Wasteful

archangel

archangel

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I spent today in the company of a team of waste recycling people.......the guys were great but the people delivering their waste were disgusting...I have never seen so much stuff thrown out......really good stuff....... 4 Sony Bravia flat screen 40" tv (the guy said that technology had moved on and no longer had use for old tech) , tough leather art deco bar stools, circa 1960.....numerous wrought iron gates and sculptures....and the worst I seen was a collection of match boxes which a lady collected over seventy years but her daughter just wanted a clear out.......I spoke to each of the individuals who were dumping what I deemed as salvage and the same answer each time......I couldn't be bothered trying to sell it......I suggested charity shops and again.....I could be bothered.....I spoke to over 200 people today and each one was the same.....I can't be bothered......what has our society become? I am truly disgusted on what I seen today....I realise that the waste site does recycle the stuff into other useful items but the fact that people cannot be bothered to reuse or pass on...unbelievable!!:mad:
 
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The re-use centre at our local tip never ceases to amaze me at the stuff that people throw away. I'm just grateful most of the staff don't understand the value of items - mint hardback copy of Edward Weston: A Legacy for £1..

But charity shops and eBay are the same. Men's suits and jackets worn only once or twice for £5, the tack stitches still holding the pockets closed...
 
It is true that we have become a throw-away society. It often work out cheaper and less hassle to just buy a new item rather then trying to fix or mend a current one - and when it does break down, those who doesn't have a car are presented with the problem of trying to dispose of it.
Which then leads me to one of my own pet hates, people dumping broken items on pavements or alleyways thinking "that's it, ain't my problem no more, let the council sort it out".
 
Ian D J said:
It is true that we have become a throw-away society. It often work out cheaper and less hassle to just buy a new item rather then trying to fix or mend a current one - and when it does break down, those who doesn't have a car are presented with the problem of trying to dispose of it.
Which then leads me to one of my own pet hates, people dumping broken items on pavements or alleyways thinking "that's it, ain't my problem no more, let the council sort it out".
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Our local council wanted to charge me £36 to dispose of a small sofa - It's almost like they are trying to encourage people to dump things by charging so much and penalising people who choose an environmentally sound car free lifestyle.
 
London? it would sound about right... That TV was probably worth 3 hours of their mortgage payment and perhaps blocked the view of their ferrari in the courtyard. Come to glasgow to breathe in the air of charity shops controlling 90% furniture market...
 
boliston said:
Our local council wanted to charge me £36 to dispose of a small sofa - It's almost like they are trying to encourage people to dump things by charging so much and penalising people who choose an environmentally sound car free lifestyle.
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You need to live somewhere else mate, my local council will collect my old sofa free of charge :)
 
My council offers the same free collection service here in Nottingham which makes it even more annoying to see furniture etc dumped.

Wrt charity shops my brother supplements his pension by £1000+ per month buying books from them and selling on Amazon - he loves buying underpriced books from Oxfam specialist shops.
 
Oxfam underpriced? not round here.. they're the worst place for a bargain amongst our charity shops..

Now RSPCA, that's different.. £5 for a very clean CZJ Flektogon 35/2.4..
 
Whilst I agree generally, just a few 'devils advocate points'

Charity shops [here in London specifically] - high streets are now full of them, partly because local shops have closed due to costs, costs they can't afford because councils have made it expensive and or impossible to park anywhere near them, much easier at the retail park where parking is free/cheap so shoppers have moved on. Trouble is, this also makes delivering anything but a carrier bag full to said shops also very difficult and few offer a collection service. Most don't take electrical items, understandably. It's catch 22

ebay/gumtree, etc - hassle, hassle, rip-off, conmen, and more hassle.... and in the case of ebay, by the time the fees are paid too... thats the kind of reputation and problems you are up against.

Spoilt for choice... this is more about using used furniture places etc, and may possibly be a London thing, but when it comes to larger, bulkier items, many can afford to pick and choose what they will accept and won't bother with any thing less than absolutely perfect.

We are currently clearing a business premises, yesterday the paper all went in a skip and has gone off for secure shredding followed by recycling [only about half it needed secure shredding, but made sense to just stick all the paper in it as we were paying for it]. The scrap metal [and there is a LOT of it], will be going the same way [to be recycled I mean, not securely shredded :lol: ]. I had a massive amount of lever arch files, advertised them free on fb/streetlife, they have gone to a good home. The cardboard I am breaking up and taking to a recycling centre myself in the car.

