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 .

There is a documentary called A Plastic Ocean which is well worth seeking out if it is shown anywhere near you,

A work colleague was having a pre-Xmas clearout and brought in a load of good quality toys, hardly used in great condition for a colleague with younger children. I remarked how lovely the items were, and was she going to save them until after Xmas so her children weren't overwhelmed with getting all their Xmas presents too. She was very embarrassed to tell me that she was going to wrap them up as Santa presents, and it would save her having to buy presents. I congratulated her and said what a brilliant idea, others turned their noses up.

Thank you invisible I will look into this. At present I know they are just put into the landfill bin at work and at my family members’ because when I asked they told me normal recycling doesn’t collect them.

Jogel that is great.
I had high hopes for a fundraising Xmas fair near us which looked like it would make it easy for our community to buy things for kids for Xmas second hand and pass on unneeded stuff.. then I saw the flyer for it asking for the donations of items to be sold. it was really strict on how they all had to be brand new, boxed and or in absolutely pristine condition if second hand.
So if you wanted to donate to support the church fundraiser you’d likely need to be going off to buy new packaged stuff to leave at the church. And if you had a pile of played with but still perfectly OK but not ‘pristine’ stuff it couldn’t be passed on.
I miss jumble sales!

Well I’m currently trying to not buy stuff to pay off my credit card debt. A happy side effect of this is that I’m consuming much less and only driving when I have to.

Some of the problem is the way everything is designed and planned obsolescence. My IPhone 5s has been looked after well and has no scratches or screen cracks. Even so, soon enough it will need replacing when it no longer supports current programs and apps. Same with my IPad. It was. It happy with the recent iOS 11 upgrade.

Trolling when you order nespresso pods online you can request recycling bags and recycling collections - both free. You can also drop off the pods for recycling at various places. I like that there's no waste (no throwing out half a bag of coffee that has sat open too long, no grounds to fish out, etc but the pods did give me pause, until I discovered the recycling system. I'm sure it's imperfect but at least it's something.

On the Christmas piles, when I see those threads I think back to my own childhood and standout Christmas memories. They mostly involve diving into the Roses and seeing my relatives let their hair down. One Christmas my normally staid grandad got a bit tipsy and stuck two balloons up his jumper so he could pretend to be a lady. We all fell about crying laughing. It was lovely to have the whole family together having fun. I couldn't tell you what presents I got that year.

Amazing to see how big this thread has grown overnight!

Thank you all so much for your tips and making such good helpful points and not one goady person in site 😊

juancornetto The ethical living board is such a good find. Maybe we could set up some sort of clothes/toys swap thread? If that kind of thing is allowed?

I do really appreciate as well the points about some prepackaged items being essential for people with disabilities. I think the answer here is investment and research into better packaging. There are some really amazing biodegradable plastic type material that can be made from waste fruit and veg.

It keeps people in jobs as well because things are still being produced, they just aren't as damaging. Same with clothes, tencel is a really interesting new fabric but far less damaging than cotton etc as it can be grown in a closed loop system.

If we have a green board then people won't see it and we won't have people seeing it in the main threads. Laurie has seen from this thread the problems with takeaway cups, if we go on one board won't we just be talking to each other?

Not sure about everyone else but I read mn through active conversations. The feminist chat board's very active and I often read threads on there that I wouldn't otherwise see because they show in active. I think if we could build a community and keep the momentum going it would raise awareness across the whole site

I'd love a thread for reducing packaging.

Just spent the morning reading this brilliant thread. It's so good to find others feel the same! I'm looking forward to hearing more tips on how to reduce the waste

Recycling is important, but he most effective way to reduce waste is to consume less to start with.

I've found my people!

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I agree with you OP. I hate George Monbiot though. He chats such shit
about farming. I suspect that he is a bit of a hypocrite.
Sometimes I look at the recycling bin and want to have a little weep.

Our TV broke recently, it was just over a year old. Dp's dad bought it for us but he passed away a few months ago so we have no receipt etc and don't even know where it's from.

We live in a big city. Have tried numerous places to get it looked at, all were pretty incredulous that we would want something repaired.
We live in such a throw away society. Replace things without a second thought.

Whatever happened to "make do and mend"?

Fortunately for us, dp got an unexpected windfall this week so bought a new one ( bigger and better ) his choice.
I rarely watch it apart from The Apprentice

20 years ago there would have been TV repair shops on pretty much every high street.

I know it's not directly comparable to your op but it resonated with me as i assumed we could easily fix the problem rather than replace it.

I completely agree OP!!

This year I (along with some of my friends) requested no birthday presents. A lot of us feel that we already have so much stuff and don't really need any more.

Instead I'm looking forward to a birthday lunch out with my DP and a group of people who mean a lot to me.

The gift of time with friends is so much more valuable!

dontblame me too, i bought a lovely traditional advent calendar for £4.99 yet I could get a cheap chocolate filled one for £1....it's crazy. It should be more expensive to buy anything with plastic in.

And at those prices my 3 children will have to share one advent calendar...poor things

Yanbu
But this is the way of the world now. Individualism, competition, profits and the economy before anything else. Accumulating goods is a sign of success for many and pushed by the media. Not sure how it would be solved.

My current council recycle my Nespresso pods without even having to have them picked up separately

On radio two the other day they said that to make just one beefburger it tales 10 bathtubs full of water. But people will never give up meat. This would be a good place to start.

*takes

I had to look up traditional advent calendar to work out why it's better. I'm still not sure I get it tbh.

Consumerism is today's religion.