Home waste

Furniture wasted on moving day

People leave a lot of perfectly good stuff at the curb sometimes, when moving or decluttering their homes.

Examples

• Furniture, both new & old
• Appliances
• Clothes
• Food (...)( especially non-perishables like spices & tea )

Causes (reasons)

• Having to empty an apartment before moving out
• Having to empty a house before selling it
  • Sometimes this is even codified into contracts with a real estate agent
  • Other times it's just a social norm: It's considered "bad etiquette" to leave anything in the home when selling.
• Not having time [''']~ to take everything when moving out
  ~ to bring things to charities or thrift stores
• Not having space [''']~ either in the moving truck, or in the new dwelling
  ~ or in the current dwelling, in the case of decluttering
• Not having ability [''']~ to move heavy things
  ~ to hire movers
  ~ etc.

Effects

• The items usually get damaged by rain, or taken by garbage trucks.
• Very little opportunity for anyone else to use the items.
• Environmental damage
  • Furniture piles up in landfills.
  • Carbon emissions from manufacturing more items instead of re-using.

Solutions

• Quick fixes
  • Furniture banks
  • Stuff huts
• Deep / cultural shifts needed
  • Normalize the idea of hand-me-downs from onehomeownertenantresidentto the next.
  • Campaign against contracts~ with real estate brokers, in the case of homeownership
    ~ with landlords, in the case of apartment rental that force people to empty theirhomes before sellingapartments before moving outhomes before moving out.
• Tech
  • Let's build a web app where people can post free stuff on a map ^{[new page needed]}

See also

• Food waste
• Housing