So what do you do with all your junk?
After a couple years of constant decluttering, I've broken down my used items into several categories: Sell, donate to charity, donate for rewards, and recycle. Here's how it works.
I have two bins that I keep in my closet for saleable items. These are divided into two categories: Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer. When one bin is full of high-quality items, I resell my items online or through consignment stores according to whatever season is in demand. Selling in season is essential, particularly with consignment stores. Smaller businesses don't have the space to stock out-of-season items and will reject snowsuits in summer.
Altruistic Donations
All the high-quality items that I can't or don't want to sell are donated to thrift stores run by charities I'm interested in supporting. These stores are staffed by volunteers, and proceeds support community programs.
Rewards Donations
My mid-level surplus goes to for-profit thrift stores like Talize. Talize gives me a $5 coupon per box of items to be used in their store. I enjoy the selection and variety of clothing I can find in thrift stores, so this is a coupon I'm happy to use!
Value Village(Savers)
I put Value Village in my recycling category because the company is great at recycling, but their prices are lousy. Value Village is one of the last thrift stores I will shop at because they usually charge double for comparable items at other thrift stores. Even with the 20% off coupon, they give to thank you for donating, I generally don't bother.
However, Value Village is one of the few places that actually recycles textiles which means they are okay with taking in your old socks. :) Value Village also works with third-party recyclers to recycle your used electronics and scrap metal.
Another cool aspect of donating to Value Village is that while they are a for-profit business, they will accept your goods on behalf of a local charity, usually Canadian Diabetes or Big Brothers. Based on the weight of your donated goods, they pay money to that local Charity. This means that with my holy socks and scratched metal pans, I like to make sure Value Village gets a lot of books from me.
How do I know all of this? I used to work for the company. :)
After all this, whatever is left goes to a local recycler. I'm talking about items that don't get picked up curbside on garbage day: old paint, beverage containers, batteries, lightbulbs, Styrofoam, soft plastic packaging and plastic bags... you get it. Now, this part gets tricky. If your city doesn't have a centralized recycling location (I'm calling you out, Township of Langley), you will have to work with your area's small and scattered local recycling depots. The trick to doing this well is two-fold.
#1 Call ahead. What and how items are recycled is constantly changing at every location. This is based on demand for the items, the locations' capacity limits, and BC's changing licensing requirements.
#2 Talk with the staff working on the floor. The people sorting your junk are recycling geniuses. They can give you more helpful and relevant insider knowledge than any helpline. Staff members can pass on valuable tips like 'bring in your styrofoam by 10am on Tuesday. After that, we will be at full capacity and can't accept anymore. Or 'officially, we can't take electronics, but unofficially, we do process a small amount if you only have a few items and want to save an extra stop.'
The Salvation Army is actually a huge recycler of many cumbersome items, notably electronics. However, they don't advertise this on their website. Probably because of capacity limits.
What I'm saying is that, with a bit of detective work, almost everything can be recycled. But there is one last barrier to hitting zero waste. Without centralized recycling, driving a gas-powered SUV around the lower mainland to find a home for all my various bits and bobs is probably worse for the environment than allowing my non-toxic waste to be buried responsibly in a landfill.
And that, friends, is my recycling process. I hope these tips help you save a bit of cash and, even better, help the environment. Happy decluttering!
