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

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!

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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

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

I sympathize with two contributors who have no cars. I have recently given up driving so cannot get stuff to charity shops on a rural bus, nor have any storage space other than a small garden shed. At 80, I can no longer move heavy furniture.
I am encouraged to sign up with freecycle again. As live next to the village hall, I have tried reaching out usable chairs etc. with a note inviting people to take them. This usually works pretty quickly and I like to think of others pleased with a bargain.

Anniebach could you ask a neighbour to take things when they are going? Just ask one or two to ask if you have anything needing to go. £25 is a lot to be paying

I think this is one area where there probably is a difference in attitudes to waste between generations.

Those who grew up during the war or just after at a time of rationing, still hate waste. The "make do and mend" slogan was instilled into us. I must admit that I don't darn socks these days but I absolutely hate throwing out food and having a freezer means it will get eaten eventually.

I have argued with my children about overloading their children's plates with more food than they can eat and chucking the leftovers away. I give them child sized portions and tell them they can have second helpings, which they often do.

My habit of eating my own children's leftovers when they were small probably accounts for me having to buy bigger sized clothes at various times so perhaps that was a false economy!

Wow! Where do you live?

Our Council doesn't charge that much for 3 items, that's quite a lot.

Its 25 pounds here, if not more. They used to collect for free if people were pensioners, but they've stopped that now.
As I said in another thread, the people with big jeeps, in the houses opposite seem to think that dumping their rubbish next to our our council flat bins is acceptable. Then the council come and clear the stuff when I phone to complain.

My front garden was being re landscaped last year and I had 25 shrubs and trees in pots which needed repotting. Also around 400 yellow loose bricks which made up a decorative raised area. I advertised them on the local "free" site not expecting anyone to show interest. Everything went in three days! Two families made several trips to collect them. The trees /shrubs went to start a new garden while the bricks went to build a vegetable plot, both in the same village

Recycling clothes etc - there's an organisation here which collects sorts and recycles clothes, shoes, household linen etc. Some goes to needy families, some is discarded (?burnt?)
There are containers at tips and outside supermarkets which are emptied regularly.

I only know one neighbour slightly Liz and this cul de sac is sheltered accomodation bungalows, more mobility scooters than cars

I remember being shocked by an advertisement I first saw some years ago which asked "ashamed of your phone?" then showed some pathetic person looking embarrassed because his mobile phone was not the latest model. I couldn't get my head round the concept. I have always been perfectly happy, even proud to have an item which has lasted a long time, (like my seventeen year old caf or thirty five year old freezer) . I thought built in obselecense was immoral, but ther obviously are a lot of folk who think the opposite is true.

I am considering buying a smart phone but was put off by the salesman telling me it would only last two to three years. These things can cost hundreds of pounds. I had hoped that if I invested all that money, with a bit of luck I would never have to replace it, after all I'm in my seventies. The salesman clearly thought I was bonkers.

There are containers at tips and outside supermarkets which are emptied regularly.
I just remarked to DH this morning that there are no containers outside the supermarkets any more for clothes, shoes, books etc. which were so handy. DH said that there was always a real mess around them as they either weren't emptied regularly or people just dumped stuff anywhere. We take them to the charity shop but it's not always easy to park and too far to walk and carry bags of stuff.

You've certainly hit a spot Ethelbags. A bit of a hippy since the 60s, I have always tried to buy from charity shops, ebay or handmade however I now find that there is no textile recycling bin - only charity bags which shocks me because by the time I throw out stuff it is not rewearable. My DD is good too and has got most baby things from friends, gumtree or ebay but I gasp when I see the brand new toys, furniture on the skip at the recycle depot, and as for books BlueBelle, don't get me started!

Poor Mrs. Sew-and-Sew is spinning in her grave; she died an unnatural and premature death! We need the spirit of 'make do and mend.' It makes people feel better about themselves & is more the way we're meant to live. (Imho of course.) Waste isn't part of nature & the more we separate ourselves from nature the unhappier we seem to become.

I think we're meant to be Wombles. Though I should admit I don't darn the holes in my socks, I damn them. Then I sew them up lumpily as I've never been good with my hands (at least not with sewy/crafty things. Good at dressing wounds, bathing the sick, changing nappies, & helping with whelping, though.)

The disposable society really depresses me. I don't mean we should go to ridiculous extremes of making do, but lots of the money that's being spent on 'new' could go to charities, landfills are too full already, the thought of matching hangers at a charity shop makes me feel I've lived too long & am probably only alive due to some cosmic mistake, we're already being manipulated by greedy ghouls who brainwash us into thinking our selves & souls aren't enough & we've got to Buy to Be, and besides I liked the orange-boxes-with-the-bit-of-fabric, I still do, they made sense & they worked. What more could you want of something than that it would serve its purpose, look quite nice, & last forever?

Do any of the obsessed-with-new people actually look or seem happy? Not in my experience.

Anniebach, I'm so very sorry about your situation. I do know what you mean about needing to order by post & the very real difficulty of breaking down the boxes. I'm very lucky in many ways but I can partly understand how you feel. I wish I could help. Please understand that I didn't mean to ignore people in predicaments like yours when I wrote the above.

On the whole, though, it all makes me think of 'laying out the ready cash - bigger, better, newer, smarter, hear the status-symbols clash.' Marvelous how there's a Flanders & Swann song for every occasion!

I dislike the “children’s menu” at restaurants. I’ve only been to one place where there was an under-5s offer as well as the huge portions for under-12s. I approved, but even that meal would have been enough to feed me!

I ordered two meals from the children's menu for the DGD when we were out - even the 5 year old looked at it in askance. It was just about enough for a fussy toddler. Yet some 'children's meals' are more than enough for a very hungry 9 year old!

I think meal size depends where you are, North, bigger portions definitely.

I hate children’s menu’s too. They’re inevitably bad. Cheap sausages with beans and such. On the rare occasions when we have a family meal out we try to get adult portions, ask for additional plates and divide between two or three. Mix and match. I usually join them as I can’t eat restaurant or pub portions although it can mean I get an overload of veggies. Some enlightened restaurants are now doing half adult portions for children and oldies.

Annie - If you’re in sheltered bungalows don’t you have a warden who can help? I know most of the sheltered bungalows around here have lost their live-on-site wardens, but someone still calls round if only briefly. What’s the point of being sheltered otherwise?