Wednesday reading

[cloudsinvenice]

It's been a while, but the meme is back! Also, I see this is my first public entry in ages. I swear, potential friends, it's not a complete desert - there is more going on beneath f-lock...

Comments

[semyaza]

We've boxed ourselves in because of overconsumption, overpackaging, and an obsession with branding. Being Neil-who-doesn't-use-brands is another way of giving brands power, of making them central to how we perceive ourselves even while we're putting them on the periphery.

It's not just the recession; it's class differences and attitude and wastefulness and, again, overconsumption. Second brother jumped onto the CFL bandwagon with both feet and still finds my attachment to incandescent lightbulbs amusing but as I said to him at the time: if I replaced all of my lightbulbs with CFLs I'd never save enough money on electricity to make up for the cost of the bulbs, especially since they won't last anywhere near as long as they should. If incandescents are costly and inefficient and don't last long, well - turn the damn things off.

Home-made soap... It might not have a brand name but the materials are produced and shipped from somewhere, electricity is used in the making of it, and it takes time. I'd rather let the French make it from their own olive oil and then I can buy it in Winners at half price.

The onus for recycling should be on the producers and the stores because they're the ones who are foisting unnecessary packaging on us. If stores had to deal with the waste perhaps we might see a change in the way things are done. Yes, I yearn for the old days. :D

[cloudsinvenice]

I think you're right; in the end the producers wield the most power in this equation. In theory there's EU legislation about this, but in practice there seem to be some issues. And I remember that when we contacted Apple about sending us a prepaid box for our old computer, they asked us all these questions to identify it which we couldn't answer because they relied on being able to boot the thing up to find out what generation it was! Result: broken thing moved with us and is still in the spare bedroom with all the furniture from all the other rooms not sorted out yet!

[semyaza]

Businesses that 'produce' waste in the form of packaging - grocery stores, hardware stores etc - pay into a controversial program that helps fund province-wide recycling but I feel that stores should provide recycling facilities on site for as many recyclables as possible, especially ones that aren't picked up at curbside such as styrofoam. I pay a recycling surcharge when I buy a can of paint but I can't take the empty can back to the paint store. I have to take it to a recycling depot 8 miles away. That makes no sense.

Over the years the onus has been placed quite firmly on the consumer in a variety of ways. I remember with some nostalgia the time when we gave bin men a bonus at Christmas for taking away furniture and whatnot - the sort of stuff that would otherwise move from house to house with you like your computer. I have an old TV sitting in my spare bedroom that's too heavy for me to carry down to the car to take to the depot. I expect it will be here forever.