Justflyingin has a good point about our American 'disposable-society'. Materialism and consumerism, driven by US advertising and the mega-corporations which pay for it, are responsible for a huge amount of it.
On the other hand, a few hand-made articles pitched or re-purposed aren't going to sink the ship! There are a lot of good suggestions here, but how you deal with a UFO has a lot to do with how you view your own handiwork - investment of time, talent, ego...