By Thea McCarthy, Wangaratta
In my parents’ and grandparents’ time it was an era of austerity and there wasn’t much stuff around. The experience of scarcity, of material things being limited and valuable, is now largely history. In our throw-away society we accumulate more because it usually costs less to buy a new item than it would to fix the old one.
We may end up hoarding things and have a socially driven tendency to believe that possessing more things brings greater happiness. The simple truth is that owning less is easier than organizing more. Recycling clutter saves time and money and reduces the environmental impact. How many of us have outgrown or outdated clothes stockpiled in a cupboard?
So let’s get environmentally friendly and for a sound decluttering, recycle your junk where your trash is someone else’s treasure. Rather than a big task, start small. Pick an area of your home, a cupboard, a workbench and spend ten minutes decluttering it.
There are ways to reuse and recycle goods in general. The local op shop can receive stuff that other people can use instead of buying new. You can give to family/friends if they want the items (though they may feel cluttered too!). By giving freely with no strings attached, one can instill a sense of generosity of spirit which strengthen local community ties and provide environmental sustainability and reuse.
Or you can sell through E-Bay, Gumtree or Trading Post and local classified ads. Some people leave their unwanted goods on the nature strip though if it rains or the goods stay outside for several days, they can deteriorate not to mention be unsightly for your neighbours. The space between your footpath and the road usually belongs to council and the legality of kerbside scavenger hunts differs from place to place.
I also found the following recycling sites on the internet:
- http://www.ozrecycle.com
- http://au.ziilch.com
- www.freecycle.org/browse/AU
- http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/pass-it-on/
- Local “Buy Swap and Sell” sites on Facebook
Letting go of clutter is often about letting go of emotional baggage we carry around with us, allowing us to enjoy life in the here-and-now.