Hugh's War on Waste

JIL

Living_proof wrote: »

I can hardly believe it. We have allowed an entire generation to grow up expecting everything to be sanitised and available 24/7. My own daughter leaves me speechless when it comes to convenience and waste although it wasn't how she was brought up. Some people seem to have the same disgust of a slightly dirty or mis-shapen veg or fruit as the Victorians had about sex. The supermarkets have created the demand for the perfect, packaged food produce and it's going to be hard to educate shoppers to change their habits and be more flexible.

At my local farm shop they have a variety of potato sold as bakers, they are washed. The same variety and same size potato is sold as just potato but they are covered in mud. But they are a third of the price.
They sell lots more clean potatoes, I really don't understand it, the dirty potatoes also last longer.
Crazy times.

moneyistooshorttomention

You learn something every day - and it never occurred to me that people would deliberately destroy perfectly good items that could be taken to a charity shop!

I guess part of automatically denoting any good-enough throwouts to a charity shop is down to upbringing. My mother is quite a thrower-outer of clothes and other goods. However, she would automatically offer it to me first - and hence a noticeable number of items in my wardrobe came from her. Anything I didn't want/wouldn't fit me goes to a charity shop. She would take in stuff herself originally and when she no longer felt up to it - she would just pass me on everything and I would sort it out between "what I would keep myself" and I would take the rest of her offerings onto a charity shop.

I tend to make it easier for myself by giving it to the nearest available charity shop that's en route on my way into town anyway - but it does go to one.

Its a form of recycling in my book and it wouldn't occur to me to think in terms of not "helping other people out" by them having the chance to buy the clothing. I've always been poorly-paid (darn it!) but thankfully not so poorly paid that I've not been able to buy my clothes new. I accept that some of the people buying their clothes that way are doing so because its the only way they can afford to do so - and, if my donating stuff to the shop helps them do so as well as helping the charity itself, then that's fair enough in my book.

Certainly one of my friends here shocked me when she told me the other day how much her income is (:eek: - even lower than my part-pension I was getting at the time) - but I wouldn't have realised that she gets ALL her clothing from charity shops (no choice on that income level), as I only notice the way she dresses to think that I quite like it and her outfits look good to me. I would potentially be depriving one of my own friends of something to add to her wardrobe if I didn't pass my clothes on is how I'm looking at it now...

Former_MSE_Andrea

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

You learn something every day - and it never occurred to me that people would deliberately destroy perfectly good items that could be taken to a charity shop!

I guess part of automatically denoting any good-enough throwouts to a charity shop is down to upbringing. My mother is quite a thrower-outer of clothes and other goods. However, she would automatically offer it to me first - and hence a noticeable number of items in my wardrobe came from her. Anything I didn't want/wouldn't fit me goes to a charity shop. She would take in stuff herself originally and when she no longer felt up to it - she would just pass me on everything and I would sort it out between "what I would keep myself" and I would take the rest of her offerings onto a charity shop.

I tend to make it easier for myself by giving it to the nearest available charity shop that's en route on my way into town anyway - but it does go to one.

Its a form of recycling in my book and it wouldn't occur to me to think in terms of not "helping other people out" by them having the chance to buy the clothing. I've always been poorly-paid (darn it!) but thankfully not so poorly paid that I've not been able to buy my clothes new. I accept that some of the people buying their clothes that way are doing so because its the only way they can afford to do so - and, if my donating stuff to the shop helps them do so as well as helping the charity itself, then that's fair enough in my book.

Certainly one of my friends here shocked me when she told me the other day how much her income is (:eek: - even lower than my part-pension I was getting at the time) - but I wouldn't have realised that she gets ALL her clothing from charity shops (no choice on that income level), as I only notice the way she dresses to think that I quite like it and her outfits look good to me. I would potentially be depriving one of my own friends of something to add to her wardrobe if I didn't pass my clothes on is how I'm looking at it now...

Love this sentiment!

I take my girls to our local charity shops regularly for a good look round at what we can get, whether it's clothes, books or games they beg to go look in the charity shops when we're passing, in the same way as they beg to go in other shops.

My aim's to make it a normal thing for them with none of the old "stigma" that used to be attached. I may be wrong but I think by looking at the charity shop bargain and upcycling/crafting threads here on the forum charity shop shopping has nothing like the image it used to have.

