so far-fetched. CA charges an ewaste recycling fee already when you purchase certain items.

[threatofrain]

Also if we more carefully priced externalities, this strategy of buying cheap might not be so cheap.