Rubbish

​Rubbish
Now and then
What is the difference, what I am describing is the difference from what we find discarded from before the early part of the last century, before the invention of Bakelite in the 1930’s there were no plastics and so rubbish from before this time was mostly inert such as ceramics, stoneware and glass, food came from the garden, or from the local shop in baskets and paper bags, left overs went to the compost heap or the pig and chickens, bones to the rag and bone man.
But in today’s society, what do we do with the things that we no longer want? Or is that the issue in itself, or at least the part about want? When did we lose the ability to discriminate the things that we need from the things that we want?
As we have moved into an ever more consumer led society, we have amassed so many possessions that our homes are crammed full of these things. We watch videos and read articles about the art of decluttering, or look at minimalist living in tiny houses, but what do we do with these things that we realise that we no longer need?
 Do we just throw them away? Where is away? Landfill? developing or poor countries? incineration? So, what has changed, from what is relatively recent history, when we had less and looked after what we had?
Is it the materials used in the production and their relative cost? With the introduction of plastic, it became possible to mass produce low cost, low quality products, which we could purchase, consume and dispose of. These new ‘things’ could be changed as the latest model or new style became available. But now we have a new generation who have inherited the problem, of how to dispose of all the things that the generation that went before wanted.