people are so wastefull!!!

[human]

There's a great series of ads on TV right now for JB Weld in which this guy picks up things from people's trash--a chair, a lamp, a grill, a go-kart, etc., fixes them and then shames the people who threw it away. It perfectly reflects my sentiments on this subject.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

There should be a show on TV dedicated to this very subject. Maybe that will shame society enough to get people to try to fix simple things before chucking them.
50 years ago guys rewired the heater elements in toasters to fix them. Shops changed motors in blenders. Now days people cannot even change a bag, filter, or belt in a vacuum... They cannot even take it to a friend or shop who could do it for them. Soon people will start chunking lamps when the bulbs burn out. Geez......
Recycling is not the answer to waste management but reduction and reuse are.

 

[justjunque]

Saw one today

I was driving through a nearby town this morning, and it was their trash day.
Someone had an upright vacuum out with their trash, and it looked new.
I didn't see a brand on it, and I'm not up on stuff enough to be able to identify them.
All I can tell you was that it was very new looking, and it was white with some metallic red trim on top of the floor nozzle.
If I hadn't been working at the time, and driving a very identifiable company vehicle, I would have grabbed it.
If only to bring it home and see if I could figure out what, if anything, was wrong with it, and donate it somewhere.
Even if it was just something cheap, I'd rather see it go to a thrift store than get crunched up in the back of a garbage truck.
I tried googling pictures of white uprights with red trim, but I couldn't find an exact match.
It just looked so immaculate and shiny, it seems like it had to be practically brand new.

Barry

 

[human]

texaskirbyguy wrote:
There should be a show on TV dedicated to this very subject.

I reply:
There's a cool British show on Netflix called "Money for Nothing" in which this lady intercepts items people are throwing away at the "tip", fixes them up or repurposes them, then sells them on and gives whatever profit she makes back to the person(s) from whom she got the items.

The more I think about it, the more I find myself blaming companies like Bic and Gillette for today's culture of disposability, having introduced disposable items like razors, pens and lighters in the '70s. The trend just grew from there.