Over the course of our lifetime we accumulate many belongings. Trinkets, ornaments, clothing, work tools, electrical goods and even unwanted gifts are sometimes stored away to gather dust in the bottom drawer, attic or garage. By and large, people tend to be hoarders. Our possessions gain sentimental value or we think they’ll come in handy at a later date. 

Every so often we clear it out by discarding unused items, having a yard sale or donating to a thrift store. As we get older we may wish to downsize by rummaging through the ‘junk closet’ for once-cherished bits and pieces. We pack them off and try to minimalize our lives, only to start accumulating once more.

Should we be gathering all these possessions in the first place? According to Adam Minter, author of Secondhand, “The best thing you can do is not buy more stuff”. (1)

Grief

After his mother passed away in 2005, Minter recalls two periods of grief. The enormous sadness of her death, coupled with the challenge of sorting through “the material legacy of her life.”   

Minter and his sister sifted through their mother’s possessions for a year until all that was left was her beloved china. Neither wanted it but couldn’t bear to throw it out. Instead they made the decision to donate.

While waiting in line at Goodwill, Minter wondered what would become of the china. “It occurred to me this is a very interesting subject”, he said. “Nobody really knew what happened beyond the donation door at Goodwill.” As a result he began looking into the secondhand market, both in the U.S and in Africa and Asia.

Thrift Stores

Thrift stores are a booming industry. In the U.S alone they share a market size of $10billion annually, trending towards a projected upward climb over the next five years. With an estimated 25,000 stores throughout the U.S, employing approximately 122,300 personnel it’s big business. (2)

There is no longer a stigma attached where only the least well-off or poorest in society buy second-hand goods. Thrift stores offer everything from designer clothing to antique furniture, many at bargain basement prices. 

Minter visited Goodwill donation centers throughout the U.S and observed their sorting process: what goods are accepted, how they are priced to which ones are destined for the trash, or even sent to recycling centers. He said, “Your average thrift store in the United States only sells about one-third of the stuff that ends up on the shelves, the rest of the stuff ends up somewhere else.”

Where Unwanted Goods Go To Die

Of the two-thirds of donations that don’t make it to the store-front, most end up in landfill or the incinerator. Eventually, everything goes this way once it becomes worn-out or obsolete. With today’s obsession for mass-consumerism buying more stuff has its environmental issues as we constantly replace old, unwanted or outdated goods with the newest fashion accessory or latest technology. We throw away more stuff than ever, thus increasing our carbon footprint. All this on top of the fact many of our purchases are not made to last longer than just a few years. Everything is replaceable so nothing is really cared for like in days-gone-by. We just go out and buy new.

So perhaps Adam Minter is correct. The best thing we can do is not buy more stuff.