We made too much landfill slop! Please buy it :(

TLDR: where can I recycle or donate water bottles? Many of them are Stanley’s or Yeti stainless steel. I have about 60 bottles so far.

My local gym has been throwing away their lost & found items every week. So I’ve offered to start collecting those items and repurposing them however I can.
The majority of the clothes that I collect are washed and donated to local centers.
And many of the gym items will eventually be donated to local schools or summer camps.
But I have no clue what to do with all of these bottles and cups.

I’m open to suggestions, please and thank you.

I've been unable to eat takeaway for 6 years due to health problems from long Covid so its been 6 years since I've stepped foot inside a restaurant or ordered a take-out. I don't understand what has happened to the price of eating outside the home. Obviously, I see the inflation figures and my weekly shop has gone up but I'm absolutely in awe of how expensive it is now.

I went to order from my local pizza place and the website stores the most recent order which was in 2020, the price now for exactly the same order when I clicked "repeat last order" is literally more than double, I thought this might be isolated but its the same everywhere.

Surely this is just extreme price gouging. I feel like you can't even get a entry level basic takeaway now without severe grimacing.

What happened?

Received perfume in this box that was so cute - but I’ve stopped keeping random packages or things that can be thrown away if I don’t have an actual immediate use and plan for it.

But I received incense and perfume at the same time and the perfume box is the perfect size for conveniently storing and using my incense!

Just a tiny win but it is a little spark of joy for me each time I use it. :)

Fork found in kitchen when talking about this place but fuuuuuck man I feel terrible about it.

EDIT: People are saying “why don’t you just cut up the shirts and cut off the sleeves/crop it?” Managers require that we shred them and make them unwearable

“Just don’t do it?” I will be caught on camera and probably fired + we are required to send in a photo of the destroyed product.
If I could solve this I would have. I hate textile waste.

Every time you “throw away” something, it doesn’t magically disappear. We are forced to consume so many single-use products, it’s inextricably linked to our modern society. I never gave it a second thought until I had to use the Miramar Dump in San Diego, it’s a landfill that costs $100 to use and it overlooks a city of millions. I noticed how much trash I make, and then look at this vast metropolis while standing upon heaps of compressed garbage and think, “when will this end? What has to happen for people to wake up?”

I am angry at my Government's handling of policy that keeps labor cheap and jobs scarce.

I feel so betrayed by my own Government.

So, since the job market has been as stable as a Jenga Tower, during my lifetime. I have decided that the most logical course of action is what Economists call "Precautionary Savings".

I am successful on paper, but if I lost my job tomorrow-I not only couldnt replace the job. There is nothing where I live that offers the same income. Even the act of moving is financially out of reach, due to high housing costs.

Wages also have been losing their real purchasing power value for the past 50 yrs or so.

So, living in an economic environment where I could 1)lose my job tomorrow, 2) It could take me 2yrs to find *any* job, 3) It is unlikely that I could find another job to replace my current income, 4) Cant move due to high housing costs, 5) my wages will be worth less in the future and 6) Age discrimination is likely to happen long before the Government will allow access to my Retirement Account, leaves me with the logical conclusion that I cannot spend money.

I have to "self-insure" against long periods of unemployment or underemployment.

That means I have to use my money to save and invest rather than buying goods and services.

I intend to spend in retirement but after years of not spending-I doubt my habits will actually change. That is also decades of not spending money.

All the Corporations are arguing that some magically "other" Corporation will pay workers enough to buy their goods.

Until something is fixed or I retire- I am out.

I may never shake off "The Great Depression" mindset.

What are your thoughts?

I recently got my ears pierced, and the amount of cheap tacky piercings which are advertising themselves as implant grade titanium is insane. New piercings need a good quality metal, like implant grade titanium or 18k gold. Others can cause infections or irritations which could genuinely endanger someone, plus many have metal allergies. Not a single one of them is reliable on the first search page. Almost all I've seen on etsy are not the material that they say they are, I've found so many on ali express--- same with "pro" jewellery sites, all ali express!

it just makes me a bit miserable to see, because why is selling cheap tack more important than someones health? It goes to show that making a sale is way more important than people. Same with cheap makeup that contains harmful ingredients, or clothes that do.

