ESRC Society Today

This project, by researchers at the Universities of Sheffield and Nottingham, examined how households in the Midlands and North-East of England got rid of ordinary, everyday consumer items over the course of a year. 
It excluded things that can be placed in kerbside recycling bins - glass jars, paper, plastic bottles and tins - and rubbish such as packaging. 
Instead, the team focused on the other items found in our homes, including electrical products, clothing, furniture, furnishings, toys, books, CDs and videos.

Key Findings

Not a ‘throwaway society’

• Far from being a ‘throwaway society’, most of us go to considerable lengths to pass on unwanted household items to others.
• When it comes to making our mark, it is not just what we acquire but what we decide to get rid of that is important to us.
• The dustbin or a visit to the local tip are merely two options amongst many when it comes to discarding the family fridge or TV, or shedding furniture or clothing which have been around for a long time. People and households use numerous methods to rid themselves of objects, including giving things away, selling or even quietly forgetting them.

Avoiding waste

• Households clearly try to save things from wasting, and do not waste without care. The only exceptions are when people are moving home or carrying out major refurbishment.
• However, this is not to say that these things are not wasted by those who might receive them. Charity shops, for instance, often send for ragging the donations they regard as unacceptable.

Reasons for ‘ridding’

• People get rid of objects because they become pitted, chipped, discoloured and washed-out. 
• Equally, other items endure, and the durability of some makes getting rid of them harder and more guilt-ridden for their owners. They tend to stay around because their physical state seems to insist that they do so, and because we cannot think of good enough reasons to eject them.
• This is just as much a problem for many households as the frustrations of the chuck-replace cycle now widespread with goods such as kettles, irons and toasters.
• Often it is children who force their mothers to discard things they see as embarrassing or shameful, such as furniture which is ‘odd’ or ‘old and unfashionable’.
• New partners - mostly the women involved - also insist that their ‘new man’ get rid of things so that the pair can carve out their unique identity as a couple.
• People continually detach themselves from things which are ‘not me’, ‘no longer me’ and perhaps ‘never were me’. 

About the Study

The project was led by Professor Nicky Gregson, of Sheffield University, with Professor Louise Crewe, of the University of Nottingham, and Dr Alan Metcalfe, also of Sheffield University. 

It involved an in-depth 12-month investigation with 16 households primarily in South Hightown, a former coal-mining village in County Durham; an in-depth study comprising four interviews with 59 households in four distinct areas of Nottingham, again over a period of a year; and 25 focus group interviews in Nottingham and the East Midlands, many with children in schools. 

Key words

Disposal, waste, consumerism, possessions

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