大象传媒

Furniture restorer and presenter Jay Blades has called for people to buy things in a completely different way to help save the planet, and return to the era of 'make do and mend'.

The host of 大象传媒 One’s hugely successful programme 'The Repair Shop' was speaking to Liz Bonnin for 大象传媒 Radio 5 Live's podcast 'What Planet Are We On?'

"What we are asking the consumer to do is learn to buy and have habits in a completely different way,” he said. “To think about the carbon footprint of whatever they're buying. Whether it's food, the t-shirt, the car.

“And as well as learning about what you’re consuming, you have to learn about how to get rid of it.

“There are islands in this world that are full of plastic, full of the things that we consume. But because it's over there, we don't see it. We need to recognise and understand it’s over there because we put it there. And that's not right.”

The 10-part podcast explores issues and solutions around climate change. Jay features in an episode looking at consumerism and how changing shopping habits can benefit the environment.

The self-taught furniture designer said he wanted to return to the era of "make do and mend' - where people would get their television repaired rather than buying a new one.

“We have become part of the throwaway culture where if something's broken, throw it away, buy new. It's just easier, more convenient. You can press a button and you will receive it tomorrow. And that is damaging our planet. It’s damaging our way of community,” he said.

The podcast also looked at how the culture of consumerism provided jobs for people in the UK and Jay said he recognised that changing it would affect people’s livelihoods.

“When you don't need those individuals, those jobs will be lost and people are not going to have money. So it's quite sad, really,” he said.

“But I believe when I look back to yesteryear, we were producing more in this country, locally.

“We need to look back at what it was like before and learn from that and try to bring it into the 21st century,” he added.

Jay runs a social enterprise helping people who are disadvantaged. He said he wanted to inspire people to celebrate their DIY mistakes and keep learning.

“Celebrate those mistakes, the mistakes that we make as consumers or the mistakes that we made as a novice at DIY. Those mistakes are brilliant because it teaches you what not to do,” he said.

The episode also heard from Professor John Barrett from the University of Leeds, who said there is a strong link between the stuff we buy and climate change.

“All the products we buy including clothing, footwear, furniture, appliances, electricals, cars and so on, usually equate to 25 percent of a household’s normal carbon footprint."

He said people need to think more about the impact of manufacturing products.

“The impact for making a car can be pretty similar to the impact of using it for its lifetime. We think about how we can reduce how far we travel but we’re not necessarily thinking about the impact it has had to be produced,” he added.

Along with Dr Nicole Koenig-Lewis from Cardiff University, Prof Barrett shared some statistics on the UK's consumption.

• More new clothes per person are bought in the UK than in any other country in Europe
• On average, 80 per cent of household items are used less than once a month
• 80 per cent of the impact of our consumption happens outside the UK. For products such as clothing, up to 98 per cent of the emissions occur outside the UK
• While the impact of powering and heating our homes has reduced over the past 20 years, the impact of all the products we buy has not reduced at all
• All the products we buy equates to about 25 per cent of our average household footprint in the UK. This is similar to heating and powering our homes
• The top five per cent earners in the UK consume around four times more energy than the lowest five per cent

As well as interviews with celebrities who are passionate about sustainability, the podcast also aims to arm listeners with practical ways they can reduce their carbon footprint.

Sarah Divall from Hubbub, an environmental charity, and Dr Nicole Koenig-Lewis, from Cardiff University, helped create these tips for people wanting to shop in a greener way.

• Don’t be tricked by fancy words or packaging. Beauty products will often have green packaging or include words like natural – even though they have no sustainability benefits or organic ingredients.
• Consider renting instead of buying. Some high-street retailers are now offering trials for renting clothes, furniture and electronic consumer goods.
• Buy into a brand not a product. Look for companies who are transparent about their successes and failures and back it up with actions and evidence. For example, fashion labels will often produce sustainable capsule collections and while this is a brilliant step in the right direction, it is usually a very small part of the companies overall collection.
• Be wary of the word “recyclable”. Products are often labelled with recyclable but this means that they can in theory be recycled rather than they are in practice widely recycled.
• Buy second hand.