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Longer Lasting Products - Alternatives To The Throwaway Society
Ashgate Publishing, Oct 2010, Pages: 460
The present economic system requires us to consume and throw away more and more goods. Yet often it's our desire, and the best interests of the environment, for these goods to last. The contributors to this book, who comprise many of the most significant international thinkers in the field, explore how longer lasting products could offer enhanced value while reducing environmental impacts. If we created fewer but better quality products, looked after them carefully and invested more in repair, renovation and upgrading, would this direct our economy onto a more sustainable course? The solution sounds simple, yet it requires a seismic shift in how we think, whether as producers or consumers, and our voracious appetite for novelty.
The complex range of issues associated with product life-spans demands a multidisciplinary approach. The book covers historical context, design, engineering, marketing, law, government policy, consumer behaviour and systems of provision. It addresses the whole range of consumer durables – vehicles, kitchen appliances, audio-visual equipment and other domestic products, furniture and floor coverings, hardware, garden tools, clothing, household textiles, recreational goods and DIY goods – as well as the re-use of packaging.
Longer Lasting Products provides policy makers, those involved in product design, manufacturing and marketing, and all of us as consumers, with clear and compelling guidance as to how we can move away from a throwaway culture towards an economy sustained by more durable goods.
Reviews:
'This is the book we have all been waiting for. Why is it in our own best interests to have things that last? Why do we fail to design, produce and maintain longer-lasting products in the interests of global survival, climate change mitigation, and out of consideration for future generations? Tim Cooper's excellent collection of essays highlights in scholarly and practical ways how to enhance the life-span of vehicles, appliances, furniture, clothing and footwear. The essays supported by a project of the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council show how policies that focus on product longevity are crucial to future prosperity. They alert us to the danger of thinking that a lifestyle of consumption and throwaway is the way to run a successful economy. Clearly, times have moved on from recycling and waste management to novel ideas about design, marketing, waste reduction, stewardship, and legislation that promotes product longevity particularly in industrialised nations. Throwaway cultures need to be challenged through public policy, design and marketing strategies, consumer attitudes and behaviour, and socio-cultural norms. Here is a great push.' – Sir Brian Heap CBE FRS, President, European Academies Science Advisory Council.
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