Sunday, October 2, 2011

gifts in the mail, recycling & a dilemna



Today I have been thinking about the way we consume so much "stuff".

Some of it gives us great pleaure:  the pic on the left shows the lovely parcel I received from Jennie. http://jennie61.blogspot.com/

These little treasures will form part of the wall hanging I am doing with Carole Burangar.
http://kiwicarole.blogspot.com/
The next pic is of some of the materials I will use for the wall hanging.  I am pleased to know that much of what I shall be using will be recycled materials and that everything I need is already in my stash.
 Carole suggested we use old linen and tea dye it.  However I have some doileys I have dyed for just such a project.  I also have some old lace hankies which will fit the bill perfectly.









Some of these look too good to use but they are stained or torn so it seems like a good way of using them up.





Now to the dilemna.

We want to buy a new television with access to the internet etc.  We have just 2 televisions in our house: one in the lounge/living room and one downstairs in the work room/guest area.  The one upstairs is 10 years old and the one downstairs was passed on to us by our eldest daughter.
Both of these sets work.  They are good.  We do however want a larger and more modern set.


What do we do with the one set we want to replace? If we take it to the local waste disposal centre it will be shipped off by some company: probably to some third world country where it will be pulled apart by some poor people without any care for their welfare.


The charity shops will not accept old tvs.


What to do?

5 comments:

Gina E. said...

I can relate to your dilemma. I also hate the mass consumerism and waste in western society, and I won't get rid of something until it is completely useless. My first computer lasted 10 years and by the time I got rid of it (by giving it to a friend who learns how they work by pulling old ones apart), it was as good as useless. My 'new' one is actually a second hand re-conditioned government desk top and is working beautifully!
As for your TVs, it is hard when you want to update them. We bought one of the first big rear projection t.v.s about 10 years ago and it is still in perfect working order. My hubby wants a new Plasma, but I refuse to let him spend all that money on replacing a darn good t.v.!

Jensters said...

Mmm Dianne we have whats called freecycle and you advertise what you want to give away and then the person who wants it comes and collects...not sure it you have that where you are!
Funny as we brought a new tv not long ago that has internet and its 3d which is great for the grandkids xx

Katherine said...

Re tv, if it has a set top box with it you could advertise it as a free or readers bargains to give it a new home. Our local paper allows free ads for anything up to the value of $50 every Monday. Most of the waste stations around here charge a fee from $10 to $50 to dump it! How they work that amount out I am not sure

Linda said...

Hi Dian, lovely to see your bits and pieces in readiness for use in your wallhanging. It is going to be a pleasure to see it evolve. I've taken to some tea dyeing myself over the weekend.

I can't be of any help at all with regard the TV. We still have our old one sitting in the corner of a spare room. It is just a shame when things are still working, but we seem to think we 'need' something 'new'. We'd just have to dump it here. As you say, the charity shops don't even want them. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Karyn said...

I love all the things you have picked out to use in a wall hanging; it should look lovely I think.
As for the tv; we still have our old original; it sits in the bedroom. We have not had to get rid f an old one(yet). Do you have any family that is looking for a second tv? I love Jensters idea of a freecycle; what a great way to get rid of good things that you no longer need/want.