Consumerism And Landfill.Hold The Phone! (For Longer Than Usual)

So we are facing a world wide recession and the government want us to spend our way out of it. Declining consumer confidence has affected retail sales leading to more companies going to the wall, more layoffs and redundancies and even less consumer confidence. Whilst many may see this as a bad thing, and of course any layoffs are bad as are old school firms like Woolworth's going bust – there is one possible upside. We may see a reduction in landfill from frivolous and unnecessary purchases.

The amount of technology that is designed to have a 'shelf life' is staggering. Even the computer I am writing this on is not supposed to last forever. It doesn't matter that I spent £300 on it, and want to get all my money's worth from using it. The market relies on me buying a new one every year or two and if they fail to persuade me with advertising and peer pressure, they can sure as hell build it with a 'shelf life'. A little timer that tells the unit to break in such away that whilst in many cases it could be fixed well, I've had my monies worth and it doesn't owe me anything.

I worked in mobile phones for 18 soul destroying months and I know I contributed to the problem. Telling people they needed to upgrade to the next best thing. These phones form a massive part of the problem in my opinion. They usually turn up in non-recycled boxes (with a few key exceptions that I cover later) not to mention the process of making a phone to begin with. Thousands of non-degradable materials (some that come from areas of the planet we just should not be mining including plastic made from oil, the cause for more war than any other single factor) manufactured in parts of the worlds where human rights are more of a guide than a principle. 

They are then flown, sailed or driven thousands of mile to warehouses where they are then distributed by road to shops like the one I worked in. We'd fully expect to sell the same customer one phone per year. And what happens to the old one? In 90% of cases they end up in a giant hole in the ground. A little present for the next generation to deal with assuming they have survived global warming hyper inflation and facebook. All of this designed to make us 'good consumers' like doing your bit without having to think about what your doing.

It also creates artificial need's (I need a good camera because of work, or It has to do Internet) when 99% of us use a phone for making call and sending texts. This is not the only problem with mobile phones. People are also terrible at guessing how much they use a phone. Young people like to think they are always on the phone as this implies popularity and respect. Older people refuse to disclose anything but occasional use, emergencies and for people to get hold of me! The group in the middle are either silly when it comes to handsets (I call this the pink brigade as it always has to be pink, but it also shows up camera or music requirements) or just won't listen to reason from anyone but their kids who know about phones. The big question (the only question really, mobile phone sales people really do over sell what they do) is PAYG vs contract. Its really really simple. To choose between the two. PAYG!

As you may have heard, there is a credit crunch on and nothing is as stable as it once was. Signing an 18 month contract is absurd at the moment. The irony is the only group of people who can be sure of their income levels to any real extent are retired people who neither need nor want a contract. 

The trick is to determine your needs and spend according to your budget. How many minutes and texts do you use in a day? Trying to work it out on a monthly basis is impossible because you have more important things to do than count them. One thing you can do if you have the Internet is log into your on line account for whatever your network is and check your recent spending and usage habits. Base your figures on 3 months of usage and take into account any holidays abroad or recent events such as Christmas and new years (You will always use more during these periods and any over seas minutes and texts are not included in your normal call plan) base your choice of network on who gives you the most for your money. You can transfer you number for free so shop around. 

Ask yourself what you actually do with your phone. If you take pictures and listen to music the find a phone that offers these features. If you don't then ask yourself why you need them. I will cover handsets later in the article to give you some idea of what is available and the cost.

Treat your phone like you treat your car. Don't leave it in the garage and tax it, but do give it a minimum life expectancy. You would not replace your car because the exhaust is shot so why throw your phone away because it needs a new battery? All this does is add to landfill and puts more money into the corporate machine we are all supposed to be fighting. Look to replace your mobile every 3 years. By all means if in 3 years it is still working and you haven't lost it – keep it. Recycle you old mobile. Many charities take old phones and either repair them or dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way. That means one less phone sitting in landfill. 

Unlock your phone. This means if you change networks you do not have to change phones. I would always advise buying a SIM free phone to begin with as it is designed to be used on several networks in its life. It costs about £30 more for a SIM free handset over a network subsidized one but you will often spend most of that on unlocking the handset. You also find most networks will not cover the warranty on a phone that has been unlocked. As for what phone to go for this is a very subjective argument. I love my old Nokia to bits but some people would not go near it. I have never cared for Samsungs but many people swear by them. Below are some handsets I can recommend for features price and reliability.

Nokia 1200 (From £25 SIM FREE £9.99 locked to network) Solid, simple talker texter. Think of it as a calculator that can make phone calls. Great battery life and has a useful flashlight feature. Comes preloaded with snake.

Samsung E250 (From £50 SIM FREE £25 locked to network) Has a camera, radio MP3 player and bluetooth. Smart little slider for little money. Also has a nifty SOS feature that alerts people via text if you get into trouble. Loads of games and will surf the net at a push. 

Motorola W156 (From £30 SIM FREE £5 locked to network, yes a fiver) It does what a phone needs to and to be fair does it very well. Either ways its a phone for less than 20 fags!

As this article has been written for the SWP, I will not advertise individual networks or retailers, but a simple web search is all it takes to track these phones down at close to or less than I have quoted. 

Just one more thing before I go. I stated earlier that there are key exceptions to packaging amounts and material. Below is my opening and closing argument. 

http://www.nokia.com/environment/our-responsibility/environmental-reporting/products-and-services/packaging

These boxes are about the same size as a coaster. They contain the phone the charger and manual. They are made from mostly recycled materials. Very simple theory. Smaller boxes equal more phones on a pallet. This means fewer pallet loads needed to move the same amount of phones, reducing haulage millage and green house gases. I don't work for Nokia, but I am happy to say I use one for this reason alone. The following is taken from the Nokia's website. 

During 2007, 15,000 tons of packaging material has been saved by using smaller packaging. Not having to produce this amount of paper also saved 100,000 m3 of water.

www.envirofone.com will help you recycle your phone, and if it has a monetary value they will send you vouchers or the money. 

It has been a pleasure writing this piece and I hope it was informative and helpful. Any questions or comments please email me at lavidaloca2009@rocketmail.com