Posted on 03/09/2019 7:18:11 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
And we actually sewed our socks...and that was still going on the the 50’s and 60’s.
***Smarter packaging would help.***
I remember when,if you needed a tool, you went to the hardware store, and bought one from a box of a dozen in it.. It was usually wrapped in thin paper.
Today, you need the same tool, it comes in a large colorful plastic container that you need shears to open. Way more waste than the old tissue paper.
Why can't environmentalists start up a company instead of using the force of government. Like Huizenga did when he started Waste Management.
***Back when there were deposits on returnable bottles,***
Some states still do this. I remember, not long ago, there was a scandal in which enterprising people were scrounging bottles in “non-returnable” states, hauling them to returnable states to get the deposits.
“For decades, we’ve been throwing just about whatever we wanted — wire hangers and pizza boxes and ketchup bottles and yogurt containers — into the bin and sending it to China, where low-paid workers sorted through it and cleaned it up.”
I know the left believes this CRAP, but, as others have said, it just gets dumped in the ocean, particularly the plastics, which is why there is the absolutely huge plastic garbage pile floating in the Pacific. I think even China got sick of that mess and won’t let us keep contributing to it (even if indirectly, by having the Chinese do the dumping). I’m thinking it was starting to interfere with the operations of their navy vessels.
“Today, you need the same tool, it comes in a large colorful plastic container that you need shears to open. Way more waste than the old tissue paper.”
Slows the employees’ thefts down....
I still see our homeless BUMs pushing bicycles loaded with cans and plastic bottles to the recycling center here. Of course all of it is pilfered from our recycle cans creating a mess for us to cleanup after them...
A classic. Nincompoop liberals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcdNaajKExs
I suspect that the left will reach a compromise - have people keep sorting their trash and THINKING they’re recycling (as if they were in the past, LOL), while dumping it all in a landfill.
That way, the activists still are able to virtue signal, while the cities keep their costs down.
Ours doesn’t even take glass or cardboard, you would have to drive to a center. The main thing I use it for is junk mail - come through the garage and at least the junk mail never makes it into the house.
That's the key. Attack the source. Limit or restrict the use of PVCs and plasticizers in packaging. Compostable paper product only with a limit of say less than 1% of other materials.
A tough task to get done but do'able.
About 95% of the plastics floating in the oceans come from Africa, India & China,
In my town in MA it's the South American illegal alien squaws pushing stolen grocery carts who will rifle your trash to get the bottles and cans. They're like carrion eaters roaming the veld. I have to chase them away from my house quite often.
Some of those ships taking recycling materials to China dumped them in the Pacific instead.
Beau darns his Lucky Hunting Socks that he’ll never part with.
I crochet so I make us hats and scarves and mittens - and I send a lot on to charity causes, too. I buy cotton and wool yarn for pennies on the dollar at St. Vinnie’s or Goodwill. It’s also FUN to take apart and re-use wool sweaters.
I love all that old-timey crafty stuff. :)
At the ranch we do our part to fight the nemesis of plastic. Plastic bottles, straws, wrapping, containers etc. We convert those (and many other products) to smoke and ash. Never to be insightful or bothersome again.
In my city, the libs went apesh!t when they found out plastics that were turned in for recycling were just going to the landfill. They’ll never learn the folly of trusting the government.
I love your quilt story.
I don’t buy water in disposable bottles. I take my own bottles and refill them. I re-use plastic bags from the grocery store as garbage bags.
Build washers and dryers, and refrigerators and stove to actually LAST more than 15 years.
___________________________
I dream of those days. My last stove lasted 11 years, but for its last 3 years it no longer had the self clean feature. Elements lasted about 2-3 years. The restraints for the top element burned thru in about 9 years and even with self clean, one spot on the bottom rusted (or maybe burned) thru in 5 years.
Don’t even get me started on washing machines. 6 years is my record over the past 18.
_________________________________
________________________________________
Make parts available so people can repair instead of replace.
____________________
Parts are available. A simple timer switch on a traditional washer is $240 with the labor....about $120+ just for the part. (entire machine cost around $600)
Oven elements are $35.
DH just replaced a simple thermocouple on a wall furnace. Affordable and simple, once he discovered the problem. However, the pilot on the thing is designed so an entire layer of parts (I know nothing) must be removed first and then the person doing the repair must somehow sink 6” into the floor or be a child contortionist to be able to freaking reach the pilot.
I’ve decided that engineers are just protecting their own jobs.
What brands have you owned that lasted 15 years? My Speed Queen electric dryer is on year 11 or 12 and doing fine. It has only needed one electronic part replaced, ever, and the tech was able to jury-rig it while we waited for delivery so I could use it, sort of.
(Note & caveat: I abuse washers and dryers, using them in my business in ways not imagined by the engineers. Given that, Speed Queen gets top marks.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.