Today I am participating in one of those summer rites of passage-the community yard sale.  I’ll be partnering with a friend to sell out outgrown/underused items at the Kensington Yard Sales in Troy.  I love yard sale-ing and looking for the all elusive deal.  I love shopping at my local goodwill and I’ll never say no to a used bookstore.  Equally,  I love knowing I can sell, donate, or give the things I no longer need to another person or organization.

TCW has the word “sustainability” in our mission statement and part of sustainability is smart reuse of things we no longer want or need.  When I used to work in recycling I would get frustrated at how much focus everyone seemed to put on recycling things and yet spend so little time on how we can reuse things.  Reuse, by definition, means an item gets a second life.  This was clearly evidenced by my daughter crying over her outgrown princess scooter that is headed for the yard sale.  The thing that stopped her crying was the idea that another little girl will get joy from having her very own pink princess scooter.

Yard sales aren’t the only hot spots for reuse.  Everywhere you look there are deposits for reusing your things.  Goodwill, Salvation Army, and consignment shops are great for clothing and housewares.  The Lions’ Club has a wonderful program for old eyeglasses.  One of the coolest programs I’ve seen for reuse is sponsored by Nike.  Their “Nike ReUse a Shoe” program takes shoes of any brand and Nike will reuse them into tracks & playgrounds for kids in underserved areas.  Here are some other great reuse organizations that will give you a warm fuzzy for donating to a good cause.

1. Habitat for Humanity ReStore (locally Uncle Ralph’s ReStore)- takes furniture and any sort of deconstruction items.
2. Donate my Dress – formal wear for proms/bridesmaids dresses.  There is also a formal wear consignment shop in Troy that will take formal wear.
3. Books for Africa – donates books to schools, orphanages, and literacy programs in africa.  Our local goodwill and Around About Books will also take books.
4. One Warm Coat – winter coat drives.
5. Cell phones can be dropped off at our local Partners In Hope or Family Connection offices to help those who don’t have a phone.
6. Electronic & technical gadgets can be dropped off and recycled at Best Buy or check out www.digitaltips.org for information on your specific gadget.

One of the best parts of reuse, especially when it is done locally, is how it does truly build community.  By recirculating resources (aka our stuff) we may be helping someone see, remodel their home more efficiently or keeping great stuff out of the landfill.  So as you say “good riddance” to the stuff you don’t need you can also say “hello” to sustainability.