Our washing machine is broken. We have been washing clothing in the bath and we have wet clothing drying around the house. Nothing to do with the washing machine -- we just like showing off our underwear to visitors.

Anyway. Last year we spent nearly 6 months living without a fridge-freezer. We had a dual fridge-freezer unit, and a part had failed in the fridge, making it useless even though the freezer was still working. And surprise surprise, the repair would have cost more than buying a new, more efficient model.

Now the thing is this: all of these consumer goods were bought since we got married in 2000. Are we really saying that the life span of a washing machine is less than 8 years? Surely they're not built to break down....

Wait - maybe they are built to break down. What are we really saying about society when a 50 year old fridge still works perfectly well yet something much newer fails just outside the warranty period?

According to the British Environment Agency we chuck away a million tonnes of waste electrical equipment a year. Under terms of the European WEEE directive, efforts are slowly being made to reduce the amount of electrical waste -- which often contains some pretty nasty substances -- in landfill sites. But anecdotal evidence suggests that few consumers know about it, and some retailers are unwilling to admit to being responsible for the disposal of defunct equipment.

Clearly there is a lot of usable electrical equipment within the WEEE waste stream, so the growth of schemes like freecycle is a very good thing. But whilst recycling and reusing are helpful, they are no substitute for preventing the waste in the first place. Why are repairs and upgrades of product parts so expensive? Doesn't it make sense to build products which can be easily and cheaply repaired in the future?

I guess part of the responsibility lies with manufacturers, who are clearly looking to sell ever increasing numbers of products and charge excessive prices for spare parts. Part of the responsibility must also lie with our culture, that values new over old and is always yearning for the new and shiny.

It doesn't have to be this way. One small brand in the UK is attempting to sell simple washing machines, which have long warranties, support from local engineers and reasonably priced spare parts. The are called ISE Appliances and part of the point is to extend the life of household appliances. It sounds like a good business model to me.