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Sweden paying people to fix things

03/11/2016 by Paul Ducker

To combat its ‘throwaway consumer culture’, Sweden has announced tax breaks on repairs to clothes, bicycles, fridges and washing machines. On bikes and clothes, VAT has been reduced from 25% to 12% and on white goods consumers can claim back income tax due on the person doing the work.

The scheme is expected to cost the state some $54 million in lost taxes, which will be more than outweighed by income from a new tax on harmful chemicals in white goods. Moreover, Sweden’s economy is growing strongly and the government has an $800 million budget surplus.

Alexander Starritt interviewed the man behind the scheme, deputy finance minister Per Bolund, a member of the Green party and a biologist by training. He spoke about nudging people towards better choices; creating jobs for skilled manual workers; and Sweden’s six-hour working day.

Read the interview on the Medium web site, which originally appeared on World Economic Forum web site.

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Filed Under: Carbon reduction, Communities, consumption and the local economy, Spotted on the web, Waste Tagged With: circular economy, recycle, repair, reuse

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Reading Sustainability Centre

We are an education project linked to Transition Town Reading and Reading Hydro. Our goal is that Reading is recognised as a leader in practical action on sustainability, as well as a great place to live.

We are mostly virtual at the moment, but are working with a variety of partners to support the development of local sustainability experiments as well as ‘pop-up’ exhibitions and events. So please do keep checking back, or sign up for updates below. If you’d like to get more directly involved just drop us a line.

There is more about Reading Sustainability Centre on our Who we are page.

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