To be bothered by how much we consume as a society...

[Cakelesswonder]

Don't get me wrong I love a retail therapy session but today just felt utterly gluttonous in the amount of ads for Black Friday, the 'deals, I couldn't move for emails offering me 20% off lots of things I don't need. I'm not suggesting everyone knits their own yogurt and lives like Mormons but I really feel we don't have the resources on Earth to keep consuming, throwing and consuming like we do. Everything is disposable, straws, clothes, we buy water in bottles then throw them away polluting the oceans and planet for ourselves and future generations. I have no idea what the overall solution is but it really got to me today .

Baby wipes I use Cheeky wipes, basically little cloths that get washed with my nappies.

Nappies are Totsbots - I nearly fell of my chair when I was watching an American YouTube clip tell me they were made in Scotland.

I'll disagree about the jumperoo and baby bath being pointless. My LO loves being upright and got lots of fun out the jumperoo, it's been used by 3 babies soon yo go to a 4th and will be sold in 6 mths.
I also loved the baby bath again it's been used for 3 babies and I've used it for months so it's saved a load of water.

I was first concerned about waste about 40 years ago, when enquiring about all the barges full of rubbish I saw in a New York harbour, and it was explained that they would take the contents well out to sea and dump it all.

Maybe something as simple as a picture and a few words is required to make people understand the problem.

I"ve been working in the US on plastics and waste - the stats are utterly appalling but there are people doing amazing things as well.

Look at the Ellen McArthur Foundation website if you get chance. Worrying and inspiring all at once.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/26/shocking-photo-shows-caribbean-sea-choked-death-human-waste/ 😔😨😡😭

What a great thread. I am poor, stingy and an unashamed environment bore. My kids roll eyes/leave room now when I get started! Currently am trying to do one thing a day to lessen plastic use. Not just personal but also on a bigger scale. Most effective is probably emailing companies to ask them to look into more sustainable packaging. Single use straws cause terrible environmental damage (www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/no-straw-please/) and many companies have stopped using them (wetherspoons, All Bar One) but others continue e.g. Ribena cartons, innocent smoothies etc etc etc. I email customer services at the relevant brand and point out the harm caused to the environment and say I am not buying them until they find a more sustainable solution e.g. recycleable paper straws. Worth using consumer clout to try and get companies to change their ways. Sorry if someone has already mentioned straws - I haven't read the full thread but will do in the morning.

OMG!!!

How did it get to that stage? As for the comments about New York barges dumping it. I actually think the UN should step in and tell the US to remove all the waste.

Switching to bar soap and bar shampoo

(I had a good look everywhere to see what else we could change)

Thanks for this post
On the back of it I have just googled as I have about 4-5 bras that aren't good enough to sell on eBay and I didn't know what to do with
Found this site that will take them and if no good they can use the material and wires or recycle them
https://www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/recycling/bra-recycling/

I see this in my life every day. An it does concern me. Modern day capitalism has despite all the financial hardship we may claim (i suppose its all relative) has provided us an endless supply of cheap and disposable things. My house is full of them. I see it all the time with the kids toys. Sometimes I get bogged down with them. They buy their own with pocket money, then their mum and other family members are always buying them, then all the other special occasions too. Then there are things like all the tat toys such as happy meal toys that often bring such short play and end up in the bin. Another example of our disposable culture on route to Afghanistan once we were unexpectedly delayed in the UK (near the airhead) for a few day. We all went and outfitted our selfs for the pub in Primark for a few quid and chucked the clothes in the bin when it was time to fly out. So many cheap and disposable things. I think that's why I have a liking for items from the 50s when things were built to last and you had the save up for things. I'm not anti capitalism per se but one of the sicknesses of capitalism is it obsession with consumption and maximising production.

I posted this about bulking out earlier
Most relevant if you have older teens/uni I guess. Absolutely nothing got wasted as it was all brands I used or wanted but couldn't afford, and stuff like antiperspirant/shower gel was awesome as it meant I didn't have to buy anything!

When I was at school/college and later on Uni, mum would do my stocking with "useful stuff" which I guess would work for bulking out
So things like
New toothbrush/electric toothbrush heads
Shower gel/bubble bath
Cleanser
Body scrub/moisturiser
Nail polish and remover
Makeup I used at the time
A DVD I wanted or a book
Pens/notepad/diary
Gloves/socks/slippers/scarf
Pjs
Deodorant
Posh hot chocolate/tea
Hair bobbles
Shampoo/conditioner/ styling products
Cushion/blanket for my room or new pillow cases

I know this all sounds boring but none of it was wasted and when they're older/at uni it's SO nice to know you don't have to buy anything for ages! One year my absolute favourite present was 1000 Yorkshire teabags and a catering size pack of washing powder  along with bags of 20 pence pieces for the laundry!

Nyx1 - not this one ! We all got our drinks on those bloody cups which annoys
Me as they are not recyclable and what's wrong with a washable cup

I have also become a bore about and I am in NO way as good as the people on here

This year main change has been cycling everywhere , and leading the work recycling initiative and massive reduction in meat and dairy

I think we all need to keep taking and keep pushing it . My even more eco friend got me to stop using floor wipes .

I am loving that bread bag tip

For plastic in the oceans it seems, for once, the developed world isn't actually the main culprit ten rivers I absolutely agree with reducing plastic usage as much as possible but there also needs to be some international awareness raising for this problem. Nothing will get better until SE Asia and the countries around the Niger and Nile get on board.

