Every now and then I take a look around my kitchen and wonder what on earth we're all thinking.
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Why do we feel the need to buy special pieces of fabric called 'tea towels' when we could just as easily cut up old linen or clothes? (Disclaimer: I just bought new tea-towels, like an idiot.)
Or plasticy bits of cloth to wipe dishes when we could find alternatives in the rag bag (and my rag bag is perpetually overflowing, given that I have a family that can't seem to a) stop growing, b) stop wearing their clothes to death and c) keep socks in pairs).
Then there's the glass jam jars we pay real money for, meanwhile throwing out the almost identical ones that we bought with mayonnaise or pickles inside.
I used to look suspiciously at my grandmother's kitchen drawers and cupboards, stuffed as they were with every jar, paper clip, bread tie and rubber band that had ever entered her house.
Was she perhaps crazy? Or was it just the result of being raised in the Depression? Well, possibly both, but the upshot was that she didn't waste a thing.
Meanwhile, we throw perfectly good stuff away then go and buy more with our hard earned cash. Who's crazy now?
Despite the emphasis today on reusing and recycling, there are still whole swathes of society who think that second-hand is only for deadbeats; how can you make things match and look pretty if you don't buy brand new?
And while some of us have embraced op-shopping and re-purposing, there are still massive blind spots in our practices.
How did we end up here? For a long time, the Western mindset has run along the track of a linear economy: extracting resources, making products, using them once or only a short time, then disposing of them.
The concept of recycling or repairing materials looks more like a circle, and it's this circular economy that's making waves all over the world.
It's like my grandmother's kitchen, only bigger. Not so crazy, after all. Although her best friend was a one-legged magpie, but that's another story...