I'm putting this in politics as I think it will likely get some debate. Is also going to be a small rant, so bare with me
Over the time that I have been on FCN, I have been asked a few times why I am so against waste and rubbish. Most people do their small part recycling, and I think is fantastic but lets take this one step further and consider the following question.
What happens if you cannot throw anything away?
Imagine that you woke tomorrow and discovered that you could no longer throw anything away. Whatever comes onto your property cannot leave. What happens to chip packet you just finished? What about that can of drink? Or that foam and plastic packaging your food came in? Cardboard boxes? How would this change your management of your immediate world? How would this change the way you approach daily shopping? Clearly something would need to change, and suddenly you would find yourself needing to scrutinise everything you buy, having to hunt around and purchase things only from sources without packaging (and no, simply removing the packaging outside of your property is not an option. Don’t just pass the buck here). Welcome to our world, this is what my wife and I do.
We live in a place where we do not have a rubbish collection. Where literally what comes onto our property stays on our property. It changes the way we look at everything. Can I buy this in bulk using my own container? What will I do with this box when is empty? What can I reuse this material for later? Some things are simple, cardboard and paper – fireplace. Jars we can always use to store pickles, seeds, fruit, etc. The foam tray that came with the plant mince, paint tray. Old CD’s and some stiff plastic – we make these into fake cabbage moths for the garden. That plastic cover that came with my mitre saw protractor, the line starts to blur and finding uses for things becomes difficult. But is here with us now so a use must be found. I would like to say that we are 100% rubbish free but that would be a lie, there are always going to be things that simply cannot be reused in any meaningful way by us. But by considering what we will do with the waste before purchasing something, we minimise that rubbish output drastically.
Am not expecting everyone to simply change their lifestyle overnight, is not easy to make such a drastic lifestyle change for most people. We unfortunately live in a world of disposable everything. Products are no longer made to be user serviceable simply by virtue of us wanting things smaller so technology evolved and now integrated circuitry is measured in nanometres. Gone are the days of being able to re-solder a circuit board to replace a broken component. There was a time when we as a whole thought about this question when designing something, and made solutions that the end user could implement to obtain further life from a finished product. I applaud the companies and people that are still doing this, but there aren’t many left. There is a push for recyclable products, items made from recycled materials, for non single use items. I feel this push is needed but too little. Is so engrained in current culture that “Oh it broke, just buy another”, that rubbish is not MY problem is clearly someone elses. If there is one thing I would like to see before leaving this world, is for that mentality to change, and I believe it can but it will take a lot of sacrifice on everyones part.
I would like to simply challenge everyone, that next time you go shopping consider what will become of the waste from what you buy. Do one day of shopping where what you buy cannot leave your property.
Over the time that I have been on FCN, I have been asked a few times why I am so against waste and rubbish. Most people do their small part recycling, and I think is fantastic but lets take this one step further and consider the following question.
What happens if you cannot throw anything away?
Imagine that you woke tomorrow and discovered that you could no longer throw anything away. Whatever comes onto your property cannot leave. What happens to chip packet you just finished? What about that can of drink? Or that foam and plastic packaging your food came in? Cardboard boxes? How would this change your management of your immediate world? How would this change the way you approach daily shopping? Clearly something would need to change, and suddenly you would find yourself needing to scrutinise everything you buy, having to hunt around and purchase things only from sources without packaging (and no, simply removing the packaging outside of your property is not an option. Don’t just pass the buck here). Welcome to our world, this is what my wife and I do.
We live in a place where we do not have a rubbish collection. Where literally what comes onto our property stays on our property. It changes the way we look at everything. Can I buy this in bulk using my own container? What will I do with this box when is empty? What can I reuse this material for later? Some things are simple, cardboard and paper – fireplace. Jars we can always use to store pickles, seeds, fruit, etc. The foam tray that came with the plant mince, paint tray. Old CD’s and some stiff plastic – we make these into fake cabbage moths for the garden. That plastic cover that came with my mitre saw protractor, the line starts to blur and finding uses for things becomes difficult. But is here with us now so a use must be found. I would like to say that we are 100% rubbish free but that would be a lie, there are always going to be things that simply cannot be reused in any meaningful way by us. But by considering what we will do with the waste before purchasing something, we minimise that rubbish output drastically.
Am not expecting everyone to simply change their lifestyle overnight, is not easy to make such a drastic lifestyle change for most people. We unfortunately live in a world of disposable everything. Products are no longer made to be user serviceable simply by virtue of us wanting things smaller so technology evolved and now integrated circuitry is measured in nanometres. Gone are the days of being able to re-solder a circuit board to replace a broken component. There was a time when we as a whole thought about this question when designing something, and made solutions that the end user could implement to obtain further life from a finished product. I applaud the companies and people that are still doing this, but there aren’t many left. There is a push for recyclable products, items made from recycled materials, for non single use items. I feel this push is needed but too little. Is so engrained in current culture that “Oh it broke, just buy another”, that rubbish is not MY problem is clearly someone elses. If there is one thing I would like to see before leaving this world, is for that mentality to change, and I believe it can but it will take a lot of sacrifice on everyones part.
I would like to simply challenge everyone, that next time you go shopping consider what will become of the waste from what you buy. Do one day of shopping where what you buy cannot leave your property.
