We’ve always composted and our town does a great job with recycling/reusing.
I used glass for storage containers as well. No issues. They clean better and last longer. We do use too many plastic ziplocks for leftovers though.
With clothing, I bring it to a store that resells it for charity. I remember being in Romania for grad work and seeing lots and lots of people with tee shirts that had been popular 5-10 years earlier. I think most of the clothing that’s donated goes to poorer nations.
The thing I’ve always wished could be improved is appliances. All those gizmos and gadgets people but and never used get thrown away. Where do all the mini-wafflemakers and yogurt machines end up?
I almost never put them in the dishwasher. I wash them by hand; it takes a few minutes. I’ve only put them in the dishwasher when I forgot about the food in the bag and it spoiled. The bags have held up so far, but I’ve only been using them for 3-4 months.
@ Htas I had a yogurt machine in the 80’s. LOVED it. Never bought yogurt – simply kept making it from prior starter. Wish I could find one of those again.
Yes, those can be issues of the future. That said, the article talks about how manufacturers intentionally designed the gadgets and the sunset timeframes.
I have not really thought before what happens to junked phones. What can if anything be recycled from them and what can’t. We don’t replace our phones that often but I feel like over the years our family of 5 could have make a tiny mountain of junk with just our phones…
Various minerals like gold can be mined from old mobile phones and other electronics.
However, not all recyclers do so in a relatively safe (for humans nearby and the environment in general) way. For example, some recyclers in poor countries burn old electronics, releasing dangerous fumes and smoke, in order to get the ash with the valuable minerals in it.
On the Swedish dish towels, do the long time users feel the reach a point to be thrown out? Mine are reminding me of a sponge, I can only deep clean them just so often, then they are gross. I am thinking about providing them in my vacation rentals, but like a sponge, it’s wasteful to throw it away each guest and not sure I can trust cleaners to wash them & not sure new guests want a previously used one?
I can’t say yet for longevity on my Swedish towels but the reviews on the ones I bought say people have put them through the washing machine numerous (one person mentioned 40) times.
The ones I bought are not paper thin but not thick like a sponge. But they are very absorbent.
Our Airbnb had one in a gift bag for us along with the other things I mentioned due to Covid (potholders, sponge, tea towel) and then local granola, coffee.
The price per is $2 each. At the airbnb we cooked a lot and we just rinsed it out after each use and did a good soapy rinse out each night and it did not smell or anything between days.
I don’t know about “Swedish” dish towels. But we always put our sponges in the microwave in a glass bowl with a little water to expunge the germs. Works for a couple of times. Once they are really dirty, that’s it. But for day to day counter cleaning it helps a lot.
I got some of those Swedish dish cloths based, I think, on a recommendation here a while back. I just went back and looked at my Amazon history. I ordered a pack of 10 in 2019 and gave half to my S/DIL. Of the 5 I kept, I put at least a couple through the wash weekly (rotating them). Eventually they became either too flimsy or not absorbent enough. Then I ordered a new batch of 15 in 2021. I’m doing the same thing - washing a couple a week and pitching them when they’re no longer up to par. I still have 5 unused and 4 in regular rotation. So I’d say they hold up pretty well.
I accidentally got some “Swedish Dish Cloths” as a mis-shipment. I like them fine but I like my “American Dish Cloths” more. That’s a regular non-disposable dish cloth. I use a fresh one every day and wash the dirty ones with the regular laundry. They work great. Not sure why we need to reinvent the wheel.