Bulldozers beating brand new cars: welcome to the makewaste -economy

Commuting to work, I manage to help a neighbor who needs a pair of shoes. Commuting from work the same day, my colleague makes me aware of a systemic failure in the clothing industry. It makes my morning joy evaporate. I can’t go to bed before I learn that there are changes being made to the system. 

09:02 “Such a hazzle with my son’s shoes this morning”, my neighbor sighs as we take the regional train to work. Having been there, doing that, before festivities at school, it takes a millisecond for me to come up with an idea. “Why don’t you send your son to our place to fit the pairs of shoes that we can’t use anymore? One of them might fit, and you wouldn’t need to go shopping after work”. 

09:06 My husband finds three pairs of black men’s shoes of just about the size needed. I make sure some family member will be able to open the door to our neighbor’s son when he comes. 

09:35 My steps are light when I’m walking to the office. I’ve made life easier for my friend but also for myself. This pair of shoes is going to walk from our doorstep into a new life, reused. All I needed to do was one phone call and one text message. I’m even feeling thankful for having such persons in my life. Persons that totally get my immediate reaction to the problem and put in their effort as immediately. 

12:47 On my way to lunch I look at the windows of a classy secondhand store. It makes me happy, too. There were times when secondhand shopping of business clothes seemed odd, however tailor made shirts you found. Those times are gone. After that store comes another vintage shop, and then two more, before I’ve reached the diner. One of them not only sells clothes. It’s also a coffee shop. All of the shops look super inviting – cozy and personal. Why would you buy something new if reused looks like this? 

20:20 Stars explode, and there’s nothing I can do. We’re having a pre-Christmas party at a museum for contemporary art. An exhibition about the relationship between man and nature has stirred up some depressing stuff in my soul. Another exhibition about human contact is beautiful and comforting. The combination makes my head spin. 

21:50 I’m looking at a YouTube video on the train. My colleague has made a crazy statement about unsold merchandise that would be burned before use, and we’re searching the internet for facts. On the video, new unsold luxury cars are demolished. Even a handsome row of Apple phones are crushed by a bulldozer. The articles we find talk about watches, bags and especially clothes that are destroyed in order to guardian the products’ brand value. It’s so absurd we laugh out loud. 

22:29 I’m convinced: the problem, that in the light of the day seemed so absurd, is real. There is a world where it seems rational to produce goods of best possible quality and then, intentionally, make them waste before any consumer ever has had the possibility to use them. All it takes is a highly limited world view. According to that view, the world is limited to markets where scarcity drives high prices. Man is reduced to his ability to follow a logic. Logic is reduced to this specific market logic, including some wicked tax incentives in some countries. In addition, all other possible ethical standpoints except egoism are excluded. 

23:47 I can go to bed. People with world views and views of man that aren’t as limited as described above have spoken out. France, as the first country in the world, has put in place a legislation that inhibits the madness. This fall, the first actors responsible for the destruction have changed their course because of consumer, shareholder and retailer reactions. Amazon decided in August to donate goods instead of trashing them in the USA and UK. Burberry did the same decision a month later. 

Even in Finland, the problem with fast fashion has been highlighted. Globally, 70% of the clothes made end up burned or in landfills. Only 9 % of all materials circulate today. Reuse is only one of about ten components that the circular economy is made of. We really need to change the system, and there are several ways to do it. That gives me, and you, a reason to commute to work even today. 

Thank you, activists of all kinds, for speaking out loud in media and politics.

Thank you, all commercial players, who want to widen the world view of your companies so that whole humans fit in.

Thank you, artists, for pointing out that in addition to that, we need to make sure that the perspectives we choose don’t exclude other life forms.  

#unsold #merchandise #destroyed #reuse #circulareconomy #reductionism #market #logic #lifecentric #businessmodels