On That Tidying Up Bandwagon? Quick Tips on Discarding Responsibly
Who hasn’t caught wind of “Tidying Up” with Marie Kondo yet? It’s alarming that there are enough of us struggling with excess, but also nice to know I’m not the only one overwhelmed by the over consumption and trying to find ways to minimize the excess-both short and long term.
So you’re primed and ready to dig in – congrats! Nothing feels better than freeing up precious space and having less stuff to deal with and leaving only that which “sparks joy”.
But as we transition from excess to conscious consumption, an important piece is conscious waste management. We all intuitively know it’s just not right to throw reusable items away where they’ll up up in a landfill or get incinerated. But it can be challenging to line up the right solution to discard these old items in a conscious manner. And if you’ve got the momentum, the last thing you want is another barrier to getting the job done.
So if creating a plan for what to do with your discarded items is what’s holding you up, here are a couple quick tips:
Donate It ALL!
I’m sure you’ve already got this on your radar–but unless you have tons of time to host garage sales and/or post items on swap sites, donating is the way to go.
I suggest scheduling a pick-up from Salvation Army. No trip required to transport your goods and drop off within business hours, and you can feel good knowing the items are truly going to land in the hands of someone who needs them.
But what about ripped or stained items?
Don’t trash them! By all, we mean ALL – ripped and stained clothing and other textiles can actually be donated too. Only about 20% of the clothing donated to shops like Goodwill and Salvation Army actually gets sold in their stores – the rest gets sold to textile recyclers.
So that Salvation Army pick-up you’re about to schedule – throw all those items in with it.
