Looking at the amount of waste in the contemporary world, it’s striking how disposable everything has become—food, clothing, electronics and many more. In fact, nowadays, it has become very easy to just throw something you don’t want anymore. Waste seems to be the product of a convenience- and profit-based culture where planned obsolescence is the norm and repairing things will cost more than simply replacing them. A few hundred years ago, people had a very different relationship with what they had compared to today. Indeed, things were repaired, recycled, and passed down because resources were lacking and expensive. There was no waste as there is today. The shift away from this mindset is most directly tied to economic development and inequality. Economies of scale have lowered product costs but at the cost of sustainability. Moreover, repairing electronics, for instance, rests on expert knowledge and tools that many people no longer have. Corporate interests and policy also make things difficult, as well—through locked-up software, costly replacement parts, or even law that prevents individuals from fixing their own item. If things are designed to be tossed, the system ensures it. This is also connected to a larger issue: too much personal responsibility. It’s easier to just buy something else rather than trying to fix it. Ultimately, waste is not as much an individual failure but rather an effect of economic and political choice. Nonetheless, personal choices do make a difference, yet they are incapable of resisting the structures that ensure waste as inevitable.