Warning- Rant Alert!!!

[machinist@large]

The throw away world



We have a customer at work (whose a BIG stamper for the auto industry) who just changed their mind about throwing something out; the mechanical top end of a 1500 TON capacity stamping press.

They were going to scrap the whole press because they didn't like the quote we gave them to rebuild it (lead time as well as price). They changed their minds because A] the only ones available on the used market in that capacity would have to be RE-IMPORTED from Mexico or China, and B] all three of the major OEM's in North America (Bliss and Veirson on the US side, Eagle on the Canadian) are so booked up that they wouldn't be able to deliver a replacement until LATE 2014.

Good thing we kept track of all the parts.

 

[scott_shot]

It seems there's no hope for us all. Over here in bonnie Scotland the waste is ridiculous 'again' the things people don't even bother there back end fixing.
My best friend works in the local "Recycling"(Aye right) Plant. small place , but they fill up a shipping container every fortnight to a month with Bycycles and 7 out of ten will only have a broken chain or buckled wheel(some are ruined obv)
So him and his colleagues usually make 50% + ontop of there monthly income after a little tlc and sold at the car boot sales. Its also not just bikes there's a room for white goods, tvs, the list goes on, and all filled up, emptied and starts all over again

All in a Town that only has 19,000(pop) and maybe another 15,000 in surrounding area who have access.

I can only imagine the scale of waste in the US and other countries!

As for me im a bit of hoarder broken or working, it WILL come in handy and can be used in the future (within reason)
I cannot stand that IMO most things these days are designed around some fat cats pocket. Eg. You now need a ticket costing £400 GBP to cut grass these days in the uk

Anyway just my 2 pence

 

[OzFab]

My best friend works in the local "Recycling"(Aye right) Plant. small place , but they fill up a shipping container every fortnight to a month with Bycycles and 7 out of ten will only have a broken chain or buckled wheel(some are ruined obv)

We get that here too; every recycling plant has masses of near perfect bicycles.

Now, I volunteer with a group who teach kids to repair bikes but, do you think we can get the recycling company to donate the above mentioned bikes back to the community?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Now, I volunteer with a group who teach kids to repair bikes

Excellent!

but, do you think we can get the recycling company to donate the above mentioned bikes back to the community?

Why on earth not?

 

[OzFab]

Why on earth not?

You tell me & we'll both know. Maybe it's something like what scotty was talking about

 

[crazzywolfie]

it probably all about money.

i have pick up many bikes for free. some occasionally only require air in the tires and that is it, others require a lot more work. i picked up a bike for my sister that only required me to true the rims. otherwise the thing looked like it just rolled out of of the store. someone could have taken it to a bike shop and had the both rims trued for $20. a new bike would have been about $100.

 

[beansdaddy78]

one scrap yard around me told me they wouldnt sell me anything due to how they had to pay tax's on selling the items, another told me its to avoid lawsuits.

but money usually has something to do with it, if not all

 

[scott_shot]

Agreed, money is the route of ALL EVIL

These bycycles are just the tip of the iceburg, white goods, furniture,electronics, vehicles, machinerey, materials, list goes on

Were trying to save the planet but let's save the people with jobs + education wil in turn save th world

No one seems to be the jack of all trades anymore in my generation I'm only 23 and i can prob fix almost every catagory above with time + research . Whereas my friends will just buy or get bought replacments! and as far as I'm conscerned if things keep going the way they are I will Not be havin kids (intentionaly)

 

[souperman000]

You tell me & we'll both know. Maybe it's something like what scotty was talking about

Do they get some kind of tax break if they donate? Sometimes you get one here in the States.

 

[FatCat]

I understand some of it. You have to place a value on your time. I throw very little in the dumpster but there are many things I'll just go buy new rather than spend 5hrs of my life trying to fix it. The engine, bicycles, stuff like that at the scrap yard is just asinine. It's not garbage. I give stuff like that away to people who might have more time to repair it. I mean do another load at work and buy new or go home and spend twice that amount of time fixing the old one. I fix things that mean something to me or things I want to learn about. It's not always a bad thing to just go buy new. Its what you do with the old one. When I buy a new engine per say I'll be giving that old engine to someone who has more time than money. They can fix it on the cheap in their spare time. Win-win for both of us. Right now I've got almost a full storage unit of projects for the future. I won't spend all that much time saving myself a couple dollars. In no way am I wealthy or anything like that. Just a hard working guy that doesn't have much spare time. Oh and before you guys bust my balls. My username doesn't have anything to do with the "fat cats" on wallstreet. It's named after my favorite ATV of all time. The Honda FatCat.

http://www.cyclechaos.com/images/d/d4/FatCat200.jpg

 

[souperman000]

You know, there is a technical term for what we are talking about.

Affluence

If you look it up on wikipedia or in the dictionary, it comes up as wealth. This video explains is very well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

 

[FatCat]

But is that necessarily bad to go buy new if you do something good with the old? This is the problem i see. Good stuff ending up in land fills and recyling yards to be melted down. What if you gave an old worn out cart to a kid who couldn't afford one and went and got yourself new? Is that a waste? I don't think so at all. There is always someone who could appreciate something more than us. Bet that kid wouldn't think its a waste either! I had a very, very, modest childhood. My dad got crushed at work when I was very young. He is now handicapped and my mother had to spend her time raising us four kids and taking care of him to. The reason the idea seems so right to me is I remember we never had nice stuff but we always had something to mess around with. My dad was really cool in that aspect. He was not in a cash favorable position at all so they bought us what they could. It was junk but it gave me a lot of good times. I also have a lot of good memories working on that junk with my dad. His body has failed but his brain is very sharp. I guess we didn't really have **** but I was fortunate to always have my dad around. Lots of kids don't have that. That's better than having money. So call me wasteful or whatever but I hope my waste leaves something behind like that for someone else who isn't in as fortunate of a position as me. We all have different reasons the things we do. Now my nephews. They're spoiled rotten but they will be taught to not be wasteful with things. I have confidence my siblings will make that happen.

 

[jamyers]

...
This video explains is very well:

Gotta disagree with you there, Souper. Affluence isn't the issue, and that video is only a good explanation of the Tides Foundation's progressive, anti-free-market worldview, imho.

I understand some of it. You have to place a value on your time.
...

THAT'S the issue. People value their time differently, and THEN other people rate those valuations differently - like we are doing here!