But that still leaves a lot of stuff, most of which is going to be skipped. Now in fairness, much of it is actually 'rubbish' in the sense of being broken beyond repair, in some cases, impossible to repair because its so old the parts are no longer available. Stuff like office chairs that cost less than £40 6-7 years ago, now with wrecked wheels and broken backs, not worth anyone keeping/repairing.

Yes, I agree we throw away a lot of stuff, but you need to look at the bigger picture to work out why that is happening, more so in some areas than others maybe? Cheap manufacturing making cheap products that fail to last any kind of significant time doesn't help the disposability in the market either.
 
Yv said:
councils have made it expensive and or impossible to park anywhere
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I am so glad I am in Glasgow and not in London right now. I didn't think I'd say that but I just did.
 
daugirdas said:
I am so glad I am in Glasgow and not in London right now. I didn't think I'd say that but I just did.
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It's not just London. One of the charity shops in my local town is right by disabled parking which means non disabled people constantly park there to drop stuff off!
 
Yv said:
Yes, I agree we throw away a lot of stuff, but you need to look at the bigger picture to work out why that is happening, more so in some areas than others maybe? Cheap manufacturing making cheap products that fail to last any kind of significant time doesn't help the disposability in the market either.
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Chicken and egg.. if people keep buying cheap sh*t manufacturers will keep making it.

You can buy quality long-lasting items, but they cost money - and you need to look after them and be prepared to look at the same item for longer than six months without being bored with it. People would rather pay less so they can throw it out and buy new to keep up with whatever trend is current. Primark (and the High Street clothing sector as a whole) is the classic example. And then there's those folk that must change their tv every 18 months to "keep up with technology". B***ocks to that, the tv is ten years old manages 720p on a handful of channels and 3d/4k has no interest to me at all. Washing machine is 15 years old and just had it's third set of carbon brushes fitted.
 
Alastair said:
Chicken and egg.. if people keep buying cheap sh*t manufacturers will keep making it.

You can buy quality long-lasting items, but they cost money - and you need to look after them and be prepared to look at the same item for longer than six months without being bored with it. People would rather pay less so they can throw it out and buy new to keep up with whatever trend is current. Primark (and the High Street clothing sector as a whole) is the classic example. And then there's those folk that must change their tv every 18 months to "keep up with technology". B***ocks to that, the tv is ten years old manages 720p on a handful of channels and 3d/4k has no interest to me at all. Washing machine is 15 years old and just had it's third set of carbon brushes fitted.
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tell me about it, fridge, freezer and tumble dryer, all around the 20 year old mark, all slowly dying, [and in the modern world, probably not the most energy efficient either] and will replace as selling house soon, but they have done their service. On the other hand, washing machine and dishwasher, bought decent ones 3 or 4 years ago, both are utterly rubbish. Not broken as such, they have just never been particularly good at the job they were bought to do, feels like we paid for a name rather than any quality of manufacture, especially as the previous cheaper ones were far better at the job but broke very quickly and the costs of repair were more than we paid for them in the first place. TV is now 5 years old, have no desire to replace/upgrade, it does the job perfectly well and I simply cannot be doing with the whole 'keeping up with technology' thing. Even my cameras, still using D700's, commercially, and they do the job very happily in spite of being, what, 6 year old technology? [ridiculously old in camera technology terms] Yes, they will be upgraded this year, but only because they are getting a bit leggy and so to preserve reliability. They are still perfectly good cameras that will carry on being used either by me, or someone else.
 
When we upgraded our furniture we put the unwanted items at the back of the house with a note, "if you want it take it". Within 30 mins everything had gone to new homes. We've done this several times, saves us the hassle of selling it or taking it to the tip. If it was still there a few days later, then we would take it to the tip, never had to make the trip though.
 
Yv said:
Charity shops [here in London specifically] - high streets are now full of them, partly because local shops have closed due to costs, costs they can't afford because councils have made it expensive and or impossible to park anywhere near them,
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Same here, and as I understand it the charity shops (around here at least) pay little or no rent.
 
Cobra said:
Same here, and as I understand it the charity shops (around here at least) pay little or no rent.
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They get preferential rates, and for the most part are not paying wages to staff other than the manager nor paying tax on profits.

No problem getting local charity shops to take electrical items, most around here seem to. No one wants old VHS tape though!
 
H.J.H said:
When we upgraded our furniture we put the unwanted items at the back of the house with a note, "if you want it take it". Within 30 mins everything had gone to new homes. We've done this several times, saves us the hassle of selling it or taking it to the tip. If it was still there a few days later, then we would take it to the tip, never had to make the trip though.
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Mate did similar. No takers. He then offered it for sale for £20. Was nicked within 30 mins.
 
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