A couple of weeks ago we picked up two Bop-it games for about £3 each (great fun!) and several Doctor Who and How to Train Your Dragon books (virtually unread) for 30p each in our local RSPCA shop.

A lot of my nicer dresses are from there too - someone in the area obviously has similar taste to me, which is nice

MallyGirl

thriftwizard wrote: »

I visit our local Tip a couple of times a week (to see if they've had anything interesting in in the vintage fabric line) and you'd be horrified to see what goes into the textile bins - and some people just throw it straight into the landfill - brand new clothing with tags still attached, by the bin-bag!

you are not allowed to take anything away from our tip at all. it all just goes over the side into massive content specific hoppers to be crushed by bulldozers. No option for recycling something like furniture or fabric. Only the electrical stuff gets put to one side so maybe that is reviewed by dealers?

Justamum

MallyGirl wrote: »

you are not allowed to take anything away from our tip at all. it all just goes over the side into massive content specific hoppers to be crushed by bulldozers. No option for recycling something like furniture or fabric. Only the electrical stuff gets put to one side so maybe that is reviewed by dealers?

Our tip is very good. There's an area for putting things which still have a useful life and anyone can take things from it. We also take our recyclables - cardboard in one skip, food tins and other metals in the scrap metal skip, various containers for paper, glass, plastic (although I take mine to a local recycling firm), batteries, used engine oil, clothes for Samaritans, garden waste (which is processed to make compost then sold), televisions and fridges. Anything which can't go into one of the various useful areas is put in a pile for burning at the Energy From Waste incinerator.

moneyistooshorttomention

The only tips I ever visited (ie back in home area) had an astonishingly large section of perfectly good things put to one side for anyone to have that wanted them. I think people had to pay for them - but I am assuming that the charges were very reasonable.

I just assumed all tips functioned that way - though I've not yet investigated the one in my current area.

wishus

When I lived in the Black Country, what we took unwanted things to was definitely 'the tip'. You couldn't remove things from there, and only certain things were sorted: fridges, records DVDs.

Where I am now it's a Recycling Centre, and it's short work to take your bin bags and sort them as you empty, with attendants keeping an eye out to make sure it goes in the right place. The outlet for stuff they pick out and think they can resell is a short drive away. You can go straight there to sell clothes if you want, but they have no-collect times when they have enough. I bought a beautiful Monsoon suedette maxi skirt there for just £4. We recently bought a sink for our small room for a tenner and OH has a great coffee machine for his den, bought for a fiver!

These are things that someone once threw away. Perfectly fine!

Somebody who loves a retro look will love your 80s bedroom set, or your 70s china even if you don't or just don't have the room. People go crazy for old VCRs and record players... the possibilities are almost endless!

NewShadow

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've always been poorly-paid (darn it!) but thankfully not so poorly paid that I've not been able to buy my clothes new. I accept that some of the people buying their clothes that way are doing so because its the only way they can afford to do so - and, if my donating stuff to the shop helps them do so as well as helping the charity itself, then that's fair enough in my book.

You can get lovely bits and bobs - I can't remember the last piece of clothing I bought first hand, and I'm on above the average national income (excluding London).

Must go hand in hand with me liking blackpool :rotfl:

GreyQueen

There's always a danger of preaching to the choir but I'm pleased that Hugh's programme exists. If it makes a few people think about the subject of waste, and talk about it, it will probably cause a few other people to change their habits.

You can't change the world, you can only change the bit of it which you are dealing with. There's an old saying;

If everyone swept their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean.

VfM4meplse

I've just caught up on the last episode and it left me feeling very angry - mostly with the supermarkets, but partly with myself as well for picking and choosing from the pre-packed bags of carrots and oranges (the last thing I want to find is any moisture in the bag, or a mouldy one to ruin the lot!) from the supermarket when I can't find them loose.

There is one thing I cannot get my head around....the amount of waste that goes in the supermarket bins cannot have all been YS'd to the public, or offered to staff! There is just no way that amount of wastage is ever seen on the supermarket shelves! The programme made me feel bloody minded and tempted only to ever buy YS from the big 4. Everything else can be sourced locally, and when I need a big supermarket I shall stick to Aldi and Lidl.

GreyQueen wrote: »

If everyone swept their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean.

Reminds me of Canadian law around clearing snow on the pavement outside your residence - it gets done because it's enforced by regulation.