Whenever I'm making a purchase, I try to think about whether or not I'll still want to use that item in a few years. The way many of us buy new gadgets and throw them in the trash the second the next generation comes out scares me. Food and biodegradables will disappear over time, but the cell phones and laptops we toss in the trash for that next version of Android or iOS will sit in landfills forever, or until someone in a third world country melts it down in a home-made crucible. Even recycling electronics is a gamble--when I went to visit an HP recycling center 5 years ago, they admitted that much of what they reclaim stays in storage or goes otherwise unused because it's not cost-effective. (Maybe things have changed since then).
A history professor of mine once said that the legacy the Greeks and Romans left behind is bronze and marble; the legacy we leave behind will be all plastic.