Borrow over buying!

This week it’s all about REUSE. The Sydney Library of Things is the perfect answer to our cluttered hallway cupboards that are full of useful things but are now only collecting dust. 

Open every Saturday morning in Waverton, you can borrow things like tools, party gear, arts and crafts or gardening equipment. You can also donate those working items you don’t use but are in too good condition to recycle with us yet! Here’s their wishlist. 

We asked Dr Carol Skyring, Co-Founder and President of The Sydney Library of Things, a few questions about borrowing items instead of buying.

Why should we rethink buying items we hardly use?

One way or another, everything we buy comes from the earth. Buying any item has a resource cost - it takes time, energy and raw materials to produce the item; uses more time, energy and raw materials to produce the packaging, then consumes carbon and emits greenhouse gases to transport. These are all finite resources and this is a huge cost if we’re only going to use the item once for a particular job or just a few times throughout the year. You also have the problem of storage. There are thousands of garages and backyard sheds filled with items that are rarely used. 

At The Sydney Library of Things we think it makes far more sense to borrow what you need, when you need it. This saves resources and saves you money.

What are the benefits of sharing occasionally used things over buying your own?

Borrowing instead of buying saves you time and money. You don’t need to spend time shopping for item/s – you just search The Sydney Library of Things inventory and book the item/s you want. For a small membership fee you can borrow those occasionally used items several times throughout the year which is much cheaper than buying expensive items.

By sharing more of our things, we can reduce the strain on our limited natural resources. We hope that by encouraging people to borrow instead of buying or throwing away their unwanted items, together we can create a better connected, more sustainable and stronger community.