#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 😬😕

But ti doesn't have to be landfill. When we were children you scooped out pumpkins (or swedes!) and stuck the stub of an old candle in them. The games were all based on apples - bobbing for apples, apples swinging on strings. Nothing was plastic.

That doesn't mean that every single person will be replacing or buying everything new every year, does it? Same as with Christmas decorations. Someone might buy a couple of mugs or glasses if their previous ones have got chipped or broken. Someone else might have moved to a larger property and gor more stuff with a view to using it again over the next few years.

@WintersFrog
I'm sorty to hear you are in the same boat re: house clearing 😕
I've found it utterly soul destroying.
The sheer amount of broken China, glass, ornaments, old tech, cables for pre decimalisation tvs, phones etc
Photo albums full of pics of people we don't know 😕
I've found it all quite upsetting.
And the sheer amount of stuff
We couldn't use a clearance company for similar reasons to you...my bils friends are starting out with very little so they've had some furniture and curtains etc
Sil had a bed. The local salvation army shop have done very well out of me 😊
We moved approx 800 books (a charity took them)
We sent some stuff to auction as it was decent but even really nice antiques fetch surprisingly little ime.
Dh and I have had one or things, but our house is not large.
I'll be encouraging my dc to trawl the auctions when they set up home...they are about to be filled with stuff 😕

I know, right?
Baffling

I don't think people are aware you can get 109% linen and cotton bedding, tablecloths, napkins etc so cheaply from vinted and the like.
No need for polyester at all!
China...really lovely vintage patterns (the stuff b&m and primark are copying!)
I have a lovely bedroom chair. It's knackered. I need to reupholster it - I have somd old fabric (curtains) so I just need to learn how to do it 😄

I find middle of Lidl depressing too All those garden tools and cheap electric hedge cutters etc that will work for a short while and then end up in landfill.

100% even!

It's the latest must-have, before that it was cactus, then llamas, then capybaras.

They do this with animals generally though, don’t they? Not specifically just at Christmas, but general consumerist themes. A few years ago it was owls, then alpacas, then sloths and recently, Highland cows. How do these trends even start? I’m guessing companies just decide ‘This year is all about sloths- put them on everything: pyjamas, mugs, knickers, pencil cases….’ And before you know it, sloths are everywhere and consumers see it all over Insta and realise there’s a ‘thing’ going on that they aren’t yet part of and they simply must get involved. Sloths on everything because some millionaire told you to like it? Ridiculous.

To quote the marvellous Ren:

‘Got to make the people think that they want ‘em; really want ‘em, really fucking want ‘em…’

(Money Game II, Ren)

I can't agree more..
I have parents who buy this absolute tat off TEMU, everything they buy is crap and they can't use their bedrooms coz they hoard so much stuff. We have arguments after arguments over the crap they waste their money on. Yet it's me who's going to be left to deal with it all. Their mental health is on the floor after an accident and my Dad gets depressed because he has nothing to buy. He's been buying crap shit for Halloween from TEMU and I just want to cry coz he doesn't need any of it. But yet I'M the unreasonable one.

I wish we could ban the likes of TEMU, Shein, Ali Express. The people who do massive hoards on tik tok encouraging other people to do the same and don't get me started on kids at primary school doing beauty hoards... Social media is to blame for all this circus. Gone are the days when kids were playing out with a skipping rope and their dolls, now they are in superdrug at the make up section...

I wish we could rewind life. I HATE this shit!!

I don't think people are aware you can get 109% linen and cotton bedding, tablecloths, napkins etc so cheaply from vinted and the like.

But then you get the ewwww second hand people who have been brought up to think that cheaply made new is better than high quality second hand.

Ah crossed post with @AuntieBiotics, I’d forgotten about the cacti and capybaras! 😂

I agree OP. I think I have noticed this as I have got older. It just seems such a waste. I was born in the 60s so we never had trick or treat back then. No one decorated for Halloween. Everything just seems so over the top now.

Oh, god, yes 😕
Utterly depressing. Who needs polyester rug in the shape of a pumpkin!?
At least I think thsts what it was...it just looked like an orange splot.

Capybaras! I'd forgotten about them and the llamas 😬🙄

Nothing a 60 degree wash won't sort 😊
It is strange. People would rather have plastic sheets covered in god knows what chemicals but thats better than used 100% cotton?

Why are highland cows autumnal?

I hadn't heard about the asda bag recall...that's actually horrifying 😳

God, that’s depressing. 😔 I often try to give people the benefit of the doubt and think maybe they just aren’t really aware of how much waste they’re creating, but if it’s all in a giant container right outside your house, you can’t not see it. They obviously just don’t feel any sort of responsibility.

The younger generation bang on about holding people ‘accountable’, hopefully that will extend to environmental ethics (and not just slagging people off for saying the wrong things on Twitter).

No idea, but the buggers are everywhere

I know! It's nuts. I am a dedicated second hand shopper, the bulk of my clothing is vinted or charity shops. My latest bargain is a gorgeous emerald green 100% linen shirt from an Australian brand I didn't recognise, when I got it home I looked it up and found new it would have been about £80.

@AuntieBiotics
I wear a lot of linen and cotton. It's so nice against the skin and washes well.
I'm going to have a huge cull of my clothes next week...I'm sure I've got a couple of horrid jumpers somewhere that can go to the local pop up charity shop...they try and sell/loan Christmas jumpers and partty wear so people don't buy more. Great idea.

I've said it before but I think that this sort of seasonal tat is a bit of an opium for the masses.

I'm going to try and avoid those sorts of shops for a bit as I do like a bit of autumn decor.

You’re not wrong @WhatNoRaisins; it’s a dopamine hit for many isn’t it? I’m grateful that my dopamine cravings aren’t satisfied by buying stuff!

Nothing I buy is plastic.

I am ND and plastic has A Smell.

I buy ceramic and glass stuff.

I do buy polyester clothing as I like the way it feels but I wear stuff for years and years.