How To Declutter Sustainably
So you want to get organized? Well, the first step is almost always going to be decluttering. But you also care about being sustainable and not wasteful - and perhaps you’re a little scared of how many things you might need to get rid of, and are overwhelmed by the work needed to let go of things responsibly. Well, today’s post is a guide on just that - how to declutter sustainably.
Now, when we declutter, there are generally two main categories of items that need to leave our space:
Things that have usable life left
Things that are at the end of their usable life.
Giving Items a Second Chance at Life
For things that have usable life left, there are generally two options -
Selling
Donating
P.S. (the third sneaky option is returning items that are still within their return window and are unused!)
Both options have their respective pros and cons. Obviously, selling can help to recoup some of the funds spent on the original item (although almost never the full amount). However selling has it’s drawbacks - it often takes a lot of time to manage the process. I often have my clients choose a monetary threshold for what they think is worth it to sell. That is a personal decision, but I have had clients range from $20 - $100, depending on their time available and how important it is for them to get the money out of the item. In terms of sustainability, I believe selling is actually one of the most sustainable options (provided the item actually sells) because it increases the odds dramatically that the item is going to continue to be used. So where to sell? For many things, the easiest way to sell is on platforms like Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp, especially for large items like furniture. Sometimes for specialty items that have high value and are easy to ship, like small electronics or collectibles, Ebay can be a great option. For people who are clearing out their closet and have clothing that is very gently worn and high value, online websites like Poshmark and theRealReal are some of the best ways to sell items.
What about items under that monetary threshold, but still have usability? This is often the majority of things that people declutter - donations. The first place people think of is often Goodwill. Goodwill is a fantastic option for so many items, and as a professional organizer, it is one of the primary places I send things. In terms of sustainability, Goodwill is a great option - for the items that actually get resold, which by some estimates is only around 30%.
“Customers purchase about 58% of the goods stocked in Evergreen stores, which is much higher than the 30% Minter estimates nationwide.”
But how can we maximize the odds that our discarded items end up with people who use them? Well, we can think outside the blue Goodwill bin, and drill down a bit more to find locations that specialize in whatever we are discarding. Near me, in the Seattle area, our Goodwill will often be overflowing with furniture and not accept more furniture donations. For furniture I often skip Goodwill completely and head straight to Habitat for Humanity. I do the same with tools or home improvement items.
There are also many items that Goodwill won’t take, such as baby items, or personal care items - I often donate these items to local women’s shelters. Many of my clients have pets, so I often take pet items that are in good condition to the Seattle Humane society. In Seattle, we also have Seattle ReCreative, a dedicated store that takes gently used or unwanted art supplies. Finally, super specialty items are better off being donated more directly through things like Buy Nothing groups on Facebook (or listed for free on Facebook Marketplace). As a professional organizer, I will also look into schools or other dedicated charities to find homes for specialty items - one example was a fencing suit in good but used condition that I was able to donate to a local fencing school.
In order to donate responsibly, I find it invaluable to have a list of places to donate items and what each respective place will take, and then spend the time (and ideally sorting them during the decluttering process) to think about where each item will be most likely to get picked up by someone who will use it again. I personally help my clients sustainably declutter by working with dozens of different specialty places - sometimes all it takes is a little research to find the best place for an item to go. And if you don’t have the time or energy, I recommend reaching out to a professional organizer (look for one that specializes in eco organizing!) near you to help you through the process, or even to see if they would offer things like pickup for more unique items.
Responsible Disposal
A quick note about donating items - obviously, if we can, we’d like to donate everything we need to discard. But sometimes, items might technically still be usable, but they are very unlikely to be resold. (Think loose office supplies, or a set of used but still in good condition sheets) This is the time where recycling is actually far and away the more responsible and sustainable choice. A lot of the time, if we donate to Goodwill, these things do get recycled, but if we can take matters into our own hands, all the better, as Goodwill's are often overwhelmed.
“In 2019, Evergreen received about 143 million pounds of donated goods. Of that, only about 15% wound up at the landfill — but the costs are significant. As dumping fees and donations increased over the past decade, the organization’s annual garbage bill has nearly doubled to almost $3 million.”
In the Seattle area (and starting up in other parts of the country!), we are lucky enough to have a company called Ridwell. Their main focus is offer the opportunity to recycle more of the household waste we create in the form of plastic packaging, but they have something called a “featured” category, which is a rotation of many different things that will pickup and recycle. In the past few months, that has included everything from metal keys, holiday decorations, jewelry (including broken costume jewelry!) and CDs/DVDs. They also offer recycling for items like batteries, lightbulbs, latex paint, tech items like cords and small devices, and textiles. Ridwell is an incredible service for keeping on top of decluttering in a sustainable way.
I love to use Ridwell as much as possible for tech items, but I also come across a lot of tech that Ridwell won’t take - things like specialty equipment, peripherals, or even whole TVs or Computers. There are tons of resources for tech recycling, as places such as Best Buy will take tech (sometimes for a fee for large items) - but there are often local companies that will take all tech items for free. The biggest concern with tech recycling is often secure data destruction, so when looking at local places make sure you check to see what their process is. In the Greater Seattle Area, I frequently drop off at Inter Connection.
There are also options for recycling things that are more challenging to get rid of, like mattresses - one option my clients have used with success is A Bedder World - they offer mattress pickup for recycling nationwide, for a fee. Goodwill, Value Village, Habitat for Humanity and any other furniture or consignment won’t take any form of used mattress (and often won’t even take new ones!).
Finally, there will be things that just need to go to the dump. Hopefully, having gone through this guide, the number of items that need to go to the dump has been lowered substantially - but it will almost never be zero. Things that are broken, damaged, mildewy - these things will have to be trashed. The one type of trash I would recommend separating out and discarding more carefully is hazardous waste - these items really should not go into your normal trash, as they can contaminate other items and can create toxic conditions at a landfill. Most cities/counties will have designated places to drop off these hazardous waste materials, and doing so is the most responsible and sustainable way to discard those items.
I’d love to hear any questions you might have about decluttering sustainably - please leave a comment below!
