Christmas can be a time of over-indulgence and over-consumption, but it doesn’t have to be that way, and being a little more mindful during the festive season need not dampen your holiday spirit. Making the shift towards a more circular economy by re-using, repairing, sharing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling could help us all live in a more sustainable economy and healthier planet, and it’s made all that bit easier with the help of some of our Top 6 Apps.
Every year thousands of gifts, goods and materials go to waste as a result of undesired Christmas presents and the festive sales-driven rush. Skip the landfill this winter and leverage your un-loved goods for re-purposing instead.
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Christmas can be a time of over-indulgence and over-consumption, but it doesn’t have to be that way, and being a little more mindful during the festive season need not dampen your holiday spirit. Making the shift towards a more circular economy by re-using, repairing, sharing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling could help us all live in a more sustainable economy and healthier planet, and it’s made all that bit easier with the help of some of our Top 6 Apps.
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1. Re-sell: swap your swag for cash
One man’s treasure is another man’s trash. The rise of apps such as Depop, Mercari and Offerup has made re-selling your undesirables easier, safer, faster and more convenient than ever. From designer to pre-loved and vintage, re-selling apps will make sure your unwanted gifts find a grateful and loving new home locally. Depending on the volume, why not also consider taking