Thursday, May 25, 2017

The War On Waste - Part 2

Tuesday night was the second episode of this 3-part series on how wasteful we are as a nation.

However, the greatest thing about this show on the ABC is that they're not sugar-coating anything. The journalist has been telling us exactly what's been going on, who's avoiding him, which emails are saying what and who's giving him mixed messages in those emails too. 

We are being told that we are a wasteful, throwaway society, unable to fix things, refusing to accept old things or second-hand things. And yet, when I had to change my living room around - and update it to what I wanted it to be - I found that getting somebody (anybody!) interested in my 30 year old sofa-bed was impossible. 

Not a single charity wanted it. Life Line complained about the 20cm tear in the arm. Vinnies did the same (and yet they never saw it, they just said no over the phone). And I refuse to go anywhere near the Salvos because they sent out a guy who had just gotten out of prison to pick my last donation - and he left me with half my furniture and was rude as hell to me.

So, today, Dad and I took the sofa-bed to the Browns Plains 'Smart' Tip to see if the store over there would take it off my hands.

But no... they heard about the tiny tear in the arm and they said it would go to landfill.

Now, I'm watching that show 'War On Waste' and we are being accused of being wasteful. And this is one thing I'm not. I have second-hand furniture, second-hand clothing, second-hand books, second-hand vinyls and second-hand kitchenware... and yet, a dump store wouldn't take my second-hand sofa-bed. 

Before you all ask me - no, there's nothing wrong with the bed. It's fine. It's been used all of 3 times in the 15 years it's been with me; and that tiny tear in the arm? Well, that's been that size since I bought it at Springwood when I first moved into my place. Before that, the people we bought it off - through 'The Trading Post' - had had it for another 10 or 15 years before me. 

Why is it that after I've done all the right things to get rid of my sofa-bed, it ends up in the very place I didn't want to end up? 

I tried selling it on Gumtree - but nobody wanted it.

I tried giving it away through friends and family - but nobody wanted it.

I tried giving it away on Facebook sites - but nobody wanted it there either. And the person who did, unfortunately had unexpected health issues and couldn't pick it up.

I tried donating it - and none of the 3 big charities wanted it because of the 20cm tear!

I took it to the Browns Plains 'Smart' Tip - and they said no because of the 20cm tear! And told me to dump it!

This is getting beyond a joke! How long will it take until we realise that a tiny tear in the arm of a lounge or a chair won't destroy the ego of the next person who gets it.

It didn't destroy my ego when I bought the lounge. I needed a lounge - so I bought it with the tear. So whoopie, it had a tear! that tear didn't get any bigger over the past 15 years... this is why I got a cover for it, so it wouldn't. 

So, before you go on Gumtree or any of the charities (who are really fussy as all shit about what you're going to donate - honestly they are), just take all your furniture to the dump and throw it away. It's just not worth it, people. I know that sounds depressing - and it is - but really, if I couldn't sell a 30 year old sofa-bed with a tiny tear in the arm, how are we going to get rid of any of the clutter in our houses without adding to landfill? 

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