COMMENT ‘Rage rooms’ are on rise but climate takes the hit

• Published date: 25 April 2024
• Author: Georgie Ferrari is the CEO of Sustainability Trust, an environmental social enterprise that operates in the Wellington region. Georgie Ferrari
• Publication title: Bay of Plenty Times

For the uninitiated, a rage room is basically what it says on the tin. It’s a place where you can pay some money, put some protective gear on and smash things, often with a metal bar or bat. What do you smash? Well, that’s where my rage comes in

On offer for destruction are a variety of household items. As reported in the Herald, plates, bottles and glassware are standard, but for a bigger “thrill”, electronic waste, (or “e-waste”) is available. Flat-screen TVs, computers and printers can be provided for customers to mindlessly smash away at.

Recently on Wellington’s waterfront, (ironically right beside the nation’s biggest conservator of items, Te Papa), a rage space was used to promote a New Zealand fintech company. “De-stress with [company name]” it said. “Never think about tax again.” There, in a large shipping container with one side replaced with perspex, members of the public could come and smash stuff. This time, even a dishwasher was on offer for destruction.

At Sustainability Trust, we’re saddened to see the increase in smash-up type events and businesses being promoted around the motu.

We know they’re on the rise overseas too, with many new enterprises starting in Australia and further afield.

Why do smash-it places break our hearts? Every day at the trust, we work hard to ensure these very items are disposed of thoughtfully. We collect tonnes of e-waste annually. What we can’t refurbish and resell ourselves, we send to our recycling partners for responsible recycling and disposal. Our RepairEd programmes teach hundreds of people every year about the value of fixing things and continuing to use them.

The business profiled in the Herald says it sources its materials from electronic repair shops and op-shops, taking things that “were on their way to the tip anyway”. The waterfront fintech company that recently offered punters the chance to smash stuff told my staff everything would be sorted and recycled afterwards.

So, what’s the problem?

There is no standard practice operators need to follow. Customers won’t know what is happening to the waste unless they seek said information out.

And the harsh reality is recycling can only get us so far on the path to a low-carbon future. The real solution to transforming our high-consumption-based economy lies in making less in the first place.

There isn’t always an obvious connection between waste and climate change; globally, the waste sector only contributes 3 per cent to greenhouse gas emissions, 5 per...