Is my house a landfill? The environmental considerations in the KonMari Method of tidying
Like many people, I've been involved lately with the act of tidying and decluttering my home. I have never been one to accumulate a lot of material things, and I have also found that since I bought my house seven years ago, things are gathering. In the basement, in the back of closets, in piles of outdated cords and broken electronics. Without the pressure of moving or of having very minimal storage, it is easy to not quite get around to dealing with things. After all, the basement isn't being used for much else.
And. Still. There is such peace of mind in knowing that the things are dealt with. I first encountered the Marie Kondo methodology a few years ago and was inspired to have only items of clothing that "sparked joy" at that point. But I didn't read the book until this fall, when I began Dana Skoglund's Do Your Dharma course. The first book on the reading list was Marie Kondo's book and I was immediately hooked.
Fast forward four months. I am in the midst of the deep decluttering. The easy items are done. The clothes are downsized, upcycled, recycled and donated. The kitchen has been similarly reorganised. The obvious items (the iron that no longer heats up, the computer that suffered the water bottle incident on the way to work and never turned on again, etc...) have been sent to electronics recycling. This leaves me with the problem category as a sustainability junkie. I do not throw away things that work. I do not throw away things that might be functional in a different context. And many of these items create clutter, or fall into the category of "might be useful one day," which if you are familiar with the KonMari method, you'll know is verboten.
What is an environmentally conscious and responsible person to do with clutter that is still functional, but that no one else wants? I can't donate this stuff. It's not going to be purchased at a garage sale. I can't give it away. So, I come to the question... is this stuff actually just garbage that I haven't recognised as such? Am I, in fact, treating my home as a landfill? I don't want to live at the dump! And I definitely am not in support of turning our one and only beautiful planet into a dump either.
After a lot of thought on this issue, I’m coming to the conclusion that going forward, I will have a more precise filter for what I say “yes” to, before it comes home. I am already moving towards a lower-waste/zero-waste lifestyle (more on this, soon!) and am in many ways already an environmentally conscious consumer. And I think having my home emptied of these items, and continuing my efforts to reduce what comes in the door will ultimately create more joy than holding onto these items, in the misguided effort to keep them from landfill. They are already garbage, and my home is not the tip.
And. Still. There is such peace of mind in knowing that the things are dealt with. I first encountered the Marie Kondo methodology a few years ago and was inspired to have only items of clothing that "sparked joy" at that point. But I didn't read the book until this fall, when I began Dana Skoglund's Do Your Dharma course. The first book on the reading list was Marie Kondo's book and I was immediately hooked.
Fast forward four months. I am in the midst of the deep decluttering. The easy items are done. The clothes are downsized, upcycled, recycled and donated. The kitchen has been similarly reorganised. The obvious items (the iron that no longer heats up, the computer that suffered the water bottle incident on the way to work and never turned on again, etc...) have been sent to electronics recycling. This leaves me with the problem category as a sustainability junkie. I do not throw away things that work. I do not throw away things that might be functional in a different context. And many of these items create clutter, or fall into the category of "might be useful one day," which if you are familiar with the KonMari method, you'll know is verboten.
What is an environmentally conscious and responsible person to do with clutter that is still functional, but that no one else wants? I can't donate this stuff. It's not going to be purchased at a garage sale. I can't give it away. So, I come to the question... is this stuff actually just garbage that I haven't recognised as such? Am I, in fact, treating my home as a landfill? I don't want to live at the dump! And I definitely am not in support of turning our one and only beautiful planet into a dump either.
After a lot of thought on this issue, I’m coming to the conclusion that going forward, I will have a more precise filter for what I say “yes” to, before it comes home. I am already moving towards a lower-waste/zero-waste lifestyle (more on this, soon!) and am in many ways already an environmentally conscious consumer. And I think having my home emptied of these items, and continuing my efforts to reduce what comes in the door will ultimately create more joy than holding onto these items, in the misguided effort to keep them from landfill. They are already garbage, and my home is not the tip.
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