Stuff: collection of things not needing to be specified, valueless matter, trash, non-sense Australian Oxford Dictionary
Our day to day stuff comes with a carbon footprint: -bottled water, food, fashion, phones and computers, just to name a few. How products are designed, used, maintained and disposed at end of life also add to their carbon footprint, take bottled water for example.
Bottled Water
Processing plastic resins and transporting plastic bottles contribute to a bottle’s carbon footprint in a major way. Estimates show that one 500-milliliter (0.53 quarts) plastic bottle of water has a total carbon footprint equal to 82.8 grams (about 3 ounces) of carbon dioxide. Source: Sciencing
The bottled water market globally is rapidly growing with approximate 600 million households consuming bottled water in 2018. That’s more than 100 billion gallons (391 Billion litres) of water per year or 1 million bottles per minute. Source: Tapp Water
Plastic takes up to 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill, recycling plastic takes 88% less energy than making plastic from raw materials.
Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the Earth four times. Americans throw away 35 billion plastic bottles every year. Only about 25% of the plastic produced in the U.S. is recycled. If 75% of the US plastic bottles were recycled, they could save 1 billion gallons of oil and 44 million cubic yards of landfill space annually.
A plastic bottle of drinking water contains on average 4 cents worth of water. By using reusable drink containers an average person can eliminate the need for 100 disposable bottles per year. Source: Utah Recycles Org
Other STUFF
Stuff can also be known referred clutter, in 2017 Core Data conducted a comprehensive study on clutter called: Clutter Report, they found
“If we put a box of clutter along every inch of coastline in Australia, we will go around Australia about 6 times or 210,112km!!!
On average, respondents said the total financial value of the clutter in their home is $6623 This translates to $59, 361,949,000 worth of clutter Australia wide, not only is stuff or clutter costing the earth it’s hitting our back pockets.
Solution: Reduce consumption of STUFF
We know that stuff is a mixture of valueless matter, trash, non-sense and it costs money and adds to our global carbon footprint, then why buy it? Reducing our carbon footprint does not mean going without the things we love, need and want, through mindfully consumption and being aware of the providence of the goods, we can make a difference.
People Power
We have the power to change things, as a consumer we have the power to say NO THANK YOU and refuse stuff that does not add value to our lives or pollutes our planet.
Reading labels is a great place to start, also asking corporations about their social and environmental responsibility, questions such as
What is the recycled content of your product?
How is your product recycled?
Is your product made from locally sourced materials?
Is it easy to source spare parts should I need to repair the product?
Why is the product over packaged?
Want to know your carbon footprint?
Check out the Carbon Footprint Calculator to discover how big your print is.
Want to responsibly dispose of “stuff” check out Eco Organiser® Useful Links
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