Well done Sweden! It looks like this country is going to step up and make a difference when it comes to how it deals with the old and worn out.
I read the other day that Sweden is going to set up incentives in the way of reduces taxes to those who go into business and re-purpose or fix anything that is broken. This could be ANYTHING – from washing machines to torn jeans, Bikes to shoes. If you set up a business that fixes and recycles an item and then sell it, you will get a tax cut.
Not only is this going to help the matter of “what to do with…” it will also create jobs. I’m thinking what an awesome idea this is and one that N.Z. should adopt. (wait while I fall off chair laughing). Seriously, this would really help to stimulate the economy here in N.Z. (am now coughing I’m laughing so hard)
Can you really see any Government in N.Z. – even in Australia or USA doing something like this? Geez, we can’t even clean up our used tyre industry.
(tyre = tire for my USA friends)
Tyres are allowed to be dumped all over the place, even set on fire polluting the air with toxic fumes. Did you know there is over 7 litres (2 gallons), of petroleum and oil in one tyre alone not to mention the numerous chemicals including chlorine, styrene, butadiene and more than 20 different heavy metals.
Now let me quickly say, that burning tyres is illegal in N.Z. not that it stops some.
There are literally thousands of ways to recycle tyres from creating chairs to using them in the building industry. They can be used for courts or shoes and in some countries some are actually burned for their fuel value.
But, getting back to Sweden and how we could be doing the exact same thing. However, it’s really not likely to happen – why should we fix broken things when we can easily buy cheaper stuff from China to appease our consumerist habits.
Source: The Guardian
