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“This consists of a series of proposals from European environment ministers to force manufacturers to make goods that last longer and are easier to mend.”

Ah, yes, the government again intervening in the free market. All that this will do (if adopted) is to increase the price of the goods affected. After all, longer-lasting machinery needs to be built from better materials and also be better designed...neither of which is free. If things are easier to fix, that again requires better design, along with a supply of spare parts, and space in which to store all of the spare parts, and employees and a manufacturing facility to MAKE the spare...none of which is free. Oh, and then the manufacturers will HAVE to charge more for these appliances because longer-lasting equipment will very adversely affect their bottom line for years (or, more likely, decades) into the future.

BTW, I would bet that for just about any of the appliances mentioned, there are already manufacturers who make better, longer-lasting, products...but you probably pay 40% - 100% more for the product.

In the meantime, by pricing more people out of the market (which is ALL that this proposal will do), you will wind up with a bunch of poor folks trying to jury-rig the electrical components of their broken appliances, leading to many more fires and deaths going forward. I’d venture to say that the additional fires will add so much pollution to the atmosphere that it will offset any savings of pollution related to better appliances.

In summary, I’ll quote the great philosopher Ringo Starr:

“Everything that the government touches, turns to shit.”