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Recently i had news come through that a mouse had crawled into a tent of mine and died. There are several holes throughout the tent and it looks pretty hopeless. In fact, i’m not sure it would hold out if it rained. I thought it might be time for a new one.
So, anyway… I was checking out the camping section on the argos website, as suggested by my girlfriend, to find a new tent and came accross the disposable tent for two people. It looked like any other tent, but the price tag was much lower and the ‘disposable’ word in the label seems to give it a sense that it’s ok to throw it away if you don’t want to use it.
The techie details:
# Polyester PU coated with taped seams.
# Waterproof 1200mm.
# Top ventilation with mini flysheet.
# Taped seams.
# Inverted door shape.
# Poles 7mm diameter.
# 8 pegs and 4 guy ropes.
# Size 150 x 205 x 100cm.
Price: £7.99
My old tent had lasted for the past 12 years with relatively little wear and tear. A few of the rubber tent peg connector pieces had started to get a little fragile but they are easily replaced. This Argos tent doesn’t seem to be made to last long, and all i can imagine that happens to it once it’s been used is a quick visit to the tip.
I can’t see that many of the parts within the tent are supposed to last long, or that they are designed to be recycled or even decompose into the ground. I think that the disposable nature of this tent will most likely encourage people to throw the tent away quicker than they otherwise might.
I’m not really that impressed with argos’s decision to sell this type of product. We should really be encouraging making use of materials for a long time, or making products usable in other ways or for other purposes.
It also got me thinking about whether a tent could be designed for use once or twice which could be left at a campsite and used for another purpose. Perhaps firewood, ground mulch, compost, a raft, or even someone elses tent!
