Do people hi-fi and home cinema fanatics care about sustainability? We want to know!

Turntable on desk with Sustainability Week logo
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

What Hi-Fi? has thrown its hat in with the planeteers and is running a special Sustainability Week event until the clock strikes midnight on Sunday.

During that time we will publish a series of features covering everything from how to recycle old hi-fi to big questions about the industry's impact on the planet.

But, alongside all of this, we want to ask one fundamental question: do you, our awesome readers, care about sustainability?

We know this is a broad question, but with the planet heating up and every new report we see suggesting e-waste, including that generated by home cinema and audio hardware, is becoming a growing problem, we want to know what, if any, factors you consider.

Would you prefer to only buy products that are from a certified B Corp, or one that holds an independent environmental accreditation, such as the rare and incredibly stringent, Cradle-to-Cradle badge Bang & Olufsen has recently championed and chased with some of its products?

Or, like we heard from Cambridge Audio a couple of years ago, are you more worried about a company getting the basics right and doing things like using minimalist packaging, avoiding single use plastics and the ilk?

Going a little deeper, do you think sustainability isn’t even about little things like that, and the real battle is ensuring their longevity and that they never spend their final moments buried in a landfill after being retired?

If so, maybe you think the answer lies in the right to repair your hi-fi, or ensuring they have a modular design where they can be upgraded as time goes on? The latter being an idea we’ve seen deployed by Marshall with its new Heston 120 Dolby Atmos soundbar mere months ago.

Or, do you just not care and will buy whatever sounds best or offers the best picture quality, regardless of its sustainability. If so, why? And what would change your mind?

We want to know the answers in this special edition Ask The Reader!

We’ll collate all the, non-abusive / sweary, answers we get on this page as well as those shared on our forum and social media channels to answer this question on the 22nd of August – so make sure to have your say before then!

MORE:

Now that vinyl record sales are on the rise, is there a more sustainable way to manufacture them?

Monitor Audio thinks separates are more sustainable than all-in-ones

“Everyone has some skin in the game, we are all part of the world”: JLab’s CEO on making the tech industry more sustainable

Alastair Stevenson
Editor in Chief

Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cyber security policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi? he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Outside of tech, he has a Masters from King’s College London in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, is an enthusiastic, but untalented, guitar player and runs a webcomic in his spare time. 

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