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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think that my inlaws could recycle if theyactually tried?

137 replies

ska · 03/03/2008 12:43

they are rich (13 bed house) and have 2 full time members of staff. Plus others. They told my milaw 'it's such a shame that we can't recycle because we just don't have the facilities' when pressed they said because they don't have kerbside collection (mind you maybe its the mile long drive that's the problem...)

aaarh!!!!!

OP posts:
TheDuchessOfNorksBride · 03/03/2008 14:06

It's not just global warming theBOD, landfill sites are also an issue.

blueshoes · 03/03/2008 14:07

I am impressed that 2 GPs can earn enough to have a 13 bed house and 2 ft members of staff etc.

OrmIrian · 03/03/2008 14:14

I'm a bit confused about how global warming is the only issue with regard to recycling There are so many others reasons to recycle.

SueBaroo · 03/03/2008 14:20

ooo, their carbon footprint must be as big as Al Gore's

madamez · 03/03/2008 14:21

Still, if they don't want to, it's not your business. If you must be a PITA of a fecking greenie, go bother some polluting multinationals rather than nagging your family. It sounds like you don't much like your PIL anyway, and the feeling's probably mutual, so the more you nag and whine, the more they will resist.

theBOD · 03/03/2008 14:32

thats true landfills are also an issue also beyond global warming. i'll fully admit that on that point i would be ugely guilty of appathy.where i'm from is not somewhere that would ever be affected by a landfill so i guess i just don't care enough. it is a terrible attitude to have as i know it will affect someone else somewhere but i am wholly indifferent if i am to be honest.

theBOD · 03/03/2008 14:34

sorry but also what does the op's pil financial situation have anything to do witrh the issue? is it ok for poor people not to recycle but rich people must?from the sounds of it (reference to rooms,staff and driveway length) the op is a touch bitter and jealous about the pil financial standings.

LyraSilvertongue · 03/03/2008 14:36

I recycled long before we had kerbside collection. We used bottle and newspaper banks (there weren't plastic banks in those day). And i didn't have any staff to help me.
YANBU. Everyone needs to do their bit.
I have friends who live in flats who say they can't recycle because there's no collection. But our local Sainsbury's has recycling banks for everything from bottles to old clothes so there's no excuse imo.

musicgirl · 03/03/2008 14:37

I think secretly all these wannabe environmentalists want someone to come up and say "You are the greatest person in the world for wanting to save the planet. In fact I'm going to stop worshipping God and start worshipping you. Please let everyone in the world be just like YOU."

It's just another form of being "holier than thou", if they truly were environmentalists they would just do it rather than be constantly trying to seek credit for it. Wankers!

No wonder your parents ignore you.

OrmIrian · 03/03/2008 14:39

Ermm no they aren't musicgirl. They are usually 'doing it' but they also want everyone else to, for obvious reasons. Do you really not give a toss about it? Sheesh...

LieselVonTrapp · 03/03/2008 14:39

yeah her and chris martin

TheDuchessOfNorksBride · 03/03/2008 14:41

Money isn't an issue although the OP does demonstrate that they have the space to store their recycling, could delegate it's despatch to one of their staff and I take for granted that there is at least one driver with a vehicle who could do it. If OP had said PILs are non-drivers with no helpful neighbours then I'd let them off.

Original poster
ska · 03/03/2008 14:41

actually i dont nag and whine (well not at them anyway) they dont live near enough and they are actually b-ilaw not p-inlaw. i was just talking to m-inlaw and she happened to mention it and i was shocked at the fact she thought it was reasonable for them not to recycle ('they are so busy, dear'). i dont think i'm jealous just astonished. i admire the fact that they have managed to do so well out of the nhs/private health system and they do have a lovely (if over large )house. i may talk to them about it (they think i'm a lefty liberal anyway) about it - surely they have a conscience between them?

OP posts:
LyraSilvertongue · 03/03/2008 14:43

Very odd attitude musicgirl. The world belongs to all of us so it's not up to just some of us to make sure we don't ruin it.

TheDuchessOfNorksBride · 03/03/2008 14:44

Sorry, my last was to theBOD.

Er, interesting ideas musicgirl. Do you think the same of campaigners on other issues too, like Rosa Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst, Aung Sun Suu Kyi etc...?

Original poster
ska · 03/03/2008 14:46

they have 5 cars (i think) 2 each, i each for 2 driving children and 1 for housekeeper. plus another truck thing.
its not their money thats the issue - i really dont give a toss about money but they have the room to store it, they have the car to take it into sainsburys or whereever when the housekeeper goes shopping and they sure as hell produce a lot of rubbish. one w/end i threw 10 glass bottles and endless pizza cartons in the bin and felt dreadful (did ownder about putting it in my car)
I am not holier than thou and resent that i am though concerned about the planet and the furure for my children, oh yes and i was in Freinds of the earth around 1973 and argued with my mum about her buying pink loo roll so i guess i do have a bit of a history. anyway my conscienec is clear (about recycling anyway

OP posts:
drosophila · 03/03/2008 14:48

www.ecoworld.com/home/articles2.cfm?tid=340 The myths of recycling.

madamez · 03/03/2008 14:51

I think musicgirl was having a bout at the selfrighteousness of some campaigners, which is annoying - and counterproductive. I am car-free and generally recycle, but half-an-hour of being whined at by some or other pious pillock invariably makes me want to go out and buy a Chelsea tractor. And a fur coat.

LyraSilvertongue · 03/03/2008 14:51

\drosophila, that's one website. just because someone writes their opinion on a website doesn't make it true.

LyraSilvertongue · 03/03/2008 14:52

I don't see any pious pillocks on this thread though madamez.

musicgirl · 03/03/2008 14:55

Putting some plastic bags in a recycling bin does not make you a better person than anybody else. What kind of egomaniac are you to think you have the right to be someone else's conscience? Why don't you concentrate on your own life and stop trying to run everbody elses's?

LieselVonTrapp · 03/03/2008 14:55

Yes I think more people would do more for the environment if it werent for St Madonna, St Sting and St Chris

LieselVonTrapp · 03/03/2008 14:55

...ooh and Lady Mucca

Lulumama · 03/03/2008 14:56

i recycle, i went to the tip this morning and recycled my cardboard & plastic. tomorrow, the council will pick up my food waste, paper , tins and glass

now you must all worship me,for i am the goddess lulu , holier than thou recycler

if you all leave your bank detials on this thread, i shall build a fabulous temple for you all to come and adore me!

LyraSilvertongue · 03/03/2008 14:57

Who is that directed at musicgirl? I don't recycle so people think I'm a good person. No-one knows whether I recycle or not, or how much. I recycle because i don't think it's natural to fill big holes in the ground with tons of plastic that will still be there is 100 years' time.

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