What about the latest homage to waste and rip-offness- the adult Advent calendar.

Each window chock full of individual plastic mini samples of cosmetics, chocolate, toys, ad-nauseum, £250 - £300 with the promise that they are a fraction of the actual goods price. Whooping-doo. All those little bottles and tubes will end up in landfill just because of the latest trend

Hey I've saved myself £300 instantly by not buying one!

www.reallyree.com/beauty-advent-calendars-can-still-buy/

I went out today and was too tired to make a packed lunch . But the sheer amount of waste generated by the Pret A Manger lunch we had was staggering . I so rarely get takeaways I forgot how bad they are

But isn't that the same with every type of sandwich place? I often use Pret and get the same three things. The superveg sandwich, I'm not veggie I just like them. and the really delicious chocolate chip cookie and a banana.

Pret also don't throw their stuff away at the end of the day. It's donated to hostels etc in the evening. I've witness Pret workers carry sacks (like a clear binliner thing) across the city to these shelters so I do think what they do balances it out.

Compare that to a supermarket shop recently who delivered my two lemons in polystyrene and plastic wrapping.

Ollivander84 I'm known for my Yorkshire tea habits with my friends.

As a joke last year one friend bought me a massive box of Yorkshire tea & wrapped it up (amongst the other christmas presents they'd got me). I loved the joke and also loved the thought! The box lasted me until well into the summer!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this thread and the links and ideas and people on it. I've found my new people! 🤗
We've been trying to make changes as a family. It started with our 12 year old ds wanting to become vegetarian and has now shifted the way we all eat. (Struggling still with dd though who only likes green vegetables, potatoes and chicken 😳)
We now have 3 composters (one for food waste, normal garden waste and a leaf mold) which have been brilliant this year. Next year, after berries were successful this year, we are going to try a veg patch.
Packaging and single use items are a particular bug bear so as a family we discussed it and took the decision to actively try to reduce it. It's so hard to stop and once you realise it is because the options are so limited, it's so much more frustrating!!!
DS asked I write to the school to explain he wouldn't take part in their sponsored balloon blow-up and pop for children in need because of this and ended up spending the afternoon on his own doing homework instead. (We just donated instead). So proud of him!
This Christmas we are really paring it back and my parents/sister have finally consented to just spending a nice time together at Christmas than us all going through the insane excercise of coming up with stuff we don't need as gift lists (although my sis did agree to buy us one of the composters for my birthday😂😂). For gifts for the kids teachers I have already bought bamboo reusable coffee cups (as I love mine and they're compostable when finished with in a couple of years). The kids are having one small wrapped main present each (budget £50) and a stocking with unwrapped bits like book, socks/undies, snack treats etc. Messages are going out that once my stock of Christmas cards bought in previous sales are used up, there will be no more.
All old clothes get given away, go to charity or cut up for other things, and whatever else they accept gets saved up and taken to Scrapstore, a great local project reusing junk for crafts. Old tech goes to another local charity that fixes/recycles them for people who need them.
Now for next steps : I need to better understand clothing content and sources. Also we now use reuseable plastic for food/water bottles for school/leftovers etc and I know nothing about the chemicals being leached into food, so that's now on my radar. I've always used sanitary towels but dd is of an age where she'll be getting her period in the next few years and so will look into better options for her. We moved to Bulb for energy this year as they use more green energy but would like to get solar panels next year if we can. When we finally replace our aging car it will be electric so it would be great to charge it from our own supply. But these are big things, what other little things can we tackle now? What else should we be focussing our energies on?

Casper I think you are well ahead of the game.

I will certainly look for a more "green" car next time I change mine.
Bulking out gifts even for younger children doesn't need to mean Poundland tat, underwear and a box of Coco Pops. Santa can take the credit for chocolate cereal that I don't buy 😊

Global population growth is one of the biggest environmental concerns. Having more children than keeping the status quo of reproducing just 'ourselves'.

A whole new attitude is needed so that we are not so dependant on this throw away materialistic society.

Reduce, re-use, recycle can only go so far.

Using paper bags for groceries, cardboard cartons for liquid, money back on glass bottles, these all stopped to the detriment of our environment.

Sadly humans for all of their intelligence are stupid entitled ego centric creatures.

I just had a thought, I get these when they're special offer, then put the glass jar into recycling but now thinking, I could have kept them for storage of leftovers, quite big with wide neck, I'll save them next time. I am concerned about the chemical leakage into food stuffs from the plastic. Plus no more need to buy smallish plastic storage.

CasparBloomberg you can also be aware of water and electricity waste. I am not sure you are guilty of these, but so many people don't switch the light off when they leave a room or let the water run while brushing their teeth.

This thread has got me thinking and now I can't unsee it! This morning my house looks awash with plastic. Toys, cosmetics, cleaning products etc. It's actually quite shocking now I have chosen to see.

*Global population growth is one of the biggest environmental concerns. If we learn to live in tune with the environment this shouldn't be a concern. Of course this will need a complete shift and total life change, going right back to basics.

let the water run while brushing their teeth I've never understood that one.

This is a huge issue for me too.

I have realised most people don't give a shite.

But those of us that do could make a real difference. I try to buy less and do refills if laundry stuff, buy soap. Really struggle with supermarket stuff though.

I wish I could downgrade Xmas but my family think I'm boring enough as it is. 😀

Apart from consumption and I'm very aware I use more stuff than people in developing countries there are just too many of us, that's the actual main issue.

Thomas Malthus was right way back in 1798.