Your Trash Just Doesn’t Disappear, Stupid! (Or How to Make Sure Useful Things Stay out of Landfills)
Please forgive my rudeness. If I heard my children speak to someone that way, there’d be some serious lecturing going on. But you’ll understand when I relay the conversation I heard between two young moms the other day at a restaurant.
Mom #1 “My garage was so jam packed with boxes of things. I didn’t even know what was in half of them. I finally go so tired of it all I just took them all out to the curb.”
Mom #2 “Isn’t it such a great feeling when the trash men just make it all disappear?”
Mom#1 “Yes, ‘poof’ and it’s all gone.”
To which I wanted to scream over to their table “Your trash just doesn’t disappear, stupid!” But I didn’t because I was raised better than that. And my son was with me. And I’m fairly gutless in situations like that. But I was screaming it in my head.
What an absolute waste. What still perfectly useful items were in those boxes that the trash men hauled away to be burried in a landfill. There’s no way of knowing, but I do know this one thing. There were many ways she could have easily found new homes for the still useful things in those boxes.
As I see it, when you’ve got something that is still useful but you aren’t using it anymore, there are three responsible ways to get rid of it. None of them involve putting it out at the curb for the fairy trash men to waive their wands and make it disappear.
Turn it Into Cash
If you’ve got stuff that’s in good condition, selling it is always an option. If you’ve got a lot of stuff, hold a yard sale. Just one thing to get rid of? Sell it on Craigslist. Put an ad up on your local coffee house bulletin board. Auction it off on eBay. There are lots of ways to turn your trash into cash.
Donate it (and Don’t Forget to Get a Receipt)
Donate your useful stuff to charities, and make sure you ask for a receipt. When April 15th rolls around you’ll have a tax write off. It’s kind of like turning your trash into cash but without actually having to take the time to place an ad or deal with the hassle of a yard sale.
Give it To Someone in Need
There is someone out there who needs something you’ve got. Send an e-mail out to your friends letting them know you are looking to get rid of whatever it is you’ve got. Or post it on Freecycle and let someone come and take it off your hands. You may not benefit financially from it this way, but you certainly wouldn’t have benefited from it financially if you’d just thrown it in the trash. Plus, it’s a fabulous feeling knowing that you were able to provide for someone’s needs.
Sure, any of these three ways of dealing with your unwanted items takes a little time and effort. But keeping them out of landfills is so important. Not only will you be saving the earth from having one more piece of trash buried inside of it, you’ll be stopping new resources from being wasted. When you give that futon away to someone who needs it instead of leaving it out at the curb for the trash men, you’ll be saving that person from buying a new futon. Resources are saved.
Our trash really doesn’t just disappear. It goes somewhere. If it’s truly not trash, but a useful item, make sure it makes it gets into the hands of someone who can use it and not into the landfill.
>> Related: 10-Step Guide to Buying a Used Laptop That Works
Image courtesy of flickr.
This is why I have always been an advocate of littering. Honestly, the garbage does no more damage on the street than in a landfill (arguably less) and is far harder to ignore. That’s why anti-littering campaigns are so much easier a sell.
Now, I think that all of us who care about the environment need to start a no trash collection movement, a pro littering movement… if the garbage starts to pile up in the streets maybe people will stop buying things with masses of packaging and try to be a bit more responsible.
In other words, being anti-littering is actually being anti-environment, despite what you have been told all your life!
Oh, how it pains me to see good stuff–or stuff with perfectly good salvageable bits sitting by the curb. Aargh! I once carried a hefty bookshelf several blocks while pushing a stroller. I knew we couldn’t use it, but figured someone wanted it. Turns out that within 24 hours, our new neighbors had painted it to match their li’l girls room. It’s a precious piece of furniture now.
Last week, my toddler and I stopped off at another neighbor’s garage sale and scored a Fisher Price play set and a big box filled with stuff to make car ramps. He spent three days fixated by the stuff…even if the play set was slightly damaged and he had to make do with some “repurposed” action figures.
This article caught my eye because I am in the process of moving and cleaning out my life. It is so great to go through all your stuff and really get down to the bare minimum. Although, this cleansing is different then any in my past. I have decided during this move to create as little trash for the landfill as possible. And yes it would be much easier to throw it to the curb. How ever this is not an option for me. So, thank you for this article and all the great tips so I can find happy/eco friendly home for all my un-wanted stuff.
Thanks for the tips.
My landlord cleared out a garage full of storage boxes last week and some of the items were surely antiques! Is there anywhere to take those?
I’m wondering about some other things: where can you take paint cans? what about furniture that is not salvagable, but has good materials? planting trays and pots? rusty tools?
tip: electronics may be recycled by an interest organization in your area (my town has an A/V club who takes old parts) AND I heart bringing clothes to the Salvation Army/GoodWill.
happy simplifying.
Traverse - Interesting logic. I see your point, yet I don’t think I’m going to start throwing trash out on my front lawn just yet.
P.Price - When I see stuff on the curb in my neighborhood, I often go up to freecycle and place a curb alert.
Chris - Good luck getting down to the bare minimum. I seem to always be purging, yet always surrounded by stuff.
Mean Green Robin strikes again! I am with you 100%, Robin, as you probably can guess from my many, many posts on litter, trash in general, and reusing stuff instead of replacing/trashing it.
I moved out of my little studio apartment in LA on Sunday, and I had loads of stuff to get rid of — old shoes, plates, IKEA side tables. Didn’t throw out any of it — brought it to Out of the Closet (a bit like Salvation Army but benefiting people living with HIV/AIDS) — a bit of a hassle, but made my conscience CLEAR. It’s wonderful the way organizations like Out of the Closet can make your trash disappear, while making money for people who need it and affordable goods for those on the market for a TV/desk, etc!
when you ve got something that is still useful but you aren t using it anymore, there are three responsible ways to get rid of it. None of them involve putting it out at the curb for the trash men to waive their wands and make it disappear.
Bravo!
I once lived in a neighborhood where leaving your disposing of your unwanted belongings by setting them out by the curb had an entirely different result: People less fortunate than I came by at night, sorted through it, and took what they needed or found useful. Consequently, I felt pretty good about putting my ‘junk’ out next to the curb.
We will have to allow the poor to work the dumps as in other third world countries now that the $700Billion dollar recession is upon us and our government prints money instead of solving our problems by law. Right now whole dwellings complete with working, albeit out of date, appliances can be had after dark at the landfill gates, salvaged by crooked profiteers. This should not be allowed, nor should crooked nighttime scavengers and dishonest garbage truck drivers be allowed to make tax-free money from our garbage. I say, Open the dumps to the public! Let the poor people profit! Recycle, reuse, renew, retrieve! Mine those scrap heaps! poor Americans will show up in hordes with pick-up trucks, SUV’s, cars and even on bikes and clean up the mess.Free enterprise at its best! We are no longer an affluent, throw-away society! We are third world and sinking fast! The Dow broke 10,000. on the way DOWN! TODAY! Move over India, watch out China, we are in a free fall DOWN!