Friday, June 18, 2010

Destination Landfill? Not Anymore.

What are New Jerseyans tossing away as of late?

A wooden coat rack, in perfect condition. My rain coat, favorite Irish cap and umbrellas now hang from it.


A gorgeous arm chair, also in perfect condition. I've kept it, and am amassing quite a chair collection. There was also a pillow with it, which I've hand washed and donated.

Books. My sweetheart has an organic garden at work, and was happy to take the gardening book. I've kept the other.

A nice basket, two picture frames, brand new blueberry scented lotion and bath salts, and a still in the packing Winnie the Pooh t-shirt (there was a second identical t-shirt outside the package).

I've kept the basket, and will pass on the other items through donation, swaps or family and friends.

Two stuffed bears, the pink one with the tag from Kmart still on it. I bet a lot of little girls would love both, especially the cheerleader bear. I've donated both to a local charitable thrift shop. They will be snuggled with once again.

Shopping for stuffed animals, or want to donate? Consider a thrift store. To wash these, I use the method my mom uses: put in a pillowcase and wash in the machine.

A stylish top from New York and Co. Now freshly laundered, I've passed this on to a loved one.


Did you know the average American consumer - man, woman and child - consumes about 80 pounds of clothing a year, 85 percent of which ends up in the landfill? Check out this piece on USAgain, which collected 54 million pounds of clothing in one year. Visit USAgain to find a drop box.



The possibilities are endless: freecyle, eBay, garage sales, thrift donations, clothing swaps. The garbage - the easy way out - but not easy on the Earth.

2 comments:

ConsciouslyFrugal said...

Were these items at the dumpster? Oy vey! Unbelievable. Why wouldn't they take it to a thrift shop? Just insane.

You guys find the best stuff, I swear. I want that chair!

Catherine said...

Honestly, I just stumble upon all this. The chair/pillow were at least left to be taken in a laundry room (but maintenance would have likely discarded them come Monday), and the books were in the recycling bin. They often don't recycle hardcovers so they would have been thrown out. Our maintenance does this with boxes. Nice, right?

The coat rack - next to the dumpster, ready for the garbage truck the next morning.

I came upon shopping bags with the animals, lotion, frames, shirts and basket before leaving for work, and was so disappointed I didn't have time to look through more of the bags since I had to catch my bus. The dumpster was overflowing so they were next to it. I just beat the garbage truck.

What's really frightening are the electronics going in the landfill. My boyfriend has rescued multiple televisions now, one of which he's using, one he gave to his friend. If people can drive to Best Buy to purchase a new one, they can certainly get rid of their old one responsibly. But partly the township's fault for picking it up.