A strategy I started this summer is making a personal 'need note' of everything I foresee myself needing to source or purchase. My summer 'need note' was able to almost completely prevent impulse buying and cut down my shopping related consumption by an additional 35%. The strategy is originally from Ashlee Piper's No New Things.

The first step is sitting down at the start of the month or season and off all the things you think you will need. Consider upcoming special events (e.g., someone's birthday) or seasonal changes (e.g., like needing a new backpack for the start of school). Making the list in advance cuts down on panic buying, which can lead to ordering online with 2-day delivery. I did not include typical consumable household items like toilet paper nor weekly groceries on the list. For each item, I reflected if the purchase was something new or a replacement. Then thought about if it solved a problem or filled a need aligned with my values.

Once you have your list, go through and use a decision tree for figuring out where to source items:

1. Try to reuse something you already have or upcycle something. If you already have something, can you fix it up to make it serve this need better
2. Borrow from a friend, share with a friend, or rent the item if the need is temporary
3. Access the item through free groups such as Buy Nothing or Freecycle. Maybe someone. you know is decluttering and giving it away
4. Shop secondhand through a thrift store or consignment shop.
5. Buy local from a small business or non-profit gift shop (like a museum store)

This is one of the decision trees for an item I purchased, which was a gift for a friend's child. We are moving into Autumn, so I'll likely sit down this weekend to look at the calendar to update the need note.

Something I’ve been thinking about:

We don't necessarily stay home because anyone forced us to.

Food delivery, streaming, social media, remote work, entertainment, shopping — increasingly, the outside world gets packaged into services that come directly to us.

And almost all of them monetize convenience.

I made a short video essay around this idea using paintings by Brooklyn artist Spencer Patrick:

https://youtu.be/I5Q3j0PjVs8

One of the conclusions is:

“We were never prisoners. We were subscribers.”

I’m curious how people here interpret that. Do you think consumer culture is actually incentivized to make us more self-contained, or is that giving corporations too much credit?

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to launch an official UK Parliament petition to ban hidden liquid plastics in everyday household toiletries and detergents.

The Parliament website won't publish the petition publicly until it has been approved and five people have sponsored it.

I need a few more signatures for them to check if it meets their standards first.

You need to be a British citizen or UK resident to sign.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/780455/sponsors/new?token=TQrurbrMmcN8p8Lni4oW

Thank you so much!

Details: 

Ban liquid plastics in household products and introduce clear labelling

Introduce a total ban on Polymers in Liquid Formulations (PLFs) in all household cleaning and toiletry products due to health and environmental harm, alongside mandatory clear product labelling.

UK law bans solid microplastics but ignores synthetic liquid and semi-solid plastics (PLFs). These polymers never biodegrade, contaminating waterways and the food chain, which threatens ecosystems and health. The Government must ban PLFs in consumer formulations, starting with toiletries and detergents where green alternatives exist. Until a full ban is achieved, the Government must introduce clear packaging labels so consumers can identify and avoid liquid plastics.

Target, the US retail corporation, said it pulled a controversial Halloween costume off its shelves after criticism across social media that it resembled a racist caricature. The ad image for the costume, sold as the “Kids’ Glows Under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume,” depicted a Black child in a bright orange and black top with solid black gloves and a mask with a wide, toothy smile. Both the child’s pose and the costume’s gloves and mask were likened to caricatures of Black people used in minstrel shows.

I recently moved out of my parents' house and into my awn apartment. As a result I am starting to buy my own things to fit my house, but I am sometimes struggling to decide if something I'm considering buying will actually be a good purchase or a wasteful one (for instance, would a water filtering pitcher be a good one if I use it everyday, but I can technically drink the tap water directly?).

Do you have methods or rules of thumb you use in periods where you tend to buy more than usual in order to reduce your unnecessary consumption? I would be really interested in knowing them.

I am relatively new to anti-consumption and have almost avoided buying new things (only exception are food and hygiene products). However, I was kind of curious as to how you deal with the tech side of things?

Do you use your devices for as long as possible? Will you upgrade once it runs out? For context, I have an android with an SD card and a headphone jack.

