Buy less and share more

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, perhaps the most difficult item on this list. We are talking about all the material stuff:  how much we own, how much we want to own, and how our culture encourages this endless wanting of things. We can talk endlessly about recycling or producing in a more sustainable way, but the biggest problem is the consumption itself. We live in a consumerist society, and we are told that buying stuff is the engine that fuels the economy. However, this is neither fully accurate nor at all sustainable. Maintaining an economy that is based on infinite growth on a finite planet with a fixed amount of resources is simply impossible.

Sustainable consumption in real life is complicated. There is no clear definition of ‘sustainable production’, although many companies will try to convince you that they are doing it. Let’s take clothing as an example: for some, sustainable fashion means sourcing organic textiles, such as organic cotton. To others, it may mean making clothes from discarded plastic bottles. Or it could involve the fair treatment of the factory workers who stitch these clothes, or replacing potentially harmful dyes with more environmentally benign chemicals, or end of life use… The list goes on. 

In fact, we need to do all of this and more and many companies are beginning to do this but no one is fully there yet. So before you buy something, ask yourself these four questions: 

1. Do I need this?

2. Would I still have been willing to pay the full price for the item if I bought it at a discounted price?

3. Can I live without it? 

4. How will this item improve my life? 

If you answer no to any of these, we encourage you to rethink your purchase. Perhaps you don’t really need it, or perhaps you can seek alternatives (for example second hand products). Changing your buying habits is not easy, as it requires us to make many decisions on a regular basis. So, start small and keep it simple. You will probably find that it’s very empowering to ‘vote’ with your purchases, or to live with less, or to give away and share more.

reduce your material footprint: clothes

Fashion, and particularly fast fashion, is an extremely polluting industry. Not only does the fashion industry pollute the environment with its use of pesticides and chemical pollution during the textile production process, but its terrible working conditions for people in many parts of the world is a form of modern day slavery.

Often we think we are doing good by putting our used clothes in textile containers (and this is indeed much better than throwing them in the garbage bin). However, many of these clothes cannot be reused and end up in massive landfills in places like Accra, Ghana. 

Be a conscious consumer: only buy what you need. 

Reduce your material footprint: electronics

Electronic gadgets are ubiquitous these days. Many social interactions have moved from the physical to the electronic realm. People are turning into ‘phonoids’, becoming more and more dependent on their mobile phones in every situation. However, our smartphones, tablets and laptops are manufactured using rare earth minerals, and the mining of these materials is extremely damaging to the environment. 

To make matters worse, there are not enough electronics recycling programmes out there, so most of our old TVs, phones, computers, monitors and e-toys end up being shipped off to poorer nations and dumped. In 2017, the amount of discarded electronics around the world could fill a 15,000-mile line of 40-tonne lorries. 

Ghana is becoming famous for Agbogbloshie, its e-waste dump in Accra, which received 215,000 tonnes of second-hand consumer electronics in 2009, mainly from Western Europe and the United States. People – oftentimes children – attempt to extract minerals at this urban dump by burning wires and PCB boards, which causes the site’s infamous toxic smoke.

Reduce your material footprint: furniture

Furniture is increasingly mass produced, cheap and easily discarded. Each year, around 10 million tonnes of furniture are discarded within the EU member states.

It is better to buy a few pieces of furniture that will last a long time and that can be reused or recycled at the end of their use. Furniture made from medium-density fibreboard (MDF) should be avoided: it is difficult to recycle and often gets incinerated or dumped in landfills. It’s a good idea to visit your local swap shop or second-hand store before you decide to invest in new furniture. 

GET ACTIVE!

• Exchange and borrow from your neighbours: Peerby operates in Amsterdam and is a platform where neighbours can exchange things 

• Visit your local kringloopwinkel (recycling shop) – you can drop off old furniture and pick up new pieces at these second-hand stores that support local communities and help you to reduce your environmental footprint.

• Donate your old household stuff and clothing here (list compiled by Amsterdam Mamas).

Reduce your material footprint: children’s clothing and toys

Parents want the best for their children. But instead of focusing on buying the best clothes and toys for your little ones, how about choosing for clean air and water, fertile soil and plenty of biodiversity? 

Get Active!

Here are some second-hand shops where you can buy and sell clothes and toys for your children: 

• Amsterdam Mamas, an international community of mothers in Amsterdam, has prepared a page with second-hand kid’s clothing shops by area in Amsterdam.

• Amsterdam also has second-hand toy stores, such as JunJun, Old West and Kids & Queens.

• Instead of buying toys, rent them at local ‘speelotheeks’ (play  centres) in Amsterdam.

• Share and swap toys with other families around you. Most children have more toys than they need, and sharing and exchanging toys reduces both clutter and the pressure on our environment resulting from toy production and disposal.

Rethink gifts

Giving gifts is wonderful, and receiving gifts is perhaps even better. A world without giving would be very dull indeed. However, if the act of gift giving creates more waste and pollution and planetary degradation, that doesn’t make sense either. How can you give meaningful gifts to your loved ones and also give back to the environment and other people?

Get Active!

• Give a handmade gift.

• Gift an experience rather than a material gift – a day at the spa, a massage, a trip to the movies, or a workshop for a fun or educational activity. 

• Gift a Cityplot bike tour or workshop.

• Donate money to a charity in the name of a friend or family member.

• Spend time with the person you love. It really is true that giving time and attention is even more precious than material gifts!

• If you would like to give a material gift, get what the person needs or is saving for and can use for a long time.