Mindful decluttering
Why decluttering can be good for the planet.
Decluttering (when done right) is actually good for the planet. Decluttering is not good for the planet if everything that is being decluttered ends up at the nearest landfill site, regardless of its condition and usability. Decluttering is good when we try our best to find new homes for the things we no longer need, repurpose and repair what we can, and recycle the rest. It’s good for the planet because it frees up existing resources and reduces the demand for the extraction of raw materials and the manufacture of new products.
Humans use a lot of resources. We use more resources than we have, or rather we are using them faster than they can be renewed. The Global Footprint Network calculates Earth Overshoot Day each year to mark the date when our demand for ecological resources and services exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. They also calculate what date the world would run out of resources if everybody lived like the people of a given country. In 2018, Overshoot Day was 15 March in the US, 31 March in Australia and 8 May in the UK.
What this means is that if everyone in the world lived in the same way as Americans or Australians do, we’d need four planets to sustain us.
The reality, of course, is that we only have one. The good news is, decluttering is an opportunity to put resources that aren’t being used back into society, and make them available for other people to use.
No-one declutters items they love, need and use all the time. The things we declutter are the things we no longer need, never use and don’t like. These things serve no real purpose in our homes; they simply sit there taking up space and gathering dust. At the same time, someone in the world will be looking for exactly that item.
They say one person’s trash is another’s treasure, and it is truer than you think. By putting these products back into circulation, we allow others to give them a new home and extend their life. Making second-hand and preloved items available helps reduce the purchase of new products. Less demand for new products means fewer are made.
Even when things are broken or damaged, there is often the opportunity to repair or repurpose them, use them for parts, or recycle them. Recycling uses energy, but it uses a lot less energy than creating brand-new resources from raw materials.
There will be things that we need to declutter that are useless – damaged beyond repair, hazardous to our health, dangerous or simply not valuable enough to be worth recycling. These things have reached the end of their useful life: they are waste already. Their journey to landfill is inevitable and decluttering them is no worse than letting them languish in the shed. When we let these things go, we have an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and make better choices next time round.
Mindful consumption starts with mindful decluttering
The benefits of decluttering are talked about often: less clutter, less stress, less time spent tidying; more space in our homes, more time to do the things we love. Less burden, more freedom.
That is the end result we want. However, in our enthusiasm to get to the end and be ‘finished’ as soon as possible, we can forget that the journey is just as important as the destination. In many ways the journey is more important. This is where lessons are learned.
It’s easy to think that once we have decluttered, then things will be different. We’ll embrace new habits and make better choices. We will be more mindful when we make purchases. We will think more carefully before bringing stuff into our homes. However, if we don’t take the time to consider why we made the purchases originally and why we are getting rid of them now, we aren’t setting ourselves up for the best chance of success in the future.
We all have a legacy of purchases that, with the benefit of hindsight, we wouldn’t have made. However tempting it might be to toss the unwanted stuff aside as quickly as possible and start over with a clean slate, there is another way: one that is far more rewarding. We can own our bad choices, and find good solutions for the things we no longer need. We stand a much better chance of changing our habits if we take our time to let things go and learn from the process. Part of this is considering how best we can pass on items that we no longer like, need or want. Often, we don’t give any thought to what will happen to the purchases we make until they break or we realise we don’t need them anymore. It is only then that we start to ask the questions: What do I do with it now? Is it repairable? Is it recyclable? Would someone else be able to use it?
If we want to ensure our future purchases are things that are made to last and that we will use, we need to be asking these questions before we buy things. We want to make considered purchases. That is mindful consumption. And the more we learn from mindfully letting go of our previous mistakes – things that were difficult to donate, impossible to fix and designed for the dump – the easier it is to make better choices next time.
“We all have a legacy of purchases that, with the benefit of hindsight, we wouldn’t have made. We can own our bad choices, and find good solutions for the things we no longer need.”
Need not, waste not
There are plenty of reasons why we find it so hard to let go of our stuff. First, let’s consider a very practical concern for many of us. We feel that getting rid of stuff is a waste of resources. If we care about the impact we’re having on the planet, and worry about the embedded energy of the stuff we own (embedded energy is the energy it took to manufacture and transport the product in the first place), then being concerned about the waste can mean real reluctance to let go of items.
The reality is, there is more than one way to waste stuff, and “Do I need it?” is a much better first question than “Is getting rid of it a waste?”. If we don’t need an item, we can explore how to let go of it in a way that isn’t creating waste. Keeping stuff we don’t need is a waste, not the other way round. If, in an attempt to avoid waste, we are keeping items we never use, we are simply turning our homes into personal landfills. That is not a solution. Really, how is keeping something in a cupboard and never using it any different to simply throwing it away?
Of course, throwing something in the bin is a complete waste of resources, but as we’ve talked about already, decluttering doesn’t have to mean sending everything to landfill. There is a difference between things we don’t use but that still have plenty of life left in them, and broken, useless items. For some of us, getting rid of broken items is actually more difficult than finding new homes for the good stuff. That’s because giving items we no longer require to people who will use them or repurpose them can alleviate some of the guilt that comes from wasting resources. When it comes to broken stuff that really has no use, no value and no potential for reuse, the only option is landfill, and landfill can feel like a failure.
The ‘waste’ argument is no excuse to keep useful items that you don’t actually use. If you’re genuinely concerned about waste, there are plenty of ways to connect things you don’t need with people who will use them.
If you regret having spent money on brand-new items you’ve never used, the advantage is that you should be able to sell them for a reasonable price. Even worn and used items often have a second-hand market, so there’s an opportunity to recoup some of the money you spent, which can help soften the blow. However, financial recompense isn’t everything.
Being able to gift something to someone in genuine need of it is another, very rewarding option. How can we feel guilty about letting something go when we see the joy of others in receiving it?
Whichever way we decide to do it, finding people who will use our stuff is the best use of resources and the best way to let go of guilt.
Don’t let your hang-ups about previous purchases cloud or influence the real decision: whether you need something or not.