Take care not to donate to the black hole

Most of us feel pretty good about donating our used items to the local thrift store, whether it be Goodwill, Amvets, the Salvation Army, or what have you.  After all, it’s a lot better than just throwing the stuff away, right?  Sometimes right.

These days, certain things become obsolete much faster than they used to.  If things are too hard to sell, the store doesn’t have much choice but to throw them out.  Electronics are a good example of that.  Today’s latest technology is a thing of the past in 5 years.  That’s why the Salvation Army for one, won’t take old CRT TV’s.  Apparently, no-one wants to buy those even if they work perfectly.  I guess nobody would want my old flip phone then.  Even though I’d be replacing it with a new flip phone.

Author Adam Minter took a hard look into the second-hand business after his own mother died, and he says that some of the things we donate go straight to the landfill.  He says that an even better way to decrease your environmental impact is to simply buy less stuff over the course of your life!  OK, if that ship has sailed, then the stuff you do buy, you should hold onto it and use it for as long as you can.  Be like me — I run stuff into the ground.  Cars, phones, toothbrushes, whatever!

In fact, come back and read this blog a few more times.  Reuse!  Buck the one-read culture!