Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse: Giving New Life to Used Items
April 3, 2018
Source: In comparison against most smaller and undeveloped nations, the United States categorically is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. When compared to the average household in other nations, even the poor are not considered so poor. As a nation, we also are some of the world’s most consuming population of material things. Our nation also wastes just as much as it consumes. So how do we lessen our consumer footprint not to be so wasteful?
There is an old saying, “Everything has its place.” Go into any suburban home in post-modern day era, and you most likely will find a basement, an attic, a closet, a garage, or even a shed full of items which have outlasted their initial use. It seems that most households in America will replace their cell phone every six months, a kitchen appliance once a year, and then there is the question of what to do that occasional oddball item which someone may give us as a gift, yet serves no immediate purpose in our household.
So what are we to do with all of this stuff? The obvious answer is if the item is much past its prime, beyond the cost of repairing it, it is time to recycle it. Every year, landfills run out of space because we still do not recycle enough. Glass, plastic, metal, electronics, appliances, wood, paper, cardboard, automobiles, and even some types of concrete cement can all be re-processed and converted into other products. Before you throw something into the garbage can, ask yourself can that item be recycled. Most county governments have a waste disposal and recycling center which you can donor your renewable waste. Salvage yards will accept every type of metal and in some cases, plastic, glass, cardboard, and electronics. Wood items are ground down to make mulch or cardboard.
If you have children, you will know this scenario all too well; you buy an outfit, a pair of shoes, or a toy for your young child just to watch them outgrow it in a matter of a few months. There are a few options—you can trade up your gently used items for either cash, store credit, or a donation voucher at a local consignment shop that deals mainly with children’s items. One store in mind is called Once Upon a Child, where slightly used items are cleaned up and prepared for resale well below the original sticker price. You can find many name brand items can be found in these types of stores for a fraction of the former sticker price, thus allowing disadvantaged parents to purchase name brand clothing for their children without the high cost. You can also donate your items to your local church or to a family that might have children that might be slightly younger than yours, thus allowing for the children’s items to get a second life.
Just about any household item can be cleaned up and resold at a consignment shop, flea market, an antique shop if the age of the item is correct, or even at a church bazaar fundraiser. There is an old saying, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Your item may have outlived its use with you, however for someone else the item’s life is just beginning. Common items that you can find at flea markets or bazaars include tools, car parts, children’s toys, household decor, and even furniture.
You can try finding a new home for your item online. Craig’s List and eBay are online havens for folks looking to sell and buy slightly used items. Even Facebook offers their version of the local marketplace. The most popular categories to buy and sell used items include used furniture; used cars and trucks; used garden tools and equipment; and children’s items. You will also be surprised at the amount of private sellers of jewelry, collectables, and closeout items from businesses which are liquidating their left over inventory.
Many nonprofit organizations have programs where you can donate your used and undesired car, boat, truck, trailer, or recreational vehicle. The standard previously followed is that the donor would receive a donation voucher that they could write off their taxes in the amount of the lowest retail book value for their donated vehicle. In more current years, the donor gets a voucher for their item that relates to the scrap value of their former item. Then the nonprofit will usually deal with a third-party who would determine whether to scrap the item, or offer it for sale at the higher retail value. The public has no idea how much more the third party makes or how much the nonprofit will actually receive. In this case, its best to sell your item as a private sale to another individual and then donate the cash amount to the nonprofit you desire to assist.
The latest trend is that something old can be made new again. Wooden pallets can be taken apart and remade into shelves, storage crates, or even décor. Metal sheathing can be repurposed into material for walls, shelving, made into crafts and containers, or even used in the construction or renovation of a home or business. Glass bottles and jars are great for making sand art pieces, planter pots for small flowers, or even fill them with candy or treats as gifts. Even old lumber, such as rustic beams, floorboards, shiplap siding, can be repurposed for giving a new home the rustic look, or can be used to replace damaged lumber in a restoration project.
Even some waste products around the home can serve another purpose. Food scraps such as used coffee grinds, egg shells, banana peels and bones from meat, when added to leaves and grass clippings, make for a great compost mixture for the home gardener. Cardboard and newspaper can serve as a weed barrier in vegetable gardens and are safe for the soil. When the cardboard and newspaper break down, they provide contents for earth worms to use to help enrich the garden soil.
Many of us are used to taking former dish and bathroom towels once they are past their prime and put those towels back to work in the garage as wash rags for the car or lawn equipment. Plastic bags from the grocery store can be reused as small garbage bags around the home. Brown paper bags from the grocery store can be made into protective book covers for children’s school books. Gift boxes can be held on to and reused again the following holiday season. Just about any item around the home can be repurposed and reused into something else.
It is our responsibility as stewards of planet Earth to find ways to get the most life out of the consumer goods and material items around us. With limited landfill space, and the need to protect our precious freshwater supplies, the more we can do to recycle, reuse, and repurpose, gives us one less item that makes its way to the landfill before its prime.
Samuel K. Burlum is an investigative reporter who authors articles related to economic development, innovation, green technology, business strategy, and public policy concerns. Burlum is also a career entrepreneur who lends his expertise as a consultant to start-up companies, small businesses, and mid-size enterprises, providing advisement in several areas including strategic business planning, business development, supply chain management, and systems integration. He is also author of The Race to Protect Our Most Important Natural Resource-Water.
