Why do people waste so much or is it me being unreasonable

Who would want an old sweeping brush . Can't dispose of a garden pot because it doesn't fit in the recycling box , shop a lot from Amazon because I can't go to town, orders delivered in cardboard boxes, can't put these out if the lid doesn't close on thepaper recycling box can't break them up because of arthritis in hands.

Fed up of recycling

No wonder fly tipping is on the increase. £25 is a lot of money !

Try freecycle, just type in google and sign up, I have found loads of stuff and given loads of stuff, "one man's meat" and all that.

I am fed up of recycling at the moment, with no car, living alone, I cannot get to the recycling depot, not allowed to put a sweeping brush out , have to find two more items and the council will collect for £25 .

Totally agree. I even go 'fishing' in my Mum's recycling bins to transfer wrongly binned stuff into the correct containers. I hate to see waste and items going to landfill unnecessarily. Having just down-sized we have made umpteen trips to charity shops and I found some satisfaction in choosing the shops where I thought particular things would sell best! Disappointed though when a set of Royal Doulton commemorative plates were sold for £1.95 each! But at least they didn't end up at the tip. Some of our local tips now have charity outlets there so the charities are rescuing anything re-sellable. The downside of advertising on Free-cycle, etc, are the time wasters who express keen interest, set up a time to view and then don't turn up - as ever a few spoil it for the many. I have a huge bag of coat hangers but can't even give them to the charity shops - they prefer them all to match!!! I keep a rag bag on the go and when full off it goes to the charity shop - I know they get quite a lot for them. Our local dog rescue is grateful for old towels. Anything not good enough for the charity shops goes to local jumble sales.

The trouble with electrical appliances is that they cost almost as much to repair as it does to buy new. For example, our dishwasher has started to leak quite badly. DH says the door seals have perished. A new bottom seal is £80 and the side seals £35. A new dishwasher is £170. DH says it is a tricky job to replace the seals and he might cause more damage. Even if he replaced them successfully, some other part could go any time, so we've ordered a new one and will take the old one to the tip.

I work in a charity shop too and we have stopped accepting hard backed books, because of lack of storage space. However, we do have a local Oxfam shop which takes only books. I recycle everything, where possible, but must admit that some people donate absolute rubbish to charity shops (dirty underwear at times!) which is just binned, at the expense of the charity!

I see, ethelt. Thanks for explaining

Can I ask , of no-one in particular and everyone in general why you do this?
Is it because you need to for financial reasons or is it purely because you hate waste.
In my early days and early married life it was definitely the former. Now it is ingrained in me and I feel I can't change, even if I don't really need to.

I buy all my clothes, except underwear, in charity shops. Some of them still have the original label and have obviously never been worn.

I also buy books and DVDS from shops and donate them again after use.

My flat is furnished with items people have put outside their houses with a"please take" note.

I never have to throw out any food and I buy most of my vegetables when they have been reduced for quick sale.

It makes me sick when the charity shops refuse good stuff. In birmingham my relative took several sheets all new and still in plastic bags sealed. They were refused. Yet ive seen bedding and undies in other charity shops. One shop refused coat hangers i was really puzzled.

No Baggs. I take baby stuff from DD clothes from me and lots of books which have been passed around. Therefore my clothes only go about once a month and being a charity shop lover i usually buy stuff when im there. In the north east the charity shops love books. Our hospice shop sells paperbacks for 75p and they are there the best sellers.

Yes menopaws I’m in Perth and it’s a great idea we call it “bring out your dead” ?

I offered a complete set of hardback books on Learning to Knit, in immaculate condition to a charity shop some years ago.
They refused them because they were a few years old !

We always send stuff to charity shop. Furniture gets passed around the family until no longer wanted, then adapted into something else (a workbench in the garage).

Nothing gets dumped unless it has tried to be recycled, upscaled, reused, charity shopped.

I always either put our unwanted clothes in a charity bag we have through our door or take to a charity shop. I agree with BlueBelle when I worked in a charity shop we had to refuse books as no one seems to read anymore. I love a good book so when I have finished with mine I take them to the local hospital who sell them on I also buy some from them.

Our council tips have a ‘shop’ where the men sell ornaments, kids bikes and anything whole and decent for a few pence. Not sure who gets the money though!

Our town (and neighbouring ones) has a Facebook car boot page. You take a picture, post it with the price (or free) and anyone interested sents a private message to arrange a sale and collection.

We put stuff out by our gate on market day and it’s usually gone by lunchtime. The only things which didn’t were a cot mattress and baby car seats? Also on market day the church puts trestles over the pews and sells donations in aid of local causes. That’s all in addition to the charity shops. There really is no need to dump good stuff.

I cannot bear throwing anything away. I have just given away a printer, a shopping trolley and some car jacks on "Freecycle".

Our local Tesco has a book shelf near the tills and the Bookswap is very popular.

Think part of the problem is electrical item that are told it’s not worth the cost of repair. I rent our tv same as my parents used to,remember when it went wrong a man would come round with a big bag of tools and took the back of,sometimes very quick other times took ages but he would always get it to work and tv would last years and years but recently I had to call up because mine had gone wrong and man just walks in with a tv under his arm,picks mine up and put the new one in,asked him if it would swap back again after being repaired and was told no,cost to repair doesn’t make it worth it

persistentdonor we must live in the same area. I re-cycle wherever I can. Yesterday I had a new boiler fitted, my old one is going to Saltash College for the Students studying for Gas Safety Certificate to practice on (young lady who was part of the team fitting the boiler ask if it was ok, great way to re-cycle I thought)

Local re-cycling centre removes re-usable items rather than sending them to Landfill, these items are then sold on where possible,

I take books to charity shop or give to friends. Clothes to charity shop.

My DD & her OH are good at using car boot sales, e-bay & facebook. DD also buys lots of (good quality) items for DGSs. For DGS2 who is 9 months old she buys (usually "pre-loved") when she wants something & sells on when he no longer needs it (he's growing very fast).

When I moved here there was a chest of drawers left in the bedroom, DD & her OH took it & decoupaged it with "superhero" wrapping paper & put new knobs on it, looks superb & DGS1 loves it. Not all the younger generation are wasteful

Ethelbags1 I could not agree more! Here in the states it's unbelievable what people waste.
They even do it on TV programs where they destroy perfectly nearly brand new kitchens because they don't like the color or style!

I have morphed into owning nearly everything second hand, even my dog Tula!

And I am not too proud to gather someone's trash and use it for myself or get it to a charity that can put it to good use.

I was getting rid f a dark wood wall unit and dining set so offered them free locally. Someone took the wall unit to house lizards. Eventually someone took the table and chairs but took a while. I think sometimes the problem is with transport. I have heard of charities refusing furniture if it is out of fashion and nobody wants it.

123 if it’s older furniture without safety tags charity shops are not allowed to sell it it’s not that they are not bothered or ‘don’t want to know’ they can’t
There is a lot we can’t sell, for instance baby pushchairs, prams, high chairs, bikes, duvets, pillows sleeping bags nor children fancy dress

We have a scrap man who collects any type of metal for free then he sells it to be recycled. I get annoyed ay the amount of food waste. My dc laugh because if there is one portion of something left after dinner I insist on freezing it to eat for lunch another day. I am certain by amount of eye rolling they would just throw it away if I was not there.

My aunt had to move into a care home. We tried really hard to give furniture to a charity, they didn't want to know.