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No. Mad.

Planned Obsolescence: What Is It?

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If you’ve spent any amount of time in zero waste spaces whether online, or in person, you’ve probably heard the term planned obsolescence thrown around, but you might not know what it means.

Don’t worry! Before I started looking into the zero waste lifestyle, I had no idea what it was, either.

Planned obsolescence is when companies create or build a product with the intent of making that product fail within a specific amount of time. (Usually, a number of years) This can be anything from making the product actually stop functioning, or even something as making the product seem so undesirable no one wants it after a certain amount of time.

This means companies are purposefully planning for their products to fail, before they ever even leave the assembly line!

Why would they do this? Well, if companies were to make products that were so amazing you only had to buy them once in your lifetime, they wouldn’t make money. So unfortunately for us, their solution to staying in business is to force consumers (that’s us) to buy replacements.

Have you ever wondered why your phone starts acting funky right around the same time a new one is released? Or why certain colours are considered ‘in’ during a certain time of the year? Or why there seems to be so much societal pressure to have the latest whatever-it-is? Whether it be the latest tech, newest fashion trend, the ‘best’ car, etc.? These are examples of planned obsolescence. Creating that sense of must-have is companies way to not-so-subtly influence consumers into buying more, or buying something specific.

Now obviously, this tactic will work better with some products than others, but that won’t stop companies from doing it.

Unfortunately for everyone though, this planned obsolescence is not only annoying and mean we’re shelling out more money, but it’s also not good for the planet!

Think about it: if say, you have to buy a new phone every 2 years, instead of 4, that’s double the amount of phones that get tossed in the garbage and sitting in a landfill. Now times that by basically every product on earth, and you’ll hopefully start to see why this is a problem!

So, what can we, as consumers, do to help offset this stupid thing? Well for one, if you ditch your clothes and buy a whole new wardrobe every season change, stop. I promise you, no body cares if you’re wearing ‘a blouse from three years ago’, or, if they do, they are not people that you need to listen to.

I’ve been wearing mostly the same clothes since I was in gr. 7 (I’m short, thanks genetics!) and the people in my life who care and love me couldn’t care less. If people are only hanging out with you because you always wear the newest shirt, you need some new friends.

Another big thing is tech. What will really happen if you don’t go out and buy the latest phone the day it comes out? Will the world explode? No. Will you save money? Yes! Will people make fun of you for using an ‘old’ phone? Maybe. Does that actually matter? No.

Keeping up with trends I know is especially hard for people who are in school. But as lame and cliche as this will sound: don’t give in to peer pressure! It’s honestly not worth it.

If you feel it starting to get to you, just ask yourself: would you rather have the newest toy, or a planet to live on?

Because those are the stakes.

And yes, you can argue that that’s too much pressure to put on ourselves as consumers. As said above, this is the companies’/capitalism’s fault. But while we’re lobbying, protesting and writing companies to change their practices, we need to hold ourselves accountable, too.

A company won’t do something unless it makes them money. So if we stop buying the latest thing as soon as it comes out, and start keeping what we have longer, they’ll (eventually) start to make products that last longer.

Remember: Voting with your dollar is real and one of the best almost-passive things you can do to help enact change.

Now, this is all well and good, but as I mentioned above, these products are designed to fail, so if the product is truly no longer working properly, obviously buy a replacement. BUT, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to buy a brand new one. Check out some second-hand stores or thrift shops, or for tech, look into refurbished products. Those are products that were previously owned, and returned for whatever reason.

Usually, this means you can get a product that’s maybe a couple years behind, but is cheaper and that’s almost like buying everything on sale and really, who wouldn’t love that?

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No. Mad.

What To Do With Unwanted Christmas Gifts

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We’ve all been there. Whether it be a butt-ugly Christmas sweater, itchy socks or even just something that’s so far removed from something you’d actually want you begin to question whether or not the gifter knows you at all.

There’s unfortunately many reasons you might’ve received an unwanted Christmas gift this past holiday season, and while the ever polite smile and stash might’ve saved you on the night, stuffing the unwanted present into the back of your closet and then never thinking about it again isn’t actually going to make it go away.

