13.06.08
What men think is rubbish women could re-use for a number of things around the house.
Women are still the primary care givers and often they find uses for rubbish with their children that a man wouldn’t necessarily consider.
Olivia Robinson ,28, says: “ I’m always telling my husband off for throwing out drinks bottles and cereal boxes, toilet roll holders etc. The drinks bottles my daughter can use to take to nursery with her juice in and the cardboard junk often they use can use for Art activities. We use them at home too for her to make things with. She really enjoys all that. I actually re-use all my cosmetic boxes and packaging and turn them into dividers for my drawers that way I stay organised without having to pay extra for something I can make myself.”
But do Women and Men see rubbish differently?
Benjamin Goddard ,23, says : “ I’m not sure really if women use more things then men. I reckon they might buy more things in packaging though like cosmetics and perfumes and shoes! But that doesn’t mean they re-use it all. I do reuse some of the waste in my house but I’l mostly just put it in the bin or try recycle it. The one thing I make a point of re-using if I can is paper. It drives me mad when my housemate writes like one thing on a piece of paper then just chucks it out. I’m always telling him to use both sides for notes and stuff. So paper I definitely re-use im not so sure about things like toilet roll holders though”
Studies have shown that women and men regard what is waste differently. They also prioritise family hygiene on different levels. Sub-conciously a woman knows if things are left unclean and the rubbish lays about the streets uncollected and untidy then it could lead to their children getting sick or even worse them.
It often appears that women have more uses for the little things as they have may have more domestic areas to organise. Men may not have the time to think about re-using items and materials that women would.
A spokeswoman for the Swindon scrap store says: “ We re-use a lot of materials, cardboard, paints any sort of scrap really that can be re-used in schools, nurseries and companies that need that sort of thing. Many companies around the area pay a yearly fee this lets them come into the store and take whatever they like as often as they like without having to pay for it all individually. I’d say we see women and men in here but there’s definitely a female majority. Mind you that said often it is nursery schools and toddler groups for example that use our store and I suppose it’d be fair to say that there are more women in childcare then men. So that may well be the reason.”
