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I have been thinking about writing this post ever since my aborted attempt at repairing some USB headphones this weekend. I am very frustrated with the fact that almost all consumer electronics are designed to break. It makes perfect sense from a business standpoint, but it is pretty much the opposite of green.

I try to reduce the amount of waste resulting from my use of technology. I buy fewer mobile phones than the average consumer. The industry has successfully created a 24 month replacement cycle. Many technophiles and early adopters buy even more often. My family of 5 makes do with three phones and one of them is 5 years old.

We don’t have a television set or a DVD player. Pretty much every device or peripheral that we have has legitimate work or educational purpose. I get really frustrated when an item like a computer mouse or a set of headphones stops working after only a year or two. I get extra frustrated when the item was a ‘better quality’ model. The head set that broke this month was purchased for the purpose of teleconferencing, recording tutorials and other work related stuff. They looked durable and they cost more than twice as much as the cheapest alternative. When I disassembled the volume control I found that the impression of durability was an illusion.

It’s not like it’s impossible to make durable electronics. I have a transcription pedal that appears to be built to last forever. When I was a teenager several of my friends had guitar effects pedals that you could probably throw against a wall without causing damage. Manufacturers of these specialty products are competing for a very finite number of customers who. This might account for the build quality. I’m not so sure about that though.

Last year I spent a few months toying with the idea of making field recordings on world music and creating a website where people could provide a fair payment directly to the musicians. There are several different companies selling affordable mobile digital audio recording equipment. I did a lot of research because I couldn’t afford to buy something that wouldn’t be adequate for my needs. The online reviews have lead me to believe that every make and model has issues with build quality and reliability. I felt like there was a good chance that I could spend hundreds of dollars, including a hefty shipping cost, only to find that my device was defective. The frustration with this issue played a part in stalling the whole project

Anyway, the point of this post is this… I think there are enough conscious consumers to represent a market for durable green electronics. If you needed a new computer mouse (for the nth time in your life) and there was a mouse in the store that was designed to last forever, would you buy it? What if there was a mobile phone that was built to last forever? Would you be willing to pass up the early adoption rush that Apple et al. cash in on for the rest of your life? There are several consumer electronic items that are not going to change that much with regard to function for the rest of our lives. I would like to see a market develop for truly durable items and I think the products could be legitimately advertised as ‘green.’

If you think there is already a supply for this hypothetical demand, please comment with links to the products.

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I desperately needed a computer mouse this week and all of my choices in the local retail market came with excessive plastic packaging. I am reusing a flat portion of the plastic as a super heavy duty laminate for my list of emergency phone numbers. I try not to have a cluttered desk and, as a result, my very important emergency phone number list gets used as a coaster.

I am living in a very out of the way place, so my options are limited. Ordering online would cause a pretty big carbon footprint, especially if I had to get the mouse shipped to friends in Canada so they could mail it to me here. Most of my wonderful readers have the option of ordering from Amazon and choosing Frustration-Free Packaging. I wasn’t aware of this option until today and I think it is awesome. Manufacturers like Microsoft send stock to Amazon with recyclable cardboard packaging instead of the plastic clam shells that are designed for store displays. Buying something online and having it shipped in an over-sized plastic display package that in turn is placed in a larger than necessary cardboard box is ridiculous. Ridiculous packaging is something that knows no limits. When you buy a mouse like the one pictured here, the box that it is originally packaged in is sufficient for shipping. It’s the opposite of ridiculous.

Buying a used mouse is an even more environmentally responsible choice. Most of the people that I know use computer mice until they cease to function. In a large population center there must be some people who upgrade because they need a mouse that is color matched to their laptop. There are probably gamers who regularly upgrade to a faster mouse. There may be people who think their mouse is broken when really there is just a matrix of dust and elbow grease blocking the optical aperture (eww).

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