RECYCLING

This section of Woollyeyes focuses on the need to reconsider our attitudes to recycled goods. Recycling can be part of the process towards a less consumeristic society - from total consumerism to a consumer that buys used/recycled products to one who makes the best use of what they have already got rather than constantly purchasing the latest and greatest that they don't really need.

Recycling can affect so many aspects of our lives, and if we think about recycling not as a method of appeasing our guilty consciences but as a lifestyle in and of itself that we can happily adopt, then we are well on the way to changing the world for the better.

Recycling your electrical goods

This is something that should be stressed for all goods. When you grow out of an item, that is, if your requirements exceed the abilities of that product, this does not mean that it can be discarded and serves no further purpose! There is bound to be someone out there who can make use of it. If you have a huge collection of VHS tapes but don’t watch them anymore – either sell them 2nd hand or give them to charity! You’d be surprised at the amount of people out there who are still happy to watch VHS.

Similarly, if you’ve a computer that you think is heading toward the graveyard, or for whatever reason you feel you need a more powerful PC – don’t throw your old one on the skip! There are people out there who want to get into computing just to browse the web – it doesn’t have to be all-singing all-dancing or be able to play the latest games! An extension of this is that if you’ve a desktop PC which is getting a bit slow, don’t just buy a new one! Upgrade! It may be a bit more time consuming that just going out and paying for a complete system, but you’ve got the basic shell of what you need in front of you, all you need to do is replace the innards.

Televisions are another example – maybe that 28” CRT is taking up too much space in your living room and you really like the look of the LCD/plasma TV you saw on the web and don’t want to miss out on the bargain. Leaving aside concerns about the huge leap in power consumption that come with use of such devices, don’t just take your old set to the skip – sell it or give it to charity! People who have genuinely experienced television death but cannot buy a brand new set will eagerly take yours – not everybody is interested in having a crystal-sharp screen to see the pock-marks on Jeremy Paxman’s face!

Reconsider your decisions about all electrical items, whether this be a refrigerator that has gotten too small for your needs, a hi-fi with not enough features or a camera with not enough megapixels for your visual gratification. The refrigerator can be given to a bric-a-brac shop to be sold to those who would find a use for it (students and the like), the hi-fi might be perfect for someone less fortunate who would like to just listen to cassettes or the radio, and the camera might be suitable for someone who just wants to take holiday snaps and isn’t too fussy about resolution or shutter speeds!