OUR PILE OF CHEAP BROKEN CHINESE CRAP - IN THE LANDFILL FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS

We're tempted to start piling up all the cheap broken Chinese crap we've bought, take a photo of it, and then set it on fire. 

But we won't.

Sufficient to say, we too, though we try NOT to, have bought cheap things that are made in China, even from American based companies and other European countries that import manufactured goods from China.  Sometimes you have to look at the packaging real hard to find out that some or all of the product was made in China.  For instance we've found notations that something was made in China of American made parts.  Or something was made in the United States from China-made parts.  Or something was made in the United States but one part of it - say the lids of a pot - were imported from China.

But whatever it is, the Chinese-made part or the Chinese-made whole, it breaks or falls apart quickly.
And belongs on our pile, for photographing, and setting on fire.

We won't set the stuff on fire.  We won't even make a pile.  WHY NOT?

Because we DO CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT which means that we put everything we can in the proper recycling bins.  We take batteries to a drop off at the library.  We wait for special events to turn in light bulbs, nail polish, small electronics, etc.  So no smoking toxic fires for us or our neighbors to breath.  And no clutter waiting in the basement.

BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING THAT LASTS ONE USE OF A FEW WEEKS and you throw it into the recycling bin?  At best it gets segregated out and is possibly sold to those who can use some or all of it's parts or remake the plastics and metals.  (In our neighborhood old TV sets are often broken into and smashed before the garbage pick up comes.)  

THE REST GOES INTO LANDFILLS where it can take hundreds of years for the buried items to turn into something resembling dust.  This is true of newspapers.  This is true of hot dogs.  This is particularly true of PLASTICS.   So when you buy crap, it also costs us all in garbage related fees.

SOME THINGS WE BOUGHT, made in CHINA, that broke fast.

A plunger.  It had a sturdy wood turned handle and we couldn't imagine that the rubbery head of it would break after the second use.  (We're trying to find a garden use for the handle.)

Hair clips - the kind with a spring and teeth - to keep hair back when swimming.  The set of 12 broke the teeth easily.  We got about 2 uses for each clip before it broke.  So badly made actually using them broke them.

Umbrellas.   We lost our $40 at purchase, heavy duty old fashioned American made umbrella.  So after having a few break after one good wind or rain that we had purchased for under $5, we bought $1 ones that did the same.   We're trying to figure out a way to reuse the fabric.

C 2015  Patriotic Purchase BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved