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 .

In fact disabled people must often find all the excess packaging difficult. I bought some knives and they were encased in so much hard plastic even I found it difficult to hack them out - and my hands are fine. Your poor mum would have had no chance.

Oh yes Piewraith I completely agree. It's a bit like needing scissors to open the scissor packaging isn't it!

A rude acquaintance recently pointed out our stereo is ancient, it is but it works!

Nyx1 so is our television and my phone. But I honestly don't care because I dont have the money and they both still work.
Phone screen is smashed to smithereens, same phone got dripped in a giant puddle the other day, turned itself into flight mode, I dried it out and its still working. (towel over radiator - take phone apart and put phone bits on top of towel - pop heating on for half an hour).

My current pet hate is the nespresso pods
Depressing isn't it. Just as I think we're becoming more aware of waste people are raving over things like this.

if they are real nesspresso pods, they can be recycled!!
But Invisible, it doesn't matter that they can be "recycled" because energy still had to go into making the plastic and it takes energy to recycle it. These things are unnecessary.

I was angry when they decided to charge 5 pence per plastic bags in shops. You know why? Because they should be charging 1 pound for them!
Totally agree Madreputa. I also thought 5p was a rediculously tiny price considering the massive negative impact plastic bags have on the environment. It should've been priced to really make people annoyed at having to buy them.

I was angry when they decided to charge 5 pence per plastic bags in shops

I would much rather they sold paper/cardboard bags in shops. I'm sure they can be designed to be as strong as plastic, at least they are easily recyclable and degradable

Thanks for the thread. We're drowning, individually and globally.

I love this thread. I basically try hard to only buy what I need, and try to make sure that it's good quality, will last a long time (or can be passed on), and is biodegradable or easy to recycle.

I think the point about the economy relying on consumption is relevant, but surely there is a way to make it work by producing things that are made from sustainable materials and will last, and charging more for them?

The problem is that cheaper stuff is always available, and it's easier to buy 10 cheap things rather than 1 expensive thing (and obviously there are times when it's the only way to buy something- not everyone has the money up front for a bigger purchase).

But if we could get ourselves into the mindset that quality things are cheaper in the long run, then surely the economy would start to operate on that principle instead. There would be more local jobs for people who make and repair things, for instance.

Incidentally, I've recently come across the idea of a "repair cafe", where people can get together, bring their broken stuff, and get it fixed. Not sure exactly how it works, but it sounds great!

Belfast, I said about the economy, not to put anyone off but just to say this one difficulty with our view. Every time I think we're getting somewhere, someone buys a nespresso machine!! Also it links to the point about keeping family size down, there won't be the jobs, for all kinds of reasons.

Then you will get people saying "keep shopping to support the economy". They never think about different economy models like you say. Sad but true.

This thread has cheered me up in a way, I often feel bad that I haven't achieved much in life but I can help look after the environment and that's a contribution.

Such a great thread, would love to see it hit 500+ comments as that will show just how much people care. I’ve picked up some great tips already. I’m going to stop buying cleaning sponges and cloths and use old tags from clothes, avoid fruit and veg that is packaged, refrain from replacing something if it still works or can be repaired. No longer gonna buy outfits for single use, i don’t care if I’m photographed a thousand times, if it fits, it’s getting used. Nobody really gives a shit anyway. All for ‘likes’ xxx

Great thread
So good to hear that others get the same sick feeling as I do when seeing ridiculous needless excess esp with respect to buying children stuff
We have a good culture at my workplace of taking in stuff we don’t need or want any longer for others to have - this extends to food with my lunch provided one day last week

How about we use Christmas presents as a way of helping solve the problem? Give people re-useable coffee cups (helping them get money off every coffee next year ), those thin shopping bags that go easily into handbags, sporks for the PP’s cutlery in bag idea? Buy second hand presents and say well they’re from Oxfam but I knew you’d know how sensible that was...

I agree with all of you and am just thinking about stealth tactics!

Rackham can you explain the cleaning sponge idea? Sounds like something I need to learn about.

Good idea.

I wil get resizable cups for me and the DCs.
Any recommendations?

I got mine from Waitrose, it was 75p in the sale! I don’t know really, perhaps just choose one they like, esp dcs, so they will use it.

