When I go to Best Buy ^* or Ikea I'm always amazed at the tons of big boxes pouring out the door, happy shoppers in tow. I wonder just where all this stuff goes and how it is that this country hasn't sunk into the Earth's crust by now. Well the flip side of this insane demand for new stuff is a massive supply of old stuff that we now deem obsolete. This old stuff is sometimes sitting in the trash, and on its way to the trash pile or already there, buried under tons of other trash. Apparently the Japanese are the best at this game, they have the highest turn over of "white goods" and other high price consumer goods in the world. An 18-month dishwasher is not just obsolete, its pre-historic, pre-cambrian, pre-pared to be thrown in the dumpster. Or the junk that is tomorrows trash might and hence demand for new stuff is probably just be sitting in your closet, attic, basement, garage, garden shed or even the car...

I've read a couple of interesting tales of people dealing with their junk and how liberating it is to deal with it and how surprising it is there is just so much. OVer at South Knox Bubba you can read of boxes that were moved five times and never opened, a ton of stuff hauled to the dump, and a garage sale that raised over $500 but probably cost several thousand to hold in time and effort. Over at SchmoozeLetter you can read about a home full of towering piles of books, garments, and other random assorted stuff that are no sooner tidied up than replaced by more stuff...

If you watch a movie like Baraka, or Powaqqatsi you'll see scenes of the desperately pour laboring over a trash pile looking for tiny scraps of anything useful. Whenever the issue of throwing stuff out comes along I'm always wondering, just how do I get my junk into their hands where it would do most good. Having just replaced a ten year old microwave that was falling apart but otherwise fully functional, and being about to replace a dishwasher that is dying but still has a few months or even years of use (with some servicing), I really hope they aren't hauled away to be buried in the ground somewhere. What a waste.

^* To be honest yes I do buy stuff there sometimes, but its mostly to browse, or to get something I need today rather than have delivered