MY printer broke at the weekend.

"Get another one," a colleague told me, "You can pick one up really cheaply - it will cost you more to repair it."

Being unable to afford another, I wasn't too happy about this, so I contacted the helpdesk of the company, Epson, to ask their opinion.

To my horror, the nice man at the end of the line repeated the advice: "Get another one - it won't be worth paying to get it fixed," he told me.

Is it any wonder we have a reputation as a throwaway society? But I'm confused. On the one hand we are given strict instructions from the Government down to the local council, not to throw things away.

"Repair, reuse, recycle"- the Three Rs - is the message being rammed down our throats.

Yet, with electrical and electronic goods, from washing machines to tumble dryers, to televisions, to toasters, we are faced with the choice of paying through the nose for repairs or paying the same, or less, for a new one. It's no contest.

I'm constantly trying to be thrifty, to save money by darning socks and tights, patching up holes in the children's jeans, and trawling through the rails in charity shops. I cut up old clothes to use as dusters and don't throw anything away without serious thought as to how it could be reused.

Yet here I am, about to casually bin a three-year-old printer that cost £50, because it's gone on the blink, and spending cash we haven't got to buy a new one. The fault could be trivial for all I know.

I'd probably do the same with the washing machine - if it broke we'd rush out and replace it, because that's what people do. We take pains not to throw away yoghurt pots and plastic bottles, yet we chuck out computers, TV sets and microwave ovens like there's no tomorrow.

I wouldn't want to be a washing machine or printer repairer in this climate. But, bizarrely, they do exist - the yellow pages is full of them. There are dozens of people who fix washers, and I came across a few printer repairers too. I hate to think of them sitting by the phone day after day, while their bread and butter is being dumped into landfill sites.

Maybe they're not what they seem. No one needs them, so they've got to be a front for something else, something dangerous and secretive. I reckon washing machine repairers are MI5 agents working under cover. They probably don't know a hose from a drum, and dread people ringing to ask why their hot wash isn't functioning.

But all is not lost. There are a few people out there prepared to go the extra mile. While carrying out this in-depth piece of investigative journalism, I came across websites for washing machine parts. That means someone, somewhere, must be making an attempt to fix broken machines. And, amazingly, there are websites for printer parts too.

I got quite excited when I spotted those, thinking I could save myself tens of pounds. Only I don't know what part I need. And to find out would cost me the price of a new printer.