Oooh I’m chuffed now, we’ve saved some takeaway cups or bottles already, and every tiny step counts.

View , I’m just going to stop buying all the dish cloths and micro fibres and sponges, I’ll take old clothes that can’t be passed down or rescued and cut them up, boil wash them and use them to clean. Two birds with one stone. I’m excited now to see what other changes I can make.

Totally agree with you.

I'm a bit of a hoarder/stuff addict but I assuage my conscience by never buying anything new. All the furniture, clothes, toys, ornaments, machines, gadgets, random 'stuff' that's in my house has come from either charity shops, eBay or facebook. Unless it was a present.

The only things I buy new are food, toiletries and underwear.

Christmas presents that I give to people who know and agree with/accept what I'm like are either second hand if I can get away with it or handmade if I can't. I'll buy new for people that I know would be upset with anything else.

For my children I only buy one or two 'things' and a stocking but do spend an absolute shedload on theatre, days out and extra curriculars over the Christmas period.

Whataload - while I agree it's annoyingly the amount of energy they use to make the pods in the first place, realistically if the PP's office have just bought a nespresso machine, they aren't going to dump it and buy a new machine using ground coffee. So if the pods can be recycled, that's better than landfill.

Sometimes it's worth thinking if you try to go "all or nothing" you'll end up with nothing. Finding a way to reduce landfill and waste is better than achieving nothing.

Small wins are better than big fails.

Oh and I love the using Christmas as a way to stealth change habits. I'm definitely giving reusable cups and bags. For those elderly people with nespresso machines, you can get thermos mugs with a coffee plunger in it for a single use cup, gifting that and a bag of fancy ground coffee might be a good start to remind them how easy it can be!

I've also heard of people using gift bags rather than wrapping paper, mainly because most people will save and reuse a nice gift bag, but just rip and throw paper. (Be sure any gift tag is easily removed /tied not stuck on!)

I help out in a charity shop and the amount of novelty gifts handed in is crazy - clearly things that were bought to make someone smile on Christmas morning, but with no long term use. Now if things won't be useful or are consumables (like food gifts), I don't buy them.

I'm not one for buying stuff willy-nilly but this is more because i watch money like a hawk (hangover from a time i nearly lost everything). I have to confess the consumption side of it didn't occur to me although i tend towards buying thibgs like furniture to keep long term - most of my house is made up of things and furniture that I've had a long time.

Saying that Iove a 2nd hand Bargin at Christmas - last year I purchased an Xbox 360 plus games and a Thomas train set both very plastic but still in use now and much less than would have been new. I've also been known to bring toys out the loft and wrap them up for younger dc as presents.

It helps having a dh who is good at fixing stuff - washing machine door broke recently and it costs less than 5 quid to fix.

It never ceases to amaze me what people chuck away in skips. Just a bit of time to do Freecycle or to charity.

If I am being totally honest, I really couldn't care less.

YY to the skips though.I found an electric wheelchair in a skip and sold it on ebay for good money

Also when children are little they're non the wiser if they get pre owned toys/clothes.
I saved £££££ with my son, I bought a new cot mattress, car seat and a few other bits but all the rest wasn't new, as good as though. These things I sold on after, mostly got my money back too.

I find it awful, all the plastic that we use and throwaway, it's just awful what we're doing to the planet. I find the one use stuff the worst, like plastic sporks and coffee cups etc. All the plastic that food is wrapped in these days.
I hate that there always seems to be plastic bags in bushes by the road and just plastic litter everywhere, perhaps should take a leaf out of Rwanda's book and ban the plastic bag.

While I've thought of glitter being a waste and wouldn't use it at home because of the mess.
Recently I've become aware of it making it's way into the Oceans so I decided I wasn't going to buy Christmas cards with it stuck to them.
Oh my that was easier said than done, esp for parents/ grandparents. I ruled out 95% of the cards.

I haven't bought cards yet, will definitely look for glitter free ones.

I totally agree with you all too!
Along the theme of repairing rather than buying new, someone saw my sewing machine the other day and couldn't quite believe it! It was my late grandma's and is a true relic - a singer that she actually had an electric motor added to. Apparently, my uncle was desperate to buy her a new one, but she point blank refused, saying that there was nothing wrong with it. I grant you, it weighs a tonne, but it still works absolutely perfectly!