Do you throw toys and clothing away?

[painfullyshywhy]

I give everything to the charity shop or ask around or try to sell online (but that is so time consuming I don't bother anymore unless the item is brand new with tags) and I just can't stand the thought of good stuff being chucked in the bin.

Now, my parents are serial thrower away-ers eyeroll and my younger sister actually threw away a massive bag of fairly trendy clothing including a cardigan that my mum thought I had borrowed and she had given me a real telling off for losing it. I never borrowed it dsis had nicked it and then thrown it away instead of giving it back to dmum who lives with her! she could have put it outside her bedroom door but instead she black bagged it ready for the tip!
My old lego sets were all dumped even though I asked if I could have them for my kids when my siblings were too old for them. The same with my old guitars which I tried to bring home but was stopped because dsis wanted to learn. dumped mere weeks later.
Why do they do this?
I just can't understand why someone would throw away good stuff especially when people have shown an interest in having it! especially your own child or grandchildren!

It makes me so mad!

Another relative asked if I wanted any clothes for ds and dd as they are having a sort through. I said yes ill come to pick the bags up on xxx day. got there and they had thrown them in the bin as bin day is Tuesday and you said you'd come on Wednesday.
just tell me! or don't tell me because now I know a big black bag of good clothes are rotting in landfill instead of being reused.

I see bin bags of good stuff and toys being thrown out on my street daily. (everyone uses a little green area as a dumping ground and the council collects every 4 weeks or so) and I just don't have the space to save it all!

The cost of some things, to throw it in the bin, sometimes not even used... it blows my mind! I don't know how people can do it.

I know I sound preachy but it just feels cruel. my family know how much it upsets me, and its like they revel in telling me what they've thrown away.
The kicker is that they have about 6 charity shops and a shelter to pass before they get to the dump. and I have said I will come and get whatever you're throwing away and take it to the charity shop or give to friends children who are the same age or have xxx interests.
I don't understand it. this is more of a rant but. I needed to get it off my chest before I ring my parents up and explode!

I donate/sell where possible or I will advertise it free. We get charity bags through the door a lot too which is convenient if you haven't got time to take it to a shop. A lot of charities will now come and collect it for you if you bag it up and book with them, which takes seconds.
I think not having time is a poor excuse. I hate the thought of stuff being thrown away when there are people struggling to clothe their children and themselves.

My DC are adults so we don't have toys anymore,

Anything else is given away on Olio, given quite a lot of things away on there. I'm just about to put a Slow Cooker on, it's easy, and everything always goes within a day.

Our economy is structured so stuff - clothes, household goods, electrical etc is cheap, short-lived and not repairable.
Even relatively expensive items are not always priced up for longevity. They are just prettier and maybe made with higher welfare standards for workers. Even environmental standards mostly focus on emissions and packaging, not longevity to minimise waste
Over-zealous donating of junk is what makes charities leery about donations, so I sometimes err on the side of trash for cheaper items in 'well used' condition. If a new item cost a pittance to buy, the value of one that's a bit shabby is basically nil.
I do think establishing a routine with a particular charity shop makes it easier to donate. The one I use has a commercial loading zone where you can park for 10 mins at off-peak times, and a bunch of special wheelie bins that you can wheel up to the car. So easy! Once I discovered the system I offloaded about 8 wheelie bins worth that I'd been hoarding out of guilt. A lot was unwanted gifts, still in packages, along with nice, pre-DC office clothes I no longer wore, or even fitted. Now I'm down there with a black bag every few weeks.

I am more than happy to give away anything to friends and family.

If no one is interested, I try to give to the school or to some specific local charity who need stuff, otherwise it does end up at the tip.

Charity shops locally bin half the stuff anyway (big uproar on the local sites following resident witnessing full unopened bags chucked away routinely )

and offering on free sites just bring CF reselling them or time-wasters.

Most of my kids toys have ended up in the bin, and another load will follow shortly once I have time to sort their bedrooms out. It's a shame, but I can't live in a mess and hoard everything!

Hospitals USED to take plastic toys, they don't at the moment, so it's for the tip. No one wants soft toys anywhere. Which is a bit sad!

YABU. If I paid for it it’s mine to do with I want with.

I pretty much throw everything away when we’re done with it because I can’t be arsed sorting it/storing it/taking it to charity etc.

YANBU. Anything broken beyond repair gets binned in our house. Everything else is either donated or put on Facebook marketplace, generally for free depending on the item. We don't drive so usually take a taxi to drop things off to charity shops or take a couple of bags at a time. We have a lovely local baby charity that do collections, they've taken all our old prams/cots/toys. Its really not hard to hand stuff on to others!

Omg it hurts my heart to read about people throwing toys away. My dog Loves soft toys so much (and making me sew them back up a hundred times) but they're impossible to find cheaply. I've even recently considered buying a job lot from a fairground supplier.

@SirenSays

Omg it hurts my heart to read about people throwing toys away. My dog Loves soft toys so much (and making me sew them back up a hundred times) but they're impossible to find cheaply. I've even recently considered buying a job lot from a fairground supplier.

