A Swedish proverb says “don’t throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water. ” Most of us are throwing away so much it’s likely that there will be no resources in the future. Our practices are putting a lot of stress on future resources and we might soon find our needs unsatisfied because of our throw-away attitude and careless practices. There are many reasons as to why we are subject to the jeopardy of a resource-deficient future. One of these is the constant demand for better lifestyles and standards of living.Another reason is our increased consumption of food, products and materials as well as our increased use of items that pollute out environment and make it unsafe for living.
Society nowadays seeks better lifestyles and standards. We live in a society where technological advances have erupted and where everybody seeks towards the latest items attempting to obtain a high standard of living. However luxury never seems to come to an end. Whenever a new model appears on the market, the older possessions of the same product become unwanted and obsolete.As a result, many earlier acquired models are disposed of instead of being recycled. A study, commissioned by Environment Canada, estimated that 81,000 tons of IT and telecoms equipment were disposed of in 2002.
Computers and monitors accounted for 70% of this total (Statistics Canada). The study projected that disposal of IT waste would increase to 91,000 tons in 2010. The amount of disposed items is definitely larger now than in 2002, as technology has advanced rapidly within the last decade.As society promotes better living standards, money is largely being spent on luxuries such as modern phones and modern cars instead of being spent on necessities such as food and shelter. People have been working for longer hours in order to ensure a high standard of living for themselves and their families.
However, they unfortunately do not take into account the amount of money spent on unnecessary products which could have been spent on necessities. The markets today are flooded with cheap, "for single use only" things that are more in demand than high priced quality items.Mind boggling mobile phone accessories that change the look of your handset in the blink of an eye, shoes that quickly come apart at seams, cheap T-shirts that lose color and shape after a single wash and watches that stop telling time before three months are over and yet there is a rush to buy more and more till our houses and wardrobes seem to be overflowing with goods that are more in quantity and less in value. This is due to the fact that we are being persuaded by advertisements, which are mainly used in an attempt to increase profit not enhance the well being of society.Because we’ve been told that disposing items instead of reusing them is better through advertisements, we find it difficult to make a decision towards such a subject. Single-time use items such as disposable nappies; razors; toothbrushes; contact lenses are increasing rapidly in markets, which encourages consumers to throw away such items after only one use increasing consumerism when said items requires replacing.
According to DEFRA the graph below shows that the average person in the UK produced approximately 450kg of waste from 2009-2010.If you multiply that by 62 million and you can begin to imagine the amount of rubbish that is thrown away in the UK alone. (www. defra. gov.
uk). Household waste recycled per person (kgs): UK, 1991-92 to 2009-10 It would have been a different matter if convenience and better living standards were the only reason behind the escalating use of disposable items. With changing times, our values and norms have also shifted shape. There is intense competition and rivalry among the affluent for becoming society's trend setters. The trickle down effect of this tendency has played havoc on the middle-class strata.Moreover we judge people according to how much they consume.
Sadly, we are usually judged by how much we consume instead of being judged on how efficiently we consume items. This creates an incentive for people of high standards to consume much more than is needed, marking us as a throw-away society. Financially supported people purchase valuable items that they don’t actually need in an attempt to be judged as people of high standing within society. A person does not need more than one car to move from one place to another and definitely does not need more than one phone to reach others.However, this is sorrowfully common in society nowadays. According to the 2011 census in England and Wales, 8.
7% of households in Surrey alone have 3 or more cars and vans per household which is definitely a waste of resources. (www. ons. gov. uk).
It is sometimes too obscure to be noticed that throwing away products also incurs throwing away good memories. A doll you had when you were a little girl would always prompt you the innocent and sweet childhood; an umbrella you used for 4 years in the campus would always remind you of the fresh and brisk university life.When all these similar reminders become less and less, that particular period of life would be more likely to be locked somewhere in your mind, not so easy to be touched again anymore. Admittedly, the throw-away society gives us so many choices among which we are prone to be less picky but also more emotionless.
We seldom keep a dress for 10 years like our mothers do since all the new styles have emerged and we have so many chances to choose a more delicate one. When we discard the old one, we don’t feel a tiny bit of mercy; when we welcome the new one, we don’t sense the joy that much either.It’s believed today that the whole world, material or non-material, is formulated this way, easy and convenient, and thus we tend to be less reminiscent of the unforgettable birthday party while we were attired with that particular dress. The dress is still the original one, but the association of the dress has changed through your life, for it has been a witness to your growth, your maturity, tears and laughter, ups and downs. The longer you keep it, the more it becomes a part of yourself.The current abundance of choice coupled with the ease with which things are discarded as soon as they lose their newness has given rise to intense consumerism in our society with simplicity and gratification being its first victims.
It is indeed a sad reflection of our times as a society that lives in throes of consumerism is not able to sustain its values and traditions for long. Unfortunately we live in a society where resources are less important than consumption and high living standards. Our environment is being disturbed day after day while society is living the present and not taking care about the future.We are being recognised as a throw-away society because we are unaware of the effects of our actions that are adversely affecting our planet and causing a fast deterioration in resources. The modern world society values the present much more than the future. We are only concerned about the present, while the future becomes more jeopardised.
The common disposal of efficiently-useful things in society has given rise to a throw-away society which has massive effects on individuals of the future. Living in a throw-away society, what people eventually throw away is the real self, subconsciously and accidently.
