I will apologise in advance here as I have written a post similar to this before. However, I want to add to my original article(s). And so I will start by saying I wonder how many of us feel we should do more to recycle our waste. This would be both at home and work; personally, I don’t think my wife and I do too bad when it comes to our household waste; we could do a little better, whether it be washing out jars and foil waste to ensuring all the correct waste goes in the right bin.
But when we mention washing out waste jars and the likes, are we not putting more waste and rubbish down our drains and through a water cleansing system, when any waste glass or foil will undoubtedly be cleaned as part of the recycling process. So I ask what are we better doing – cleaning waste containers at home or leaving them for the process to clean them? I don’t know?
But when it comes to waste, I know bigger companies should do more. One worldwide corporation I worked for had a fantastic recycling system in the staff canteen, there was and probably still is bins for everything to be separated. It looked very impressive for staff and visitors alike. Still, I’m not sure many people realised that the cleaning lady came along and put it all into a bin bag and threw it in the general waste skip that invariably went to landfill; looks can be very deceiving at times, that’s a fact.
And so, I am sure most of us would have seen an article on the Amazon depot in Dunfermline and the thousands and thousands of perfectly good and usable items that were simply scrapped. Some I assume were customer returns, and I believe other items belonged to Amazon or other sellers whose items had stayed on the shelves too long.
Either way, it is all wrong that so many usable items are thrown away when many people have nothing; surely something could be done, and here is my idea! Why doesn’t Amazon start an online Amazon auction site, like other competitors that will remain nameless?
Each item that is returned or is ready for dumping gets a quick once over, make sure it works or is sellable and is taken to their online sales warehouse, then it is put on auction for say three days to ensure a quick turn around, and off it goes to the highest bidder. They could also do what their rival site does and sell it as ‘no returns accepted’ simply because people will be getting it cheap, and when people sign up to use the site, T&C’s state they do so knowing it cannot be returned unless damaged in transit – or similar. But Amazon are the supposed experts, so I would leave the finer detail to them to sort out, but why shouldn’t it work? Why couldn’t people benefit from cheaper items?
I have started writing about this because I was astonished recently after buying a drone. I started in my back garden mastering the controls, including the ‘one key return mode’, only to be left crying like a kid when I took it to my local park to use. On the third occasion, it was airborne, it would not come back, and it would not respond to any controls. It just kept going, and going and going, further and further away, up and up until it disappeared from sight, landing somewhere behind some houses, never to be seen again.
So I started a return to Amazon, an item not working. A box less the drone, a control pad, batteries and spare parts. And within two hours of dropping the package off at the local collection shop here in the West Midlands, I had notification the process for my refund had been started, and I was amazed at the system’s efficiency. But then the penny dropped, and I understood why it was happening so quickly – the returns address was Dunfermline, the very place, and I quote ‘Online giant Amazon (Dunfermline) is destroying millions of items of unsold stock every year, products that are often new and unused, ITV News can reveal.’ (Courtesy itv.com). Another source quoted 130,000 items per week, which is just ridiculous, and I have to ask – why? But this is why I also assume customer returns.
I have spoken about young Greta Thunberg a couple of times, and I’m afraid I can’t find myself taking to her; I’m sure she thinks the same about me, and in many people eyes, she will be doing a good job. I keep sending her social media messages about the growth of the world population, and she never responds; she is too busy speaking about ‘climate disaster,’ or ‘climate emergencies’ or similar.
Her most frustrating speech was the famous ‘I shouldn’t be up here – how dare you’ moment, also stating ‘you come to us young people for hope.’
Well, she has made a point of blaming older generations for their failings, something I have already commented on and won’t mention too much in this post, but what I will ask Greta and her generation is this. ‘If we have messed up so bad, what are you and your generation doing about the unnecessary waste the present generation are creating and dumping into the core of our planet?’ So we are looking to you for hope to sort your mess out!
Because Greta, your generation is playing a massive part in all this waste, the demands on our planet, infecting the soil, air, rivers, and seas that we need to survive. You can’t blame this one on one, two or three generations ago, generations that didn’t have the skills, technology, science or general know-how that we have nowadays, and who genuinely thought what they were doing was perfectly alright. As I have already said, they didn’t go out to pollute and damage our planet deliberately, they just didn’t know, but your generation supposedly does.