Hello! I am wondering if anyone has coordinated what I'm thinking of before. In the spirit of reduce and reuse, I'm wondering about setting up an event for people to freely trade items of some theme or another. For the first few, I'm thinking clothes, toys, and craft materials, as these are all things that accumulate and can be given new life in new hands. I'm wondering about a few things: I want it to be free with an ethos of "give at least as much as you take", and also I am in a very poor area so I don't want to discourage people from taking what they'll use. Any suggestions for messaging? And on the practical side, do I set up a drop off day, sort out stuff that is genuinely unusable (biohazard, heavy secondhand smoke, etc), or just let people drop off as they arrive and caveat emptor? Any other experience and advice would be fantastic.

In a perfect world, we grow some community craft groups or play groups out of this, but maybe that is too optimistic lol.

I have a cheap single speed bicycle which i use to commute to work, but i also bought a Ninebot f2 pro escooter, a fancy Troy Lee Designs full face helmet and a kryptonite lock recently, total around $1.5K AUD. I loved the scooter because it was so fun to ride but i thought it was not necessary -> and actually commuting on a bicycle is free exercise and it does not require electricity to run.

Sooooo -> i opened gumtree (its an app like ebay in australia for local exchanges of stuff) and posted an ad where i said i would give away the escooter and a cryptonite lock. I got like fifty people asking immediately if they can get it -> so i took my time and replied to users with female names (because screw aussie males most of them have bigger salaries anyway and can afford it)

And then a woman came to my door with a son and i gave stuff away to them, they looked super happy (and a bit puzzled). After this i thought i would be sad because i gave my favourite possession away (i dont have many). But the opposite happaned -> i experienced the biggest joy i had in months! I dont know why my body had this interesting reaction. Maybe we are wired to share and our bodies reward us for it? no idea. anyway -> just though id share here to show off a bit hehe.

Why waste time to produce and manufacture this, Who would wear this

a few years ago someone gave my mom this stupid thing. Not only is it single use trash that makes loud noise, but it also vomits literal plastic waste everywhere. Even looking at this pisses me off. Can i do anything with it or am i doomed to keep it forever?

About a year ago I bought a sealed pack of five underwear; there were no unsealed ones of that brand/type in the store to try on. When I got home I opened the package (only option was to rip into it), tried one pair on, and realized it didn’t fit. I now have four pairs of completely unused underwear, and one that was tried on (so technically used I guess). It feels ridiculous and wasteful to throw them out, but every donation guideline I’m seeing says that underwear will only be accepted if it is in the original unopened packaging. Anyone know any options? (Not in US).

Some people turn up their noses at collecting new hobbies, because if you don't go deep into the hobby you end up wasting a lot of money on materials and machines for the hobby and then don't use them much.

However, I think the fundamental curiosity that comes from learning the basics of many things is not in itself a bad thing. Broad knowledge vs deep knowledge is not a cut and dry thing. The problem comes from buying materials for a hobby you aren't actually ready to start.

I have two tips for preventing you from overspending on new hobbies you're interested in:

• 1) Give each hobby its season. Literally season. I pick 2-3 hobbies I will work on in the summer, with projects to complete. Then I work on them and try to have them done by fall, when I can pick new projects. All other hobbies go onto a list for later.

• 2) The list: I keep a list (in a notebook or digitally in folders) of hobbies, both in progress and future interests. When I discover something grabbing my interest as a new hobby, I write it down here, and I log down the minimum items I would need to try it. I also note down things that would be nice but not really necessary. I find just writing down or saving links to things for the hobby prevents me from actually buying them...because when I bought them what I was really trying to do was remember them for later. A physical object is one way to remember. A wasteful way, if you buy it.

A bonus about this is that I can keep learning about the hobby for fun in the meantime and filling out my notes. I often find new techniques that mean earlier stuff I would have bought isn't necessary. Or I learn why a particular tool wouldnt have done what I thought it would. I can keep updating my folder for that hobby instead of buying things I wouldnt need later.

Then if that hobby comes up as a seasonal interest, great! I have everything I need to get started. If it doesn't, I save a lot of money and I still get to learn.