Throw away society
 

Throw away society, from time to time the term Throw away society appears in thread. I was given a small Bistro set to go on our balcony for the summer mornings, very similar to the one in the link below. It is in need of restoration as the pant is flaking and there is some rust. I rang a place to enquire the cost of having the metal set dipped and the paint stripped, £130 for table and 2 chairs and then there is the cost of painting. I may be able to get the table into my shot blasting cabinet but the chairs are too long.

Not surprising stuff gets thrown.


https://www.hygienesuppliesdirect.co...RoCF6wQAvD_BwE

I am going to have to ponder as I want to restore the Bistro set for sense of satisfaction

macafee2

I agree, I see it so often that is cheaper to buy new than fix or repair what you have. The last time I was at the local council tip there were people throwing away perfectly good stuff, Bicycles, furniture and domestic appliances. You only have to look in the bins and it is shocking how much stuff is in there.


With the stuff coming out of China made cheaply and companies lile Ikea up until a few years ago advertising to throw away your old stuff and replace with there latest fashion it is not surprising that this is the way people think. You only have to look on here at how often we see people saying '' going to get a new car because it will be cheaper'' No it wont but they here it so often that they believe it them selves.


I wonder how much that Bistro set would have been if it had been shot blasted before it was painted or plastic coated the first time and the coating put on at a reasonable thickness? Also if all the screws were made of stainless steel and the joints had something between them so that the coating did not rub off? My guess a lot more than £150.


The other problem is if we dont buy this stuff the factories that employ millions of people around the world they will go silent and then we will end up with another problem.

If everything had a stated design life measured in decades and everything was repairable perhaps we wouldn't be throwing so much stuff away?

And the repair of something that breaks within its stated life is sorted out totally free of charge, paid for by the seller/manufacturer or some sort of bond to protect against folks (perhaps deliberately?) going out of business.

Ah, those pigs are soaring across the sky as I type.......

I once spent four hours 'fixing' a £1.99 solarlight from B&M, just to please my wife ( or possibly avoid the wrath of SWMBO :eek:)
I do feel that if we seek a 'greener 'world, then shipping items 8000 miles that we can easily make locally isn't viable. Especially when conflict disrupts long supply chains too easily.
Cheap solar lights from B&M are now of no interest to my wife. She knows they last one season and I refuse to fix any more.
I agree the retailers sell too much c^p. Sadly it's hard to tell the difference sometimes,but I guess £1.99 was a clue:getmecoat:

This could be a huge problem in the future. The rag trade/fashion industry have been criticised recently by the greens for the throw away culture in the West.
I'm very much a hand me down or make do and mend type of person, but if we stop buying from the clothing manufacturers in the likes of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey, what will happen to all those workers who have been lifted out of relative poverty?
I do think we in the West don't fully think through our green policies, although they're meant with the right intentions.