Or, perhaps more accurately, might have been repaired if it had been financially worthwhile doing so.
Calculating just what all those appliances cost, then adding on the cost of the appliances which do those jobs today, would be a very deflating exercise. As would considering exactly how much energy and natural resources went into making, then shipping, those things.
It depresses plenty of other people too, notably Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, who put a Bill into the Members Ballot to try to do something about it.
The Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill seeks to require manufacturers to make repair parts and information about how to repair their goods available to consumers and, happily for Ms Davidson, her marble came up. On current progress it might just manage to get its first reading this year.
Which is where it may well stop.
Southern Say understands the government is not averse to the idea of some sort of right to repair law being introduced - similar laws exist in the European Union, the United Kingdom and United States and they are popular with their core voters, who regularly lament that things do not last the way they used to.
However, the government is not sure that Ms Davidson’s draft Bill, which as written would wield a very broad brush, is quite the best way to do it.
In the interim, a campaign to achieve something similar to Ms Davidson’s aims has picked up a head of steam.
Last week, Consumer NZ presented a petition to Parliament which calls on manufacturers to label products as to whether or not they can be repaired. With Ms Davidson on sick leave and hopefully doing well in her ongoing treatment for breast cancer, Consumer presented its petition to Dunedin Labour MP Rachel Brooking, who had her environment spokeswoman hat on.
At 21,000 signatures, it is a significant petition, and the petitions committee - which includes Dunedin Green list MP Francisco Hernandez in its membership - will no doubt give it serious consideration.
Legislation achieving something similar to both what Ms Davidson and Consumer want to achieve was on Labour’s legislative plan during its term, but it was one of many endeavours which it did not get around to actioning before the election.
Ms Brooking’s interest comes from a waste minimisation perspective, noting that "our landfills are already stuffed with broken items that are unable to be fixed."
While the Green Island tip is in the neighbouring electorate of Taieri (whose Labour MP Ingrid Leary was also at the event), both Dunedin MPs well know of the travails that have unfolded so far as the lack of future capacity in the facility is considered.
This is not some sudden flight of fancy for Consumer: it has been bewailing the manufacturing sector’s institutionalisation of planned obsolescence for years and it has done extensive research on the issue.
The genesis of the new petition is a 2022 investigation which found huge numbers of small appliances with easy-to-repair faults were simply being dumped into landfill rather than being fixed and continuing to be of service.
Its petition has a much narrower focus than Ms Davidson’s Bill - it wants clear labelling to show buyers what can and cannot be repaired, thus hopefully influencing consumer choice towards the more durable products, rather than requiring manufacturers provide information, spare parts and tools necessary to repair goods, as the draft legislation does.
Of course, a petition is not legislation, but it might just point the way towards a compromise approach which can achieve cross-Parliament support.
Consumer remains hopeful that Parliament will accept both it and the Greens’ proposed approaches to the problem, saying a comprehensive approach is needed.
Given we are the only country in the OECD without such rules, and that nearly 100,000 tonnes of e-waste a year gets chucked away, you can see its point. And there is only so much room on the Southern Say sun porch where those things can rust in pieces.