So, what are you to do?

Well thankfully, throwing it in the trash isn’t your only option – and shouldn’t even be on your list of options for a brand new still-wrapped-in-plastic product – but that rant is a whole other article.

For now, let’s just focus on what your other non-polluting-the-planet options are. There might be more than you think!

  1. Re-Gift It

While some may see this as some sort of gift-giving sin, it’s really one of the simplest options you have. Ask your friends and family to see if anyone else in your life would like/use/appreciate the gift you were given more. If  so, give it to them! And just like that, it’s problem solved. You don’t even have to wait until the next holiday season!

In fact, if you plan on having a party or get-together where the original gifter will be attending, I’d recommend not re-gifting in front of them. You can either give it to the person you know privately, for their birthday or even just on a random day of the week. Who wouldn’t love to get a present (they actually want) on a random Tuesday?

 

  1. Donate It

This is sort of a branch out of the first option. If you don’t personally know anybody who would like the gift you received, see if you’re able to donate it to a second-hand store like Value Village or a charity.

This way, somebody out there will get to use/enjoy the item, even if you didn’t get to see it. Do some research into what second-hand stores and charities are around your area and what items they allow to be donated. You might be surprised to learn it isn’t all food and clothes!

 

  1. Up-Cycle It

This will obviously depend on what the gift was, but if you’re able to, see if you can up-cycle it! What I mean by this is see if you’re able to take the less-than-stellar gift and turn it into something you’d actually use.

Whether it just needs a paint job to match your aesthetic or a bit of minor sewing to get it to fit ‘just right’, up-cycling is a great way to breathe new life into any item.

You also don’t have to keep the item as whatever it was when gifted. Again, this depends on what the item is, but for example if it’s some sort of electronic, see if you’re able to save the charging cable for your other ones or the headphones, etc.

Or if it’s something like a dresser, maybe you could reuse the drawers for some other storage you have, or reuse the wood  to create some shelves, or even those spin-y wheels that the drawers use to slide in and out, or the bolts holding all the pieces together or…

Well, hopefully you get the idea. If you can’t up-cycle it as is, pick it apart to see if there’s pieces of it you can use for other objects/projects.

 

  1. Sell It

Obviously you’ll want to decide on this option before you go picking it apart to see if you can up-cycle it, but selling the item is also a very handy and helpful option to remember.

There are over 7 billion people on the planet, so chances are good somebody out there needs/wants what you have and there’s also a good chance they’re willing to pay money to get their hands on it.

If you think you could get an unwanted gift off your hands and make a little profit off of it? That’s about as win-win as things get.

 

  1. Tell The Truth

I know this isn’t a very popular opinion – especially when it comes to the holiday season, for some reason – but just tell the person the truth!

If you found out someone you gifted something to ended up giving it away, or selling it basically immediately after you gave it to them (instead of say, 5 years down the line when they no longer need/use it), wouldn’t you feel… disappointed? Sad? Embarrassed? Possibly even a little bit angry? If they just told you in the first place, you wouldn’t have bought it for them! Now you’re feeling like you wasted some money because they didn’t like the gift. Right?

Right.

So why are you going to do that to somebody else?

If you don’t like something, you are under absolutely zero obligation to keep it to yourself. Tell the gifter! This will not only be a good way to not have to take something you don’t like home with you, but can also open the door for a conversation about things you do like/want, which will (hopefully) lead to better gifts in the future!

Nobody (or at least, nobody I’ve ever met) want to think of themselves as being a bad gifter, but the person will never know their gifts suck if you never tell them!

Sure they might be a little hurt at first, but just be sure you let them know you absolutely appreciate the gesture of the gift, you just don’t particularly like that item. And you know what? Tell them why! If it’s something not very serious, like it’s the wrong colour or size, chances are good you can probably get it exchanged for the right colour/size.

If it’s something more serious like it reminds you of a deceased relative… well you maybe don’t have to tell them that exactly, but you can tell them it reminds you of a personal tragedy, or you associate negative feelings with it, so you’d rather not have it in your house.

