Tuesday 14 June 2011

Have you ever struggled to eat an ice cream?


I was entertained earlier this morning by reading about some of the useless products on the market that simply end up as landfill. The landfill awards include things such as an motorised ice cream cone for people that are too lazy to twist their own wrists when eating an ice cream and a motorised fork so that you don't have to twist your own spaghetti or noodles:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3376374.ece

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/LatestNews/tabid/62/EntryId/277/And-the-winner-of-the-Landfill-Prize-is.aspx

 I began reading with a wry smile caused by the stupidity of people buying such things but then thought about the seriousness of these products. Let us take just one of these products. The Ice cream cone would be made from plastic, probably in the far east from numerous components and needs 2 aa batteries. The components will be put together in a factory and then shipped to unsuspecting nations all over the world Once it makes it to our shores, it needs lorries to transport it to the foolish retail outlets that stock such things. The amount of energy used in making and shipping this item would be so appalling when measured against its worth and contribution to the world (I am in no doubts at all that it would end up in the bin, if not within a few days, then certainly by the end of summer) plus you don't even get the pleasure of eating the cone. At £6 it is not the most expensive of the winners, but what is the cost of these items to the planet and what is the world coming to when people are convinced that they need such things?
Many of the other items mentioned are just as useless (digital skipping rope, electric ear dryer). Perhaps people just wander around looking for things to spend money on.

3 comments:

  1. It's surprising how wasteful as a race we can be, surprising and disturbing at the same time.
    Regards,
    John

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely John, but if we all do our bit, one step at a time. Hope the chickens are doing well..
    Dan

    ReplyDelete
  3. What useles items some folk will spend their money on. We sure live in a crazy consumer world.

    ReplyDelete