No Impact Week: The Most Ridiculous, Wasteful Consumer Products Ever (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

A major theme throughout No Impact Week has been consumption, and how much we buy (and waste!) that is unnecessary. Here at HuffPost Green we've been thinking a lot about consumerism, and in the spirit of cutting back, we thought it was worth highlighting some of the most insane and unnecessary products out there right now. An automatic spinning ice cream cone, an avocado slicer, and a snuggie for your puppy... some of the products created and sold in this country are truly ludicrous and unnecessary. Be sure to vote for the most outrageous offender.

However, we know that we've only reached the tip of the iceberg in terms of wasteful product that are out there. HuffPost Green would love to see these crazy products that you've come across (through website screenshots) or even have around your house.

Help us find the worst examples of consumerism. To add a picture, hit the participate button, provide a title and short description of this wasteful offender, upload the photo and press submit!

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Spinning Ice Cream Cone

In the mood for ice cream but too lazy to move your tongue to lick? We're not kidding - there is actually a product that "solves" this "problem." Check out this video: the ladies of the Today Show test it.

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Comments

[Teresa Marques]

There are some very obvious candidates for unnecessary waste, closer to all of us than the bizarre gadgets. Nespresso: does a cup of espresso coffee require a little aluminum container? People have been having coffee, and espressos, for ages without it. Good ones, even. More on coffee: Starbucks. How much waste does a cup of coffee and maybe a slice of cake produce? What's wrong with plain old ceramic containers and metallic spoons?

[Elisa Lockhart]

With the tater mitts, if you look on the products website it tells you to use with blanched or boiled potatoes, in which case the skins are very easy to remove with the mitts and you don't burn your hands handling hot potatoes.... but it certainly is healthier to leave the skins on

[plan9]

The ice cream cone spinner is dumb, you still have to pick up the cone. When will someone come up with a combo unit: a helper monkey which will hold the ice cream cone spinner in front of your face and all you need to do is lick. Deluxe models employing a second helper primate to turn on the unit are available at Buy n' Large and primatesrfun.com

[Beryllium]

I've had an umbrella hat for decades, when mine finally broke a few years ago I was v keen to get another one. Ditto quite a few of my friends. They are simply hands-free umbrellas. Granted, they may look silly, but they aren't in the same category as really wasteful things. Two examples. Great for fixing things in the rain like jammed windows, when you need rain off the face. Great for keeping the sun off you head at long protest marches in the baking Australia sun.

[Phreejazz]

Lame. The list doesn't include the Escalade.

[weatherwaxx]

The dog port is useful if you want to let your dog see what's on the other side of the fence and not have her digging at the fence boards all the time.

The avocado slicer is, I'm sure, a tool sold mostly to the food-service industry. And I suspect it saves a lot of food prep time.

The doggie snugglie.... well, MY dog wouldn't need it. But my departed grandma would've loved one for her Chihuahua. And so would our neighbors who walk their Greyhound in winter.

The coffee-toast-frytop looks like a good idea for a tiny apartment or dorm room, and

The sunhat-umbrella is something worn by my father-in-law for gardening, after he had a skin cancer removed from his nose. I've also seen people wear 'em at sporting events--useful, and they fold up.

You really didn't try very hard on this one. If you want useless and wasteful, try those leaf-blowers when a rake or broom would do the job.

I hope HuPo loses this lame "poll" feature. Yes, you HAVE the technology, but using it for these silly polls is like .... well, like a rotating ice-cream cone holder.

[Vermontah]

Good idea, lousy execution. The avocado slicer looks brilliant and I want one. Not ridiculous or wasteful at all!! Handipants? Cute, but fingerless gloves are not a new thing, folks, nor are they useless. Potato mitts, damn good idea.

Really, you lose points here for picking examples that are not ridiculous at all. A little harder work would have made a better article.

[MJinCanada]

The avocado slicer would be useful if you do a lot of avocados, or if it works with, say, papayas. I use my boiled egg slicer for mushrooms.

The potato mitts, if you watch the video, don't actually work at all.

And those handipants are really the ugliest fingerless gloves I've ever seen, and hardly warm enough to be useful. I'm making a pair for my husband from llama fur -- and before someone from PETA has a conniption, the llama is alive and well and didn't really mind that anyone clipped off his shaggy winter coat before he shed most of it anyway.

[Ganapati]

Try any of these informercials at 3am, with company and good weed...

[derekc06]

Why just Tic Tacs? Why not criticize all individually wrapped candies? It says right on them that they're just peppermints.. They come just like any other bag of peppermint candy would come... This slideshow was lame...

[LooktotheLeft]

My five best girls love it when I wear handerpants:

Mon: Soft cotton handerpants for Handjolina Jolie
Tue: Beige handerpants for Anita Handjob
Wed: Velvet handerpants for Rosy Palm
Thurs: Black satin handerepants for Mary Fivefingers
and the best of all on Fri for my special pre-wkend gal:
Fri: Cashmere handerpants for Palmala Handerson

[Zibop]

Unfortunately, all these useless gadgets have made most of their inventors rich, so there will be no shortage of lame stuff any time soon.

[mercury613]

#12: the Heene family

[Rolfe Norman]

Handerpants has got to be a gag gift! Too funny!

[Herders4Me]

I sort of wish I'd had those doggie look-out ports. Instead, I just cut a couple of holes in my privacy fence so my dogs could look out. Worked well for 17 years...

Two days ago, a street dog got through one (about 5"x7") and killed my precious little Shetland Sheepdog IN his own back yard.

If I could find those little portals, I'd buy 'em now.

[MJinCanada]

Oh, that's sad. I'm so sorry.

[SAR]

I don't think the avocado slicer is so bad. If you're making guacamole, yeah, it's unnecessary and useless, but if you're giving a dinner party and want to put avocado slices on top of your salad or your main dish, and have them look pretty, then it's more reliable, as well as quicker, than using a spoon and a knife. I wouldn't be surprised if caterers and chefs in upscale restaurants -- where presentation is as important as taste and quality -- use them.