SIMPLICITY Viz a viz Disposability v/s maintainability—Ecological Concern
Most simple daily routine example.
Shaving
- Like many people, shaving is a part of our daily grooming routine.
And like all routines, We don’t think about it much…Preprogrammed, robotic work
Plastic disposable razors that we have been buying and throwing away after a week or two for the last around twenty years.
How could I have never noticed what a waste that is?
The EPA estimates that 2 billion razors are thrown away each year. That’s outrageous, considering that you can’t recycle disposable razors in the U.S. You can recycle the steel blades (check with your local recycling center first), but your standard disposable razor is going to the landfill.
In fact, 32 percent of plastic products end up in the rivers/ocean. To put this into perspective, that amounts to a fully loaded dump trunk pouring plastic into the ocean every minute.”
“The vast dump of plastic waste swirling in the Pacific Ocean is now bigger than France, Germany and Spain combined — far larger than previously feared — and is growing rapidly, according to a study published on March 22, 2018.”
When you think about it, razors may be the most wasteful product we use in the bathroom.
Single-use items create big problems for the environment.
And add that to the environmental costs of manufacturing, plastic packaging, and shipping (to say nothing of water or shaving cream use, during shaving itself), and the problem keeps growing.
shaving is a big cultural habit that doesn’t need to be so wasteful.
ways to improve the environmental impact of your shaving routine:
. Buy reusable Metal butterfly razors and replace the blades
This trick doesn’t eliminate waste but can reduce it. One can use the age old standard double edged multi use blades. As my experience goes one blade works for at least fifteen to twenty shaves depending on hardness of the beard. In this choice you only throw a blade not the razor. This is how the less consumption of disposable plastic razors.
But I will promise this instead: I am going to pay attention to shaving products I buy.
I’m making the choice to rethink “disposable,” when so many things with that label are destined for a landfill. Why not take the next step, and shave sustainably?
In Engineering field, The word MAINTENANCE is
“ To keep in existence or continuance, preserve long time or Retain as it is”
maintainability is the ease with which a product can be maintained in order to:
- correct defects or their cause,
- repair or replace faulty or worn-out components without having to replace still working parts,
- prevent unexpected working condition,
- maximize a product’s useful life,
- maximize efficiency, reliability, and safety,
- meet new requirements,
- make future maintenance easier, or
- cope with a changed environment.
In some cases, maintainability involves a system of continuous improvement – learning from the past in order to improve the ability to maintain systems, or improve reliability of systems based on maintenance experience.
In engineering industry like steel/Aluminum/Power plants etc The major issue crops up when parts replacement is done with plastic/ Thermoplastic parts. After few years or after becoming faulty, these parts are thrown in garbage and the next replacement happens again with same type of parts. Such use and discarding becomes a vicious circle…A DUMP is accumulating which can not be reused/recycled. This has been happening for years and finally this dump goes back to land filings.
INSTEAD USING PLASTIC DISPOSABLE MAINTENANCE PARTS, THE LONG LIFE METAL PARTS WHEREVER POSSIBLE AND APPLICABLE TECHNICALLY, BE USED.
Metals are anyway recycled back in any industry….Doesn’t go to dumps
Disposable…..Wikipedia
1640s, “that may be done without;” see dispose + -able. Meaning “designed to be discarded after one use” is from 1943, originally of diapers, soon of
everything; replaced throw-away (1928) in this sense.
Now a days due to hygiene requirements more and more disposable items are being made and used. For example..Plastic/thermo coal glasses, plates for community functions are in vogue. They inexpensive and available hence every one uses them..But what happens with their disposal..simply they get dumped somewhere in outskirts of city and finally into land fillings. It means world around the disposal wasn’t thought but only disposability was thought. Most of the city drains are clogged with such disposable items. Same is the case with polythene bags.
Is Disposability an environmental threat…To me yes in many forms.
Anything which can not be recycled/reuse/recreated near original is actually a threat to environment.
Plastics/polythene packaging/Thermo coal material is generally left easily in dumps from houses and industries.
Instead Disposable products…Use long life metal articles. Metal is anyway recyclable .
Only the articles/items which are in medical use may be disposable in nature because of various complicated medical safety issues. This way we can think of reducing the quantity of disposable dumps if not completely eliminate. Plastics/ thermoplastics etc. came into existence for the reason that they are not biodegradable but this quality has become the threat. Years after the concept needs to be re-thought.
Another example…Clothes we buy frequently
Buying clothes frequently has become the accepted norm for most of the houses everywhere. One is not very satisfied if one doesn’t buy more than required clothes. As the income increases, the proportional expenses on clothes also go up. If you estimate properly, a person who is on a buying spree doesn’t have occasions to wear them and as a matter of fact quite a few dresses are lying unused and only filling up the wardrobes up to the roofs.
Why not we make a simple formula…..unless few clothes go out of wardrobes, we don’t add up new.
It feels that we make bigger houses only to accumulate more bought out articles…A DUMP, Practically a dump. We must “buy less & buy for less”
LIVE LONGER WITH SUSTAINABILITY