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Comment by chrischen | Hacker News Reader

People have to reuse and resell and buy used. Dispel any notion that you may be a “cheap” person for buying used by the fact that it is infinitely better for the environment.

Often time people will say that it is not worth the time to resell something less than $10 (time to meet a buyer/shop an item), but that’s because the actual costs of trashing it are externalized. Even if you don't throw it away and just store it in a closet, you're creating demand for the manufacturing of new product that will all eventually be trashed. The longer you hoard it the lower the value—and thus re-usability—it holds.

There should also be laws that guarantee the right to transfer warranties so that manufacturers cannot disincentivize the second hand market.

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> the actual costs of trashing it are externalized

Does it really cost that much to bury things in the ground? And how much of that cost is externalized? Where I live garbage collection is done by for-profit companies that charge for it.

Seems more likely that the costs of producing things in the first place are what's externalized by producing in third world countries with lax environmental standards.

> Seems more likely that the costs of producing things in the first place are what's externalized by producing in third world countries with lax environmental standards.

Environmental standards in developed (first world) countries are also lax because the long term effects of fossil fuel usage isn’t included in the price.

Landfill is one of the major sources of greenhouse gasses, so yes.

At 1000$/tonne of CO2 (Air capture!) burying a soda bottle (2L - 42g) would cost on the order of 5 cents, or conveniently what many states charge as a bottle deposit, so no. You would have to be burying 5-10 kilos of plastic to approach even $10 worth of carbon dioxide emission mitigation.

And since that gas comes from one place, it is relatively easy to capture it and do things with it. Methane in particular can be burned, either to destroy it or even as a power source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_gas_utilization

If you're getting rid of something and it doesn't seem worth selling, give it away. Platforms like Craigslist and Facebook marketplace are great for this. ime you'll find a taker for anything that's not complete junk.

I would say that even clean plastic bags are better to be given away for reuse than recycled or trashed.

Buying used is great. I got married in a pair of shoes I bought used on eBay!

Bought my wife's engagement ring used on eBay. (With her knowledge and full support!)

Edit: Actually, time fogged my memory a bit. She didn't know I was buying it beforehand, but we knew each other well by then, and I knew she'd be on board with it, and in fact wouldn't want me to waste money on a big retail diamond. And indeed, she loves the ring, knowing it came from eBay!

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