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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Steve Lokness who wrote (82922)9/8/2008 11:39:55 AM
From: Lane3  Read Replies (1) of 541791
 
To suggest that the buyer is going to base his decision on a "garbage rating" is rather silly in my mind.

Buyers use Energy Star ratings. Same difference.

Which incentivises junk.

Not at all. Not any more than price incentivises junk now.

Besides, junk isn't the issue, it's the environmental cost of disposal. If one dishwasher lasts two years and another ten, that's five disposal costs to one before you even start varying the disposal incentive based on the environmental cost of the product. You could end up with a ten to one disposal cost ratio between a quality plus environmentally friendly product vs a cheap import with a large environmental footprint. Even American consumers aren't stupid enough to pay ten times more than they have to. Wouldn't anyone buy a $500 dishwasher that would last ten years and have a disposal cost of $100 over one that cost $289, would last two years, and have a $200 disposal cost for a total cost of $1289?

Returning the product to the manufacturer of course won't work - but maybe to the seller?

Thank you. I was simply trying to point out the flaw in fixating on the German model by offering a couple of top-of-the-head alternatives as a contrast. Actually, the coordination of the process would most practically rest with the seller of the replacement, who typically hauls away the defunct one, or the actual disposal company, whoever is the receiver of the disposed of product. The cost could then be accounted for by manufacturer and charged back in a lump.

The last thing we need is to create government jobs for disassemblers, which is what we'd need to do for a process that was neither natural nor market sensitive.
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