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Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff

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Re: Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff

#331

Post by celticninja »

ab5tract wrote: post #324
celticninja wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it would fail on the public good criteria, that is the law is aimed at improving recycling rates not harming companies bottom line. If there was some protectionism going on it would be different. It should have the effect of making companies improve repairability (is that a word?) to make themselves more attractive to buyers.

I'm sorry, but how do you develop a worldview where "public good" is determined via corporate lawsuits? Is it simply in the intention of the law? Because from what I can see of the history of ISDS, harming a companies bottom line is the exact criteria by which these cases are judged. Outside of the tobacco labelling suit, I am hard pressed to find a case where ISDS did not result in a ruling against a government.

It's in the law.

Re: Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff

#332

Post by ab5tract »

celticninja wrote: post #331
ab5tract wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but how do you develop a worldview where "public good" is determined via corporate lawsuits? Is it simply in the intention of the law? Because from what I can see of the history of ISDS, harming a companies bottom line is the exact criteria by which these cases are judged. Outside of the tobacco labelling suit, I am hard pressed to find a case where ISDS did not result in a ruling against a government.

It's in the law.

Which law are you referring to? This law contains, in plain language, assertions that laws enacted to encourage repair are considered "public good"? I'll believe it when you post a link.

What if there was a large company, RomeRepairCo, already operating in Sweden? Wouldn't they then have a claim to some form of protectionist angle to this law?

Do you see where I am going with this? You say "it is in the law", yet you are neglecting the fact that court cases hinge on the interpretation of law.

Why are laws designed to nationalize (ahem) national resources not qualifying as "for the public good"? When do governments enact any law that is not (ostensibly, at least) "for the public good"?

The history of ISDS law shows that the validity of "for the public good" is determined by these corporate courts^Wroom of corporate lawyers and according to their own corporate interpretation. This is why the outcomes they have so far produced run so contrary to any non-libertarian interpretation of a moral society.

Re: Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff

#333

Post by kwhitefoot »

Never mind repairing old stuff; just make it easier to pass on stuff. I suspect that Sweden is similar to Norway (where I live) and immense amounts of current electronic gear is thrown away. A lot of it is in usable condition (for some value of usable anyway) but I am not allowed to take it away from a recycling station.

Re: Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff

#334

Post by digikata »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #327
digikata wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hoping for automated wash bots...

So... a dishwasher?

Haha, yes, but with a little bit more of the pipeline automated. I would love to start with a messy stack of dishes on one end of a table, have the automation to sort out trash, then separate and rack silverware, dishes, cups etc into a 'dishwasher', then unrack it into a nice organized output area (where other staff could just pull clean items out of).

Re: Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff

#335

Post by marcusjt »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #217
jernfrost wrote: post #190

This is beginning in the wrong end IMHO. One of the big problems today is that products are: 1) Not made to be repaired. 2) Not made to last 3) Repair manuals are not easily and widely available 4) Manufacturer have monopoly on replacement parts making them extremely expensive. I would instead create tax incentives which encourage manufacturers to make repairable and durable items, and pass laws which makes it easier…

>> Getting the part is difficult, expensive or hard to install. I'm running into this with some of my drones now. The 3DR Iris Plus was released in 2014 and they've already ceased supporting it, less than two years after releasing it. This means no more OEM parts available and whatever is out there right now, is out there. I have found only one distributor who carries parts for this model - so I'm left with either be…

If only companies open sourced the 3D designs/models for products & parts they no longer care about - why not? Perhaps Sweden could incentivise exactly this outcome?

Re: Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff

#336

Post by eveningcoffee »

charlesdm wrote: post #15
eveningcoffee wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sales tax also applies to the services. More over, as labor is highly taxed in Sweden, it makes local repairing disproportionally more expensive compared to the manufacturing in a country with smaller labor costs.

> More over, as labor is highly taxed in Sweden, it makes local repairing disproportionally more expensive compared to the manufacturing in a country with smaller labor costs. Sounds like a very clear flaw in their economic and taxation model.

This flaw is called free trade. This problem used to be fixed by higher customs. But we generally prefer free trade, so they have to try other initiatives.
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