In the Western countries why do we put good furniture in landfill sites.?

Question

One for Greenpeace people and the like,Why do we not refurbish it and send it to poor countries,Personaly it pains me to see all this good furniture and wood just being thrown in skips when some are desperate for simple things like chairs ect.

Answer 1

Its a crying shame, though attitudes are changing. A lot of charities now take furniture, some that work with the homeless or victims of domestic abuse welcome furniture. RemarUK is one.

The Freecycle network (Local ones operate via Yahoo Groups) was set up so that unwanted large items such as furniture could be advertised and collected by anyone locally that wanted them. A lot of young couples setting up home are grateful for good pre-used furniture. (After all antique furniture is  just very pre-used.)

http://www.freecycle.org/

Or with a little effort it can be sold, many people just don't think how best to dispose of items, with a little effort it could go to a new home, not end up on landfill.

I have come across one landfill site (Plymouth) that separated out items such as furniture with the aim of recycling as much as possible, or turning the wood into woodchip etc.. On others taking items home was once considered a perk of the job by workers, but obviously they can't take much of the total.

Answer 2

I got another question, why do we not send it to people in our own country that have lost every thing due to finical trouble, fire, hurricane, tornado etc. We have a store in our town run by habitat for humanity that takes used lumber, furniture even light fixtures etc and sells them for pennies to fund HFH. Also the people they build the houses for can work there and make some money. Its like good will crossed with home depot.

But the answer to your question is because Americans are materialistic and many well off people don't think about things like that. they think that if they just put some pennies in the pot at Christmas it will be enough to help the world.

Answer 3

you do it, its your idea

Answer 4

Perhaps that may be too costly.

Answer 5

Emulate the old continent, in Europe there are many institutions which collects, refurbish and re distribute to poor people in Europe or to poor countries i.e. Africa, etc, these institutions as Caritas, trapeurs d'Emaus, le petit riens (search in google or yahoo search machines for their blogs) these institutions serves the society taking in care the poor people since more than 70 years. Also in the reachiest countries of the world there are poor people that can take advantage or use something that is send to the waste by others.

Answer 6

Most often the cost of repairing and shipping the items far exceeds the little good it is going to do.

On the surface I see your point and well taken. But big business, be either profit or not for profit, must cover expenses to make a difference. One thing to support something. Quite another to "pay" to make it happen.

Hang on to the thought and maybe you can find ways this could be done cheaply and shipped economically to help those places you talk about. Stay focus and don't get discouraged.

Answer 7

So the rats and seagulls are comfy

Answer 8

It worries me, too, when I go to our local skips and see perfectly good furniture chucked away.

I was brought up during the War and trained to never throw anything away - still save string, rubber bands and paper bags, jars for making jam and pickles, wash out and reuse plastic food bags.

It would be good if the Refuse Site operators had "jumble sales" so that local people could go and pick up things better than the ones they have at home, for a few bob; all proceeds to the local hospice.

Answer 9

Here in the UK the council collect furniture and its sold secondhand for a low price.

Answer 10

And what would the rats sit on then.

Answer 11

I am having to dispose of an extremely well made leather chesterfield as it does not have the right sort of foam.  It needs to be fire retardant.  I cannot burn it as the fumes would be poisonous:  I may not give it to charity because of the foam.

Answer 12

liberalism is something I hope to help.  I like to burn my old furniture as it smells good and doesn't take up space in the landfill.   once its cooled off i pick up the steel that's left and put it in the recycle bin.  You guys in the UK would fall over if you could see how much stuff Americans throw away simply to have room to buy more.

Answer 13

Yes, van der elst, we, in my retirement home, have had to dispose of all our armchairs becauseof fire regulations and buy new ones (not so good). I understand that the pressure to do this came from the fire service as it would be their firemen at risk.

It burns me up, along my street there are many homes being refurbished, perfectly good fridges, freezers, three piece suites, whole kitchens being ripped out and thrown away . My old mother had a saying 'They ought to, be made to want'.

I organsise a knitting circle we make winter clothing out of recycled wool for the children of Chernobyl out of gratitude for what their brave fathers did for the Western World when the Nuclear power station blew its stack