Throw_Away

TMA02 Essay Plan Explore the claim that a consumer society is always a throwaway society Consumer society “a society in which the buying and selling of goods and services is the most important social and economic activity:” http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/consumer%2Bsociety Always = permanently, forever, continuously Use different viewpoints and then present final argument Consumption includes disposal of products Value of rubbish The costs of society on rubbish Responsible consumers I will look at the differences between my generation and that of my parents and the changes that have occurred. A Consumer society is a label used to refer to a society which is defined as much by how and what people purchase and use as by what they make or do. Looking at consumerism from the 1950s and the 2010 the differences are totally divergent. Those consuming in the 1950s had already come through 2 world wars where rationing was in place. There was few time saving or labour saving freezers everything had to be bought food wise and use relatively quickly. In those time also the wage earners within the family were usually the male while the females looked after the household. Packaging was not readily available. Items were bought as they could be afforded and you were brought up with the “make do and mend motto. You made do with what you had and if it broke you mended it. Today we have labour saving devices like freezers, automatic washing machines which allows families to save time. However it also shows off their status with what they can afford in this affluent society. Items may not necessarily stop working but fashions change and in my life time we already have had white, silver and now black appliances. If you don’t have the latest appliance society makes you feel compelled to replace to be up to date, in fashion and proof that you can afford luxury items. Products have a faster rate of technological obsolence Over consumption and excessive production of cheap products that don’t last long have contributed to a throwaway society. Furthermore the cheaper production of goods from abroad help to maintain a supply of inexpensive goods that are low quality and due to the credit crunch will appeal to consumers wishing to save money. Rather than thinking of the mentality of you buy cheap you buy expensive as you are having to buy more of the product because it does not last. This mindset creates rubbish with regard to replacing items that are still working, not defunct and suggests that our consumer society is a throwaway society. The allure of the supermarket which consumers can afford to buy their products at and where they also get persuaded into purchasing items that they might not necessarily need due to their price, the distinctive packaging or the value to their status. It is equally important to look at the way supermarkets display and package their products, the promotions they use (eg buy 1 get one free) to convince you to buy more than necessary. All these items are being consumed superfluously and contribute packaging into the rubbish mountain. Consequently it is shown in 2006/07 that the amount of household rubbish in England was 508kg this is compared with 397 in 1983/84 (Defra 2007) Going back I recall my parents using a twin tub washing machine with stark contrast to today’s society with an automatic washer dryer. We have more clothes than ever before as you have to be up to date with the latest fashion, due to prices being cheaper and the more disposable income of families. My parents only had one household wage today we have both parents working which provides towards the affluent society of today. Michael Thompson described the different categories of rubbish. He came up with 3 categories: 1. Objects produced for ordinary use; e.g. Clothing mobile phones 2. A category with virtually zero value; e.g. Broken mobile phones 3. A durable category whose value increases over time. E.g. Art, Jewellry Rubbish can move categories and shoot up in value due to supply and demand. Today we have recycling bins (black, green and brown) to separate the normal rubbish, recycling and now garden rubbish. Whatever we may think about rubbish being obsolete we have created new businesses out of rubbish recycling with scrap metal being at an all-time high price in scrap value. Rubbish is inevitable by product of consumerism but it has to be monitored, recycled, reused but not abused. Imagine if there were no rubbish collections for months in your area and the rats started infesting your street. This would bring the rubbish situation to the forefront and many would re-evaluate the importance of rubbish control and recycling. The more consumers buy the products then the more the producers will make. If consumers took a stance and decided to buy more ethically from suppliers who used recycled packaging, who did not use excessive packaging we could show that we are conscious consumers and can make a difference to the rubbish epidemic. Looking at the bigger picture I would suggest that due to the nature of our recycling habits we are not always a throwaway society. More often consumers are shown the destruction to our planet with all the rubbish that we dispose of in landfills that are becoming full. We are now looking more favourably at recycling as we are being made aware of the environmental consequences of overloading landfill sites. We are shown the pictures of landfill sites abroad that holds our rubbish that has been shipped abroad. What seems to be rubbish to one man may well be treasure to another and we need to look at more ways of disposing with our rubbish. Many websites have been set up namely Freecycle or Up cycle where we can put on our surplus items for free and someone else can collect and have. We can therefore show that we are not always a throwaway society but more a semi-conscious throwaway society and affluence has paid a part towards the mass of rubbish that is accumulating within society.