As a child I often wondered why our buses were so run-down, dilapidated and old. The answer I found out was pretty simple-- most of our buses were hand-me-down, salvaged, secondhand vehicles from the developed countries like Japan.
It's like my older brother giving me his worn-out, washed-over-a-thousand times, weak-at-the-seams jeans or shirt. "May Bago na naman ako." I actually didn't mind because for me, the clothing was still "new", not in the typical sense of the word when it comes to clothes with tags still on, but "new" since I have a new shirt I can wear. Wish it was that simple for buses and recently for electronic wastes.
What comes off as an aid in the form of lower priced electronics is actually the developed countries' way of disposing its garbage for a profit. Unlike clothes which are more resilient to fashion changes i.e. a perfect jeans never goes out of style, electronics become obsolete faster than a fifty-percent off sale on all items in your favorite brand.
Consequently, developing countries end up using slower, more energy consuming, less reliable electronics. Where's the justice?
Paul Obmina, entry no. 14
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