Kitchen appliances such as bread makers and blenders can obviously cut down on packaging by producing home made items instead of buying them with the accompanying packaging. But what happens when they break down?
Quality – To reduce landfill rubbish buy the best quality you can afford, and try to buy items made of steel rather than plastic, most notably jugs and toasters.
Repair – If something does break, it could be repaired; try a yellow pages search, e.g. appliance repairs, or try re-homing it through Freecycle or with a no reserve Trade Me auction to someone who can use the parts or has the skills to repair the item and keep it going.
DVD Player – Eric wrote in with this great suggestion: “An old DVD player might not play DVD’s anymore, but more than likely can still play audio CD’s, so take it off the TV and connect it to the sound system.”
Remotes – Eric also suggests:
“For checking the remote, your eyes can not see the LED in the remote,
but the camera in your cell phone can see it, give it try while the
remote still works, if the light does not work it could the battery’s
flat or a fault in the remote.”
