Landfills hurting as consumers repair, reuse

All over the US, consumers are throwing away less and reusing or repairing more. Goodwill thrift stores see rise in sales and drop in donations. "Environmentalists applaud the trash slash."

Landfills hurting as consumers repair, reuse

By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer James Hannah, Associated Press Writer – Sat Apr 25, 12:21 pm ET

DAYTON, Ohio – Thrift-driven Americans are fixing up, making do and reusing so much to cope with the recession that the drop in throwaways means less fill for landfills.

To deal with the drop-off in dropoffs, landfills are laying off workers, reducing hours of operation and hiking disposal fees, with the increases passed along to cities, businesses and consumers. read more

It reminds me that I've been meaning to take some more donations to the Goodwill near us. It's amazing the things you find when you move that you don't need, want, or even recognize.

flickr in the real world

Wall-e's Instant Fave!
Originally uploaded by meddygarnet

Yesterday I posted an entry on my blog musing about what the office would be like if it was like flickr... today I found a flickr group called Flickr In The Real World - Instant Fave! They print up little cards that look like the "favorite" icon in flickr, and take photos of things they like with them.

I had to join, of course. Now to get me some of those little cards.

In the meantime, here's one of my favorites from the FITRW pool, Wall-e's Instant Fave! by http://www.flickr.com/photos/meddygarnet/.

If the office was like flickr

If the office was like flickr, when you walked past that really pretty calendar in your co-worker's cube, you would stick a post-it note near it with a comment saying "Wow! Beautiful image!"

Your co-worker with the photo of his kittens on his desktop would have notes left on his desk letting him know just how cute those kitties really are. Some commenters would leave little photos of their own kittens along with their comments, hoping to draw people to their own cubes.

People would get flurries of praise on colorful little notes for having the most robust potted plants, or geeky compliments for having a bright red swingline stapler.

And people who got the most comments on their cubicle walls from passers-by would be so very proud.