Check your local facebook groups and market place.

Mine are full of people offering bags of FREE soft toys , no one takes them!

If it's tricky to get to a charity shop a lot of the bigger supermarkets have big bins in the recycling area where you can deposit donations.

I thunk a lot of the bags that come through the door are a bit of a scam, but maybe it's better going in there and someone making something out of it, rather than going to the tip ?

Some things do just need to go straight to the recycling centre or tip ... I manage a charity shop and broken, damaged toys are the worst things ... people seem to think that volunteers have time to sort through endless boxes of broken toys or sell things with 'just a couple of pieces missing'' or 'just needs a quick repair'. We can recycle textiles but please be thoughtful about what is donated to a charity shop ... it is quite an eye opener seeing what people try to off load onto us. Barely 40% of donations are actually in a resalable condition ... most of time is spent sorting and trying to get rid of (responsibly) unsaleable donations .

I knew posting on here would upset me (thanks idiots who rejoice in sharing how wasteful they are. Well done- most of us think you're evil)
But its actually made me feel so much better having people agree with me and share how fair they go to keep an item being useful.

And I wish charity shops sold pants and socks! they cost so much
Nurseries and schools will take them for accidents.
Some teachers even have to buy them in because people don't tend to return the school pants. My school used to write xxx school on them but we kept them. I loved wearing my school pants but not on PE days! naughty mum

Blimey I had no idea people were this ignorant! I couldn't bring myself to bin stuff like that.

@emilyfrost

YABU. If I paid for it it’s mine to do with I want with.

I pretty much throw everything away when we’re done with it because I can’t be arsed sorting it/storing it/taking it to charity etc.

Disgusting

The thought that charity shops throw unopen bags of donations has my blood running cold! I only donate stuff in good condition and make sure I wash/iron/sew on loose buttons etc...

As for the soft toy thing - school fairs (when they run again) - teddies/soft toys are really popular. Teddy Tombolas where they can win one for 20p go down well and take plenty of money.

Ooh that's rough about the Lego. Your sister should be made to do a Lego Brick Walk - which is like those team building fire walks but on Lego bricks with bare feet. And sleep in a bed with bricks sewn into the mattress.
Get your revenge....
(And suggest she makes a donation to Fairy Bricks which is a charity that supplies Lego to children in hospital)

@TheGumption

Blimey I had no idea people were this ignorant! I couldn't bring myself to bin stuff like that.

It's a sign of how low our consumerist society has become. "I can't be bothered hence screw others who are destitute, screw the environment, screw everyone just because I CAN." Selfish prickz

I give mine to the local refuge and Children's ward but only the decent ones. Any old toy goes to the skip, any clothing I give to any charity shop.

Very little goes in our bin. I always sell/gift (we have an excellent local free site) anything which is good or to the charity shop. Clothes which are left go to the clothes bank or school bags for schools. Branded school clothes get donated to school. If its really broken or underwear i will bin. I can't stand waste.

painfullyshywhy

And I wish charity shops sold pants and socks! they cost so much
Nurseries and schools will take them for accidents.

they take SOME, they don't accept donation from every parent!
What do you want me to do with bags of old socks and pants? Some not so old actually, thanks to the lockdown.

It's all very good to insult people, but realistically, what I am supposed to do with all the stuff that is outgrown? No one even wanted school uniforms on local sites! I ended up binning some still with label because the lockdown meant my kids never got a chance to use them and they are now too small.

Again, what do I do? Waste my time and advertise when other people's identical stuff doesn't get any interest, pile stuff

If you have one near you, you can get a few pennies in a cash for clothes place.

And let's not get started on adult clothes.. how much stuff do you actually keep!

Before all the lockdowns I always donated old clothing to charity shops. Now they don't always take donations, or guarantee they can in advance. It really upsets me to be so wasteful as to put things in the bin, but my disability makes it hard enough to take donations in to town, let alone carry them back again. I tried the charity bags you get through the door but they never pick the full ones up and they end up in the bin too.

It's wasteful.
Good quality clothing etc goes to charity or passed to friends, if they want them.
Stained and torn clothing goes in the clothing recycling bin (although in fairness, it's about 30 seconds from my door, so it's not a massive effort). Some charity shops also take them.

YABU. If I paid for it it’s mine to do with I want with.

I pretty much throw everything away when we’re done with it because I can’t be arsed sorting it/storing it/taking it to charity etc.

^^
I’m sorry but I think this is awful. You do have a responsibility to others and to the environment in particular.

I’m usually quite live and let live!

I can understand not taking it to a shop but there are other options.

I probably walk past the charity shop twice a year and yes it's out of the way for me, but there are alternatives to it going to that one place.

and kids shoes, what are you supposed to do with them?

Some of them are nearly new, kids grow fast - and again, school shoes bought last spring didn't get much use. No one wants them! Fair enough, but what do you do with them? They end up in the tip because there's only so much hoarding you can do in a normal size house.

Charities take shoes - tie shoelaces together or use a rubber band. I think they can go in textile recycling too (but I maybe wrong).