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‘We don’t need to buy more stuff’: the people who kit out their homes for free

• southerntofu 5y ago
  It's not exactly a secret that in the Global North, you can get by pretty comfortably with the "leftovers" and "trashes" from other people and industry. There's so much waste on every level of very decent material.
• euroderf 5y ago
  In Finland this is sort of institutionalized and brick & mortar -ized. For example Helsinki has an official recycling center (kierrätyskeskus) AND some more-or-less private chains (UFF, FIDA). They all operate on the principle that people drop stuff off they no longer want, and without compensation - "donations" - that are checked, priced, and placed on a shelf or the display area floor. Complex items like home electronics can be tested and then tagged as such. It's a marvelous system for keeping perfectly serviceable goods in circulation, and it not incidentally provides donors the satisfaction of their stuff finding new homes.
  • WalterGR 5y ago
    In the US, Goodwill and The Salvation Army run "thrift stores" that function like that.