The Articel „Tausch dich glücklich“ written by Simon Frost in the year 2013 and in the articel „Repair Cafés: Basteln gegen die Werfwerfgesellschaft written by Haiko Prengel in the Year 2013 explains why many Germans have changed their consumer behaviour.
More and more Germans are using exchange platforms to change their old items with other users. This is because many Germans do not want to throw away their old items such as refrigerators or toasters.
Furthermore, the exchange platforms are interesting for the users because everybody is always curious about what one will get in exchange for one's product. Nevertheless, it should be noted that material things are more valuable to the seller than immaterial things. For this reason, it is always difficult to exchange material things.
Because of this problem, the barter exchanges have created a point system where people get points for certain exchanged things and can redeem these points for vouchers.
One of the most important reasons for trading is that it means that people do not throw away products but recycle them and give them to other people. This contributes to the environment because it reduces waste products and keeps the products in the product cycle.
For this reason, other companies offer donation campaigns to donate to environmental organizations. This change contributes positively to the environment
In the second article more and more Germans are fighting against throwing away products. To this end, people have created several repair cafés where mechanics make old electrical appliances functional again. In this way, they recycle or repair the product and it can be reused.
The important thing is that nothing should be thrown away. With this idea, they want to control consumer behavior by offering consumers in several cities to have small or large defects repaired by mechanics. The problem is that consumers are too quick to throw away products with small defects. Saving money should not play a role, but people should learn to act more sustainably.
In conclusion, it can be said that more and more Germans want to be more environmentally conscious with exchange platforms. Furthermore, repair cafés should lead people to use their products more sustainably and to have them repaired if they are defective. This should reduce the number of disposable products.
