Recently i've been paying attention to monthly dumps in the city. People seem to have an endless stream of things to throw away. It's said to be a time of crysis, and unless half the population decided to live without furnitures, it seems every body buys new things endlessly. Here goes the 'less consumerism, less shipping' advice.
Furniture is now very cheap (also low-quality: Ikea, etc.), while housing is (in many areas) extremely expensive, so it's no wonder that people can be in a bad economic situation while being able to change furniture. Of course, it's sad, it should be the other way around, but it's the way current prices in most places work.
It's like the typical criticism that young people complain about their salaries but buy flagship smartphones. Yeah, iPhones and the like are technological wonders and 50 years ago they would have been a dream, but in many places they cost the equivalent of two weeks of rent... so why in hell would they not buy them? To save for two whooping weeks of rent?
This is not just news corps. Its well established scientific fact that we are in a state of environmental crisis and unless there is huge change to so many things in society we will be beyond the point of return.
Rich people throw away nice stuff. The trick to getting it is patience and the capacity to pick things up on a whim.
I've furnished my entire house with free stuff. It takes a log longer than just throwing your credit card at Ikea but the stuff fits my house so much better anyway. It's not clapped out junk either. It's mostly nice stuff from people moving and empty-nesters downsizing.
I live between poor and rich neighborhoods, both of them throw a massive amount of stuff. It's true that you can find better brand / rarer stuff in rich places but the volume is similar.
