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

Where I live, we have the usual recycling place to go to but there is also a large hut where people can take stuff that could be reused. Also the men on site stop any good stuff going in the skips and put things in the hut.
You’d be surprised how busy it gets!
People have a look round and pay a small amount to take stuff away and the money goes to help the homeless.
It’s a great idea.

Since we're all on here we can clearly all use computers.

So it is worth contacting local charities, Ebay or its local equivalent Facebay or Freegan or any of the other places to advertise (collect only). Or a local auction house if you have a dining room and chairs. Some charities will take electrical items and get them PAT tested so they're kosher for sale.

Some councils are still running a service where decent stuff you don't need can be sold.

Clearly there are items that can't, like the dratted pre-1988 sofas or those without labels. And very tatty clothes - though presumably for those of us who can get there, there do tend to be rag-banks. Again, worth contacting the council to ask for the nearest or any service that will take them. Anything cotton or woollen I put in my compost heap, but realise not everyone has one.

As for "not enough volunteer staff" for charities - possibly because (a) most young couples are juggling two jobs and children just to afford rent or mortgage (b) more grandparents are doing more childcare (c) more people need to work until they're 67 because of the pension changes. Perhaps the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and others should make it a qualification to do charity shop working or whatever.

That could be the reason Fennel. DH works for a charity and remarked that there don't seem to be any younger people coming along to volunteer, they are all in their late 70s or even 80s and some are becoming too frail to carry on.

To fennel. Hmmm .... yes, I can believe that.

Jalima your post on Friday at 14.56 -
Perhaps that's because there aren't enough volunteers now to do this kind of work. Even an organisation called Emmaus in France, which used to collect used furniture for poor families weren't interested recently when I asked them to collect some good quality items. Not enough staff.

One of the charity shops locally sells all its hardbacks for 50p.
The manageress told me
"people say a hardback is too heavy to hold up in bed" !!

It’s a generational thing. I have seen my children throw food out of the cupboards to make space for their new purchases and it hurts me to see them do that. It seems that today is a throwaway society, as things are now so cheap to buy, whereas our generation looked after items, some of them maybe bought on tick.
Me? I get most of my clothes from charity shops, as I can get something which would once have been too expensive for me to buy which is now at a price that I can afford. It makes sense and I’m not slow in coming forward about where I bought the item(s).

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?

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.

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

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 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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Wow! Where do you live?

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!

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 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.