You can relate this to any part of our history, even the slave trade and colonialism. In the days this was done, it was generally accepted that it was okay to be doing it. People complain about the British Empire and how wrong it was, but back then, it wasn’t seen as so wrong; many were doing it. I don’t hear people complaining about Italy for their raiding and pillaging and worse and trying to take over the world as the Roman Empire, and how did the Russian Empire become so large?
I hear of people asking for an apology from the United Kingdom for their involvement in the slave trade, yet I don’t hear them saying ‘thank you for being one of the leading countries in getting it abolished. Nor do I hear them asking for an apology from the tribes which sold their own people to the traders for personal gain and wealth.
From hundreds of years to not so long ago, what people did was wrong, what nations and leaders did was wrong, and we can’t escape that, but we need to look forward and make sure these things don’t happen again, which they won’t as they wouldn’t be allowed to happen nowadays.
So Greta, what are you going to do about the likes of Amazon and the waste they and your generation produce, waste from items that need to be made, and some from materials dug or grown on our fragile planet, waste all round just like the excess packaging they use to deliver a drone or even a dog collar, the waste isn’t small, medium or large it is massive. I am only talking Amazon here, never mind all the other distribution outlets around the world.
This is today’s and so your generation’s problem, not mine at fifty-eight, not my Fathers at eighty-six, yes we can all do our bit and help, but the younger generation who want it and want it now have a responsibility. So Greta, what are you and your generation going to do about it? Instead of standing telling the world someone stole your childhood, stand up and say to the world that unless they do something now, you may not have any children, or they may not have any hope because of the unnecessary demand YOUR generation is putting on our planet and its resources.
Go and talk to Jeff Bezos and find out what he and his company will do to stop all the throwing away of wasted items into the soil of our planet; why does he waste so much cardboard to package his goods, when often no packaging is needed. With the extra money he could make from his online auction site and his reduced costs for using less packaging, he could put it to good use helping worthwhile causes.
It won’t just be a case of helping our planet; with less demand willcome less manufacturing and transport and so less global warming and all other related environmental matters will also gain from this. But Greta, the most important aspect in my eyes is that this is your generation’s problem. So let’s see what you will do about it – I’m waiting before your generation steals my dreams and my soon to be born Granddaughter’s dreams with your demands!
We all have a responsibility, but we don’t all have the world’s attention, change your angle of attack, look at your generation and the waste created, and maybe I will listen to you more often when you stand up and talk!
These things will never have an effect on my anxiety, they are beyond my control, and I am lucky in that respect, but then I am fortunate in so many aspects of my life?
I got up this morning feeling quite subdued, for want of a better word, 
but I had agreed to meet my old friend and his mate at 10.30 for a twenty-mile cycle, but I didn’t really want to go from the minute I got up, but then I didn’t want to back out, mainly for my own reasons, so again I made myself go. But here I am, twenty-four miles and a nice refreshing shower later feeling so much better than I did four hours ago; admittedly, the cycle is helped by stopping off halfway for a coffee and the most delicious chocolate chip shortbread in the West Midlands?
But I am back to the same old situation of making yourself doing something because when you have achieved it, you will feel better because you are accomplishing something, not just the physical aspect but the mental achievement is massive too. Twenty four miles is a good trek and a good achievement, and again I was lucky to go in the company of a good old friend and his friend who I met for the first time and was also a good guy.
So far, my positives for the day are the twenty-four-mile achievement, the physical exertion, the mental self-fulfilment, meeting new friends, and of course, the chocolate chip shortbread. Those are all positives that are a great help in the battle against anxiety or any mental health-related issue, my mood has changed considerably for the better in the last four to five hours, and it was all done on a bike, and it just sets you up for the rest of the day.
And that is why I implore people to try to get out and do something similar, it doesn’t have to be cycling, it can be walking, running or a gymnasium, they will all have the same effect. We don’t need to be Bradley Wiggins or Sir Mo Farah; we don’t need to try to get anywhere near their standards, we need to do our own little bit at our own pace, and that will be our achievement.
As we cycled back into town at our reasonable pace, we were overtaken by a very fast cyclist, and so be it, we all have different levels, and I would never try to emulate the fast guy. We have to know our levels and standards and be happy with them. As in all aspects of life, let’s not try to be someone we’re not and be satisfied with who we are and what we have, whether that be material things or physical attributes and abilities; let’s be happy.
Thanks for reading, and stay safe
Other related articles.
Waste & Population. Amazon & Everyone Else. We Are All Responsible!!
Amazon and Greta. There is a link!!
Waste Packaging. We Are All Responsible
Global Warming – The Real Issue!