#landfillcore...so depressing 😞

[Badvocthebad]

I've been irl shopping recently and, of course, ads all over SM...
The absolute tat being sold in all shops with an "autmnal theme"!
Pumpkin cushions, pumpkin mugs, highland cows (?) on everything from socks to pjs to blankets...
Its all mass produced, plastic crap, probably made by children in sweatshops. (Polyester is plastic for those who aren't aware)
The world is burning. Literally. The over consumption is killing us all slowly (some of us not so slowly..)
I'm not against buying things you need (although how much of what what we buy do we really need?) <just spent a year clearing out 2 relatives houses....trust me, you don't need 2/3 of what's in your home>
Just this week I've bought vintage 100% linen napkins and some dinner plates from vinted. All as new, but used. (I don't use plastic or paper napkins)
Cost me about £25.
Plastic tat is killing this planet, plastic grass is killing the pollinators (they die, we all die...)
It's just so...depressing. It's why I don't really do irl shopping anymore. Even clothes are all polyester/viscose/acrylic messes.
I'm currently in the process of de cluttering my house/loft. I don't want my kids to have to go through what I have over the past few years (this is the 3rd house I've had to clear in a decade)
By 2032, there will be the largest weather transfer in history.
The boomers are dying out and there houses and garages and sheds and lofts and cellars which are full of stuff which will be saturating the market.
It's a sunny Sunday morning here and- yet again - I'm going to be doing a tip run to give things to the re-home section.
I know some will say "well, its free will"
But..is it? Really? When we are now bombarded with ads and insta worthy houses and influencers flogging the latest highland cow merch from b&m?
Aren't we all just being played?
Sorry, bit of a rant for a Sunday morning 😬😕

It’s horrendous. And yet people keep buying it. I despair of the human race.

I agree with a lot of what you say. We’re approaching Halloween and there will be so much orange plastic tat on sale. It’s a sad sight.

You’re right.

However I have Halloween decor out all year long. I have two mugs next to me right now and they’re both Halloween ones. And they’re a giant retro pumpkin picking sign on the wall opposite me.

Autumn is the only realistic time to buy cool stuff for my house.

I make my own tat so is that allowed? Mostly crochet, some fabric or are we just sucking all joy and happiness out of everyones lives?

I don't think about this as deeply as you but I hate going into cheap shops and seeing all the little plastic things that will still be in landfill when everyone alive is long gone. DC love kenji, full of tiny figures, pen toppers, little gadgets, cute plushies, etc, things they want and can get without need to think about disposal.

I wish everything wasn't as cheap so people would consume less and think more about what they need.

The personal knock on of this for me is that I find it hard to throw stuff away, I'm not comfortable with just dropping it at the charity shop because I know most of their donations are chucked since they're overwhelmed. So getting rid of stuff take time to advertise and arrange collection. This does make me buy very little now.

Of course people are being played to buy crap to fill their houses with. Most of the population are fairly stupid and succumb to all sorts of advertising. Most of social media is one giant advert.

I had Instagram and Facebook and realised even people I thought were fairly decent had started advertising stuff so I came off all social media. It's absolutely freeing. I only go to shops when I need something and it's easy to avoid the aisles with that type of stuff in.

But so many people do get sucked in to thinking they need this stuff. I'm old and have seen the patterns of consumption change radically. No one used to have all these frequent changes of decor and feel they had to get new stuff every season. People bought to last. "Autumn theme" used to be perhaps some nice shiny conkers the children had found and a pumpkin at Halloween.

I feel this deeply. With young kids I see so much of it with their friends/parties etc. That plastic will outlive your kids and is destroying the planet we all call home. It’s so bleak.

How are handmade things made from sustainable materials crap? Where did I say that?

Me, too

I love Autumn. Its my favourite season. But I don't need a pumpkin mug to enjoy it 🤷‍♀️

💙

I get it. I like a nice autumnal candle but I reuse the jars. What I don’t get is why we are now expected to redecorate our bathrooms for every season or special day! Since when do we need a Halloween theme bathroom and a Christmas bathroom etc etc So wasteful.

YANBU

Future generations will hate us so much for polluting the world and wasting irreplaceable fossil resources with this kind of crap.

It really is.
I avoid shops these days.
I use awesome books or waterstones for books, I use vinted for good quality used items.
I don't have an insta worthy 46 step skincare routine and don't care about "newest anything.
I think gen z (if my dc are anything to go by) are really starting to kick against this.
🙏

Yep.
We don't.
We absolutely don't.
But its in our faces 24/7.
Hard for many to resist.

@MyArtfulGreySloth
I like a nice candle, too.
So I now have lots of lovely jars/ceramic pots I reuse for all sorts of things 😊

The problem is a lot of future generations (if they do indeed even exist), if they’ve been brought up with plastic tat and aren’t intellectually savvy enough to change the way they live their lives, will also love plastic tat and just repeat the way they’ve been brought up.

It is manufactured elsewhere but I think there needs to be more regulation to over the crap that is brought into the UK with more of a focus on sustainable products and clothing.

Where exactly does it all go at the end of every season?

You are not wrong. And it is definitely something which has ramped up hugely in the last 15 or 20 years.

Expect though people to tell you that it is their "right" to buy umpteen parcels of "cute bits" from Temu and similar, that it is a drop in the ocean compared with what some other country/person/company is doing, that unless you live in a cave and weave your own clothes from nettles you cannot comment, that it's all for the kiddies and their wee happy faces, that you are a grinch a bah-humbug taking away their fun, and that it;s all the other people who buy the disposable crap, they are lovingly cherishing their halloween/autumn/christmas/valentine's/spring decor items bought c. 1987 and carefully stored away.

All of the justification for buying shite. Just stop. Buy less. You don't need it, it doesn't make you happier or solve your deeper issues. It's wrecking the planet for your children.

YANBU. We are fucked but many people are addicted to buying stuff. Despite moaning about the cost of living, people are caught up in the game of giving their money to billionaires who already have their bunker/rocket to Mars sorted for when the shit really hits the fan. I just wish people would engage their brains a bit more.

There’s a philosophy these days that people ‘deserve’ things: ‘treat yourself!’ But personally I think baking and eating a cake or having a bath or going for a walk somewhere scenic are all much better ways to ‘treat yourself’ than buying cheap plastic shite which has travelled halfway around the world, to the detriment of the environment and human rights.

🙄

Correct

Good for you.

Personally I enjoy Autumn with a nice hot drink. Which requires a mug.

I don’t buy stuff during the other seasons. I intend to enjoy this one.

Completely agree

But do you need a new mug every year?

I was shocked to learn that people chuck away their Christmas decorations every year and buy new