I Dress Myself

Waste not want not

I was bought the book 'Waste not want not' as a Christmas present. This book has 200 quite incredible ideas for recycling and reusing everyday things.

Examples include:

"Dustcover
Simply cut the flaps from all 4 sides of a cardboard box to create a handy dust protector for small appliances, keyboards, laptops etc. You can leave it as is or decorate with adhesive paper or paint."

Adhesive paper? And that was on the first page.

"Coasters
Create your own coasters to protect surfaces by either folding or cutting sheets of old newspaper into a square. Tape the sides together to create stability and simply throw it away when it gets too stained."

Another favourite (and I bet you hadn't thought of this one): "Cover [food] leftovers with clingfilm before storing in the fridge. Use a permanent marker pen to write the date on the clingfilm so you know how long it's been in the fridge."

Almost everything requires clingfilm, adhesive paper or cellotape and a large proportion can be "simply" thrown away. Once it's covered in all that plastic, it wouldn't be recyclable anymore.If this book wasn't bad enough already, please bear in mind that it doesn't seem to be printed on recycled or FSC certified paper AND it's made in China! Has the world gone mad?

Somehow it's got 4 and 5 stars in reviews on dooyoo.co.uk, which is crazy. Either these people are completely stupid or they work for the publishers (L&K Designs). It's not even worth one star, except perhaps as a laugh. I've nominated it for the Landfill Prize 2009 and think it's got a very good chance of winning.

Posted in Ethics and Environment, Other Stuff by Hannah on Tuesday 27 January 2009