Sharing is caring. That’s what they say. So, what better way to better care for our environment than by sharing items within our communities.
When we reuse something, we preserve its value by keeping it in use for longer. By reusing a product or material, we are not only avoiding waste, but we are also reducing unnecessary consumption and in turn reducing the associated carbon impacts (from the manufacture of a new / replacement product).
There are many ways in which we can increase reuse in our lifestyles. Repurposing, repairing, upcycling, renewing and renting or borrowing something instead of buying new are all different modes of reusing. There are already some very successful community initiatives across the UK (and beyond) that are making it easier for communities to borrow the things they need in their lives. Such items include tools for DIY, gardening equipment, specialised sports or recreational items (tents) and hosting supplies (party kits!). Examples of organisations working in this space include The Library of Things, and Share Sheds.
These organisations not only help people to save money (often these items can be rented for free or for minimal costs), but there are also additional benefits in terms of saving space (no need to store items rarely needed), strengthening communities by increasing access to ‘Things’ and ultimately helping the environment by reducing consumption and waste.
So what would happen if we adopted this approach at a whole community level. What could a zero-waste town look like in terms of resource savings if we were to increase reuse/sharing/repairing amongst the people that live there? If as a community instead of everyone buying an item (for example a tool), they had access to a community shed of ‘things’ that can be shared or borrowed, time and time again?
To try and see what that might look like, we have modelled the carbon savings from a town, as a result of some commonly owned items being repeatedly loaned out from a central point rather than bought by most houses. For a theoretical town (called ‘Sustain-a-city’) of 5,000 houses, we have assumed that they could share the use of the tools, avoiding the need for each household to go out and buy their own individual tool. The simple examples we have chosen are a hand saw and a metal ladder. The modelling used the latest EcoInvent life cycle database for the carbon impacts of making the respective tools.
Our results show that nearly 200t CO₂e emissions could be saved if ladders and hand saws were to be shared within a community instead of every other household buying one. This is the equivalent of driving 744,000 miles [1] !
These savings are evident across sharing of any items and adds social value to an area by creating jobs and helping foster a community. If every town or area has a library of things or some form of community sharing, significant amounts of emissions can be avoided helping the us to lower our carbon footprint. The calculations above also exclude the waste management / disposal aspect, this is manufacturing impacts only. If there were 50 different items loaned out from a sharing shed, using the basis above as an example, this could reflect 10,000 tonnes of CO₂ avoided (noting impacts would vary widely from an electric drill to a reusable party kit for children’s partes!). Below an infographic depicts the carbon savings (excluding waste management) of when we buy compared to when we reuse in our ‘Sustain-a-city’.
If you multiply up the 100’s of tonnes of CO₂ saving for a small community sharing just two items, to the full suite of items that could be loaned via a Library of Things or Sharing Shed, or a community fridge or reused via a repair café, across the country, the CO₂ savings would run well into the millions of tonnes of CO₂. The costs of delivering these savings would be extremely low compared with other CO₂ reduction measures, albeit they largely wouldn’t count towards UK carbon reporting targets!
Making a sharing economy the norm may take many years, but fundamentally shouldn’t we be starting now, and shouldn’t our Councils be supported by central Government to proactively implement and sustain these initiatives, for the benefit of our communities and the environment? Afterall, sharing is caring right? So, when sharing a bit more of what we have, we can care for our environment a bit better.
Frith Resource Management are specialists in managing waste and resources, for details see www.frithrm.com tel. 01746 552423 email sarah@frithrm.com
[1] In an average market petrol car.
[2]Avoided emission from not producing 2,490 ladders and 2,485 saws.