Just like one cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, so it is also impossible to have a large, robust market economy without producing some waste.
What to do with that waste has been a point of contention among conservationists for decades. Now some enviro-preneurs have come up with one interesting solution to address a least part of it – a sort of recycling of consumer items via online which doesn’t require any government involvement and best of all, doesn’t involve any exchange of money.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal:
“Ms. Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller, residents of Bainbridge Island, Wash., started the Buy Nothing Project in 2013 out of concern over the amount of waste households create and a desire to reduce the environmental harm caused by the plastics they throw out. The group added two million members between March 2020 and October 2021, and there are nearly 7,000 Buy Nothing communities world-wide in about 44 countries.
Items run the gamut. Ms. Clark has seen items ranging from waffle makers to random single socks to clippings from a haircut that someone used for a wig listed in these groups.
Rising prices are in part motivating Laura McGrath to give away more and seek out some items from her Buy Nothing group.
Ms. McGrath, a 57-year-old special education teacher in West New York, N.J., recently received a wheelchair for her mother-in-law to use when she visits. She also lets other members of the group borrow it for short-term use.
Ms. McGrath, who recently moved to a smaller home, has been pulling items such as shelving, dishes and holiday décor from her storage unit to give to others in her community and keep waste out of landfills.”
To read the article in its entirety in the Wall Street Journal, click here.