Sustainability at Home: The Case of Vacuum Cleaners

Household practices are a microcosm that shows how we think about sustainability on an everyday basis. This study focuses on vacuuming, which is a household chore with similarities to routine work activities. The 24 participants in the study merely considered sustainability a minor aspect in their decisions about which vacuum cleaner to buy. Brand, price, and suction power were top considerations. With respect to repair/replace decisions, participants tended to favor repair, that is, the more sustainable option. However, decisions to repair a vacuum cleaner that broke down were often on the condition that it could be done cheaply. In contrast, decisions to replace were never conditional. Finally, participants exhibited cross-country differences in the importance they attached to sustainability. These differences suggest that national discourses have the power to influence individual householders’ views on sustainability.