Why Has Our Society Become Wasteful?

[banker_frank]

Is it Generational? The availability of cheap food & clothing? How frugal or wasteful are you?

[hc4361]

It's often cheaper to replace than repair; many items are impossible to repair.
Cheap clothes don't last so aren't worth repairing or altering.

[bobbs202]

Morning bf,you ask some interesting questions , I genuinely mean this.
Clothing has become more 'throw away' now with the onset of very cheap imports, a suit for a man years ago ,made to measure was often bought on a buy now pay weekly basis such was the cost but now a 3 piece suit can be bought in a certain high street store fir as little as £30, not sure about the workmanship that goes into them since outsourcing most of our rag trade but it took about a month to tailor a good suit back in the day

[ummmm]

Retailers play a massive part as well.

As a kid I don't remember recycling anything other than our pop and milk bottles.

Mum used to shop at the butchers, greengrocers and fishmongers and just bought cupboard stuff from the supermarket.

[Jackdaw33]

All the bespoke tailors: Jackson's, John Collier, Hepworth's, to name but three, have long since gone.

[banker_frank]

Fresh food from independent shops has no use by or sell by date. Is this a conspiracy by Supermarkets to sell more produce?

[albaqwerty]

It's called progress, I suppose.

Fridges and freezers pushed meat safes and pantries out of the way.

[THECORBYLOON]

It's not a ploy, it's a legal requirement.

"Most food packaging will have one or more of three date labels: best before, use by and display until. The 'use by' and 'best before' labels are required by law – Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament, implemented in Britain by the Food Labelling Regulations 1996. The 'display until' label is added by retailers to help with stock control.

Best before

'Best before' dates relate to the quality of the food, its taste, texture, aroma and appearance. If food is stored according to package guidelines, it should be at its best up to and including the 'best before' date.

Food should be safe to eat after the 'best before' date, but it might not be at its best quality.

Retailers can sell food after its 'best before' date provided it still complies with the Food Safety Act 1990 and the General Food Regulations 2004. These make it illegal for someone to sell or supply food that does not meet food-safety requirements or that does not meet the consumer's quality expectations. It is illegal to sell or give away food after its 'best before' date if the food has deteriorated so much that it does not meet these expectations."

[banker_frank]

Surely having adequate storage for food should make us more frugal not less? A coupe of generations ago no one would have dreamed of throwing out perfectly good looking food because a label told them it was no longer 'safe' to eat

[hc4361]

Corby, those best before dates legal requirements does not apply to greengrocers - indeed many supermarkets such as Aldi don't display these dates on their fruit and veg.
My butchers nor my fishmongers display best before dates, either.

[Calicogirl]

We're quite frugal in the sense we don't waste things, we'd never dream of chucking food away, if it's past it's date we see if the cat will eat it (not even joking)but we do buy mostly fresh food, not much processed anyway and as for clothes, we both buy a lot of vintage and good quality stuff that'll last years. When something is dead or doesn't fit we either give it away, recycle it, use it as rags etc, so not much waste from us.

[THECORBYLOON]

HC, I know but the suggestion is that the dates are a ploy by the supermarkets which they are not.

[teacake44]

Boxes, containers, packaging of all kinds for food, are getting bigger, and the contents getting smaller, so its fair for me to say, that it is my suppliers that are wasteful, not me.

[banker_frank]

I could not put clothes in the bin. Normal everyday clothes become gardening clothes then rags for the garage. Going out clothes are kept for ages as I buy quality stuff. We eat leftovers,I'm shocked how many people don't.