And this, the realization a little late, all the garbage that I sort through and throw away at the thrift shop. Tons, daily, and this - one of tens of thousands across the country. Perfectly good glassware, only we have a hundred more of the same on the shelves that aren't selling, the same with clothes, pots, pans, everything you can imagine we get 10X, 100X more than we can process or ever hope to sell, however discounted it is.
Everything is made to be thrown away.
Some things - aluminum cans, glass - well, they're not such a problem.
Plastics, electronics, synthetic fabrics, that's another story.
Everything needs a deposit. I mean everything. Nothing should be sold that can not be returned for a deposit. A wine or drink glass, maybe 10 cents. A plastic cup, 25 cents. A stove, fridge, TV - anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars - depending on the cost of recycling it. Cars? Deposit required.
And all the deposit money, paid back to the companies that manufacture it, when they've successfully re or upcycled it.
The landfills, they'll be the next gold mines. I mean, even in the gilt edged plates and china that i throw away daily there's grams per tonne, enough to make it commercially viable, let alone the other precious metals and rare earths.