I am always amazed at all the things that people toss out at the curb on garbage day (and that is just the larger items that we can see, so not counting the stuff in the black bags). Sure once you finish with something and you no longer need it, we tend to call it junk. And really who likes to see a lot of junk around their house, it can quickly take over your place if your not careful (There actually is a reality show on TV about people who are addicted to hoarding stuff and junk). But instead of putting all your junk out in the garbage why not let somebody else have it. There are several ways to help prevent our land fills filling up with stuff that does not need to be there.
So I thought I would start writing about the ways that we can help keep all of you junk from going straight to the landfills. I mean the majority of stuff we throw out can be re-used or recycled into something.
A good example is clothing, all most all of us have old clothes at home that we never wear but yet are usually still in good shape. Recycling these items like clothing can reduce the clutter in your home, recover wasted spaces and sometimes make you some extra money at the same time. When you reduce, reuse and recycle, we all benefit.
If a used item is still in great shape then you could try and make some extra money with by selling it to somebody else, you often will not get much for it, but hey these days every little bit helps plus you saved another item from going to a landfill.If you have lots of items then could have a yard sale. One way to have a really successful yard sale is to encourage your neighbors to do the same thing all on the same day. That way you can attract more people to your area, thus more customers, more money and hopefully more stuff that somebody will use and you did not have to send to the dump. If you have only a few items then selling it online might be a better option, there are plenty of great places to do that with well known used item sites like eBay and Amazon, or an online classifieds site like Kijiji or ClassifiedadsFree.com.
Off course if you don’t feel like spending time selling your items you can always donate them to charities. Even if an item is partially worn or broken, it could still be of some sort of value to somebody who may be able to repair it or use it for parts. Most charities have drop boxes or centers where you can drop off all kinds of used goods that you no longer want.
Some places like the Canadian Diabetes Association run programs like the “Clothesline” where you can schedule a free pick-up, where people actually come and take away your junk for free. People from Clothesline® and other charities will gladly accept your used clothing, shoes, boots, books, kitchen wares, toys, small appliances and much more. They have places where they sell the items to generate funds to help their causes.
So next time you go to throw something away, stop and think about the 3 “R’s” of recycling; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And put that item aside, then donate it to charity or give it to somebody else who could use it. After all, every small thing that we do to save the environment goes a long way.