Most people who care enough about you to go to the trouble to give you a gift will also care about your well-being, so if you tell them something like that, they’ll most likely get embarrassed and apologize profusely – maybe even swear to ‘make it up to you’ by getting you something else later.

If they’re one of those people who just give a gift for the sake of saying they did – instead of because they want to – you can also politely tell them you don’t want a gift. Or if that would be weird (why did you only tell Aunt Sheila not to get you anything?) see if you can ask them for a gift card or homemade good, instead.

Are they into Christmas baking or crafty? Great! You’d rather have some homemade cookies or a cool, handmade card. They might be relieved to not have to buy for one more person, and it’ll give them a chance to share what they love with their loved ones. (That’ll also give you something to talk to them about next year)

And, if it’s baking, it’ll save you from having to make/buy your own.

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No. Mad.

2023 Zero Waste Goals Recap (+2024 Goals)

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In case you missed it, my 2023 goal post said my goals for the year were going to be:

  1. Continue reducing my single-use paper towel consumption
  2. Find a substitute to Who Gives a Crap toilet paper
  3. Stop/reduce my use of notebooks and notepads

I’m happy to report I was able to find a great Who Gives a Crap alternative – they’re called Roll Up and they’re a Canadian bamboo toilet paper company (yes I’ll be reviewing them at some point) – and I was able to reduce my use of notepads and paper towels!

While I still haven’t cut paper towels out completely, I’m using way less than I was in 2022 and even early 2023. The notepads on the other hand…

I was going to write this article and say that my notepad use was almost a non-issue because I really haven’t been using them to write down story ideas or phone messages – I’ve been using my phone’s note app for that – but I had to stop myself because sitting beside my computer is my To Do list, which I wrote on a piece of notepad paper.

While this might not seem like a big deal to you, I don’t have just one To Do list. In addition to the paper one I have sitting beside my laptop – which I change/update every month or so – I have a Year To Do list taped to the wall that my desk is facing and a daily To Do list on my phone!

I’m one of those people who needs To Do lists in order to not only manage my time, but to also help organize my brain. Unfortunately I can’t just have all of these lists on my phone… well, I could, but they wouldn’t be helpful. I’m also a visual person, and if I don’t have my To Do list somewhere I’ll see it every day, I’ll forget about it and nothing will get done. Or different things will get shuffled to the top of my priorities, and then the whole system gets out of whack.

Luckily though, while I was doing the research for resuable options, I found one thing called a Rocket Notebook that seems to be a digital tablet of sorts that let’s you write on it like paper, but it saves as a digital copy. I don’t know too much about that, but it seems like a good option from what I’ve seen so far. I also saw something at one point that looked like a dry erase notebook and I think that would also be a helpful alternative.

I’m definitely going to have to do more research into my options, but from what I’ve seen, those seem to be the best two for me.

So, what are my zero waste goals for 2024?

Well, I’m going to stick with my paper towel goal and modify it a bit. I recently discovered that Roll Up has expanded their line of products to now include not only bamboo paper towels, but also tissues!

I’d like to test those out as I’ve still been using regular/paper tissues. I wasn’t too worried about switching my tissues because I really don’t use them that often – I use maybe 1 box a year – but that’s still contributing to cutting down 50 year old (or older) trees for something you use once then throw away. So I’m going to take the necessary steps to changing that.

That’s also a great change for my wallet, since their website says they only sell in cases, and there’s 12 boxes per case, so I’ll be good for a while after just 1 order.

The other goal I’d really like to focus on this year is the To Do list alternatives that I mentioned above. They’re sort of my last big hurdle in cutting out paper from my day-to-day, so I’d really love it if I could sort of buckle down and figure that out.

While I know it’s impossible to live completely paperless in today’s society, I’m hoping that by focusing on reaching these goals this year, by this time next year, I’ll be as paperless as I can be.

So, what about you? Do you have any zero waste goals for 2024? Do you have any tips on how to achieve my goals? Let me know in the comments!

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