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from the to-the-dump-to-the-dump-to-the-dump-dump-dump dept.
The CBC's "The Current" has a story about how online returns are frequently sent to the dump
'It's pretty staggering': Returned online purchases often sent to landfill, journalist's research reveals
Do you order different sizes of clothing online, knowing you can return the one that doesn't fit?
Did you know the ones you return are sometimes sent straight to landfill?
Online shopping has created a boom in perfectly good products ending up in dumpsters and landfills, according to Adria Vasil, an environmental journalist and managing editor of Corporate Knights magazine.
Amazon has faced accusations of destroying returned items in both France and Germany.
The issue also affects unsold products. Burberry admitted in 2018 that it had incinerated £90 million worth of clothing and accessories in the previous five years. The company stopped the policy last year after a public outcry.
Why? You're returning something that's new and fine?
It actually costs a lot of companies more money to put somebody on the product, to visually eyeball it and say, Is this up to standard, is it up to code? Is this going to get us sued? Did somebody tamper with this box in some way? And is this returnable? And if it's clothing, it has to be re-pressed and put back in a nice packaging. And for a lot of companies, it's just not worth it. So they will literally just incinerate it, or send it to the dumpster
So when you order 3 sizes "to be sure you get the one you want", two of them are probably going to the dump. Not very environmentally friendly. .
(Score: 5, Informative) by Nuke on Saturday December 14 2019, @11:38AM (17 children)
The shelter might be too fussy to accept them. Mrs Nuke worked for a company that took in "old" furniture to give to the poor. Inless it was fully labelled with certification that it conformed to the latest safety and fire standards, it was dumped. It was also dumped if it did not look "new". About 90% of the stuff donated to them went to landfill, and in practice that is where it went unless it had come straight from a shop brand new, for example surplus from an over- order . The kind people donating in good faith had no idea.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @01:00PM (7 children)
Yep, the nice stuff goes to the charity stores where it's sold to trendy hipsters. Most people, even homeless, don't usually have the problem of having too few clothes to survive (with the exception of winter jackets), so they don't get excited over visibly-used charity hand-me-downs. What they could do is reprocess the materials rather than throwing it away. Give temp jobs to homeless throwing clothes in the shredder.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @02:01PM (5 children)
There's a market for clean rags. If people knew what they're worth, they would invest the time to wash then process the clothing into rags.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @02:05PM (2 children)
Yah? I got a whole bag of clothes in a closet that needs to be thrown out. Everything has holes, but it's all clean.
Where can I send this stuff?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15 2019, @02:23AM (1 child)
The Church.
They like holy things.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday December 15 2019, @12:02PM
we actually have used dresses collection tanks and they used to be operated by caritas, catholic org.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday December 14 2019, @02:57PM (1 child)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @03:16PM
So, half of it isn't fit for rags. Still, there's blue jeans, denim jackets, cotton socks... If it's usable by someone, anyone, I'd rather not toss it in the dumpster.
The recycling around here doesn't even take most plastics. I guess I'll just send it all to the recycling center and let them sort it out unless someone suggests a better option.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dry on Saturday December 14 2019, @05:48PM
I understand socks are a problem for the homeless, at least here in the rain forest. Feet rot without clean dry socks.
(Score: 5, Informative) by VLM on Saturday December 14 2019, @03:18PM
My MIL volunteered for many years as a sorter at a similar resale store, and the legal liability to the non-profit of reselling furniture with lead paint meant that anything donated that was painted, got landfilled.
(Score: 5, Informative) by barbara hudson on Saturday December 14 2019, @04:02PM (6 children)
Some of these goods still turn up. An illegal crib was further modified by foster parents by placing a bar horizontally across the top on one side to keep the kid in (obviously the crib was too small).
The day the child was to return home to his mother, the police showed up at her door to tell her that her son had strangled to death by the crib.
I met the woman a day or two later- there was nothing I could do but sit and listen, and commiserate. But that crib should have been destroyed long ago, and certainly never modified.
Some people are unaware, so it falls on charities to be aware for them. There are dressers that have been banned because of excessive risk of tipping over - kids have been killed by them. Existing ones need to be anchored at the top to a wall - but how do you know which ones need this, how do you ensure whoever gets it anchors it?
How do you ensure everyone volunteering knows this and can discard the unsafe stuff?'
I try to keep up with food recalls so I can check that nothing we give out at the food bank is unsafe. So do other volunteers. Charities are just one lawsuit away from closing, because let's face it, even if you win your reputation is shot and donations dry up, and volunteers go elsewhere.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @04:07PM
Lawn darts were awesome. Still, when I was a kid a friend of mine knew someone that tossed one to his dad and yelled "Catch!" Unfortunately their dad didn't react in time. The dad was hit in the back of the head and it was a fatal blow.
Nowadays that would be one heck of a lawsuit if the darts had been purchased at a thrift shop.
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday December 15 2019, @04:02AM (4 children)
And those made after that date can't be used by parents in wheelchairs.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday December 15 2019, @04:16AM (3 children)
Whoa! You got something against the handicapped? That a woman in a wheel chair can't get pregnant, or can't be a proper mother, so she'll never need a crib?
We have enough of a problem with the handicapped being nearly invisible. Let's try not to add to it, hmm?
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday December 15 2019, @05:39AM
You seem to be inferring something opposite of what I wrote. My point is that the old drop-side cribs are much easier to lift babies into and out of for wheelchair users than the new fixed-wall ones.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday December 15 2019, @11:26AM (1 child)
Invisible? Around my way they clog the shopping areas with their mobility scooters.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday December 15 2019, @06:01PM
How about jobs? You know, stuff that really counts in making your life better? Using a scooter to get from point a to point b doesn't do much for your life if you don't have a job to go to.
Economic and social disenfranchisement, learned dependence, and then the resentment because of that dependence, how many handicapped do you see in your workplace, or at the businesses you visit?
In many ways disposable fashion is like the handicapped - no longer wanted, not worth fixing up to put back on the market, cheaper to just toss on the garbage heap.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by sjames on Saturday December 14 2019, @06:17PM
Then offer them to another one. The clothes in question will be in like new condition, often with all of the tags still on it. In a department store, they wouldn't think twice about taking it out of the dressing room, putting it on a hanger and returning it to a rack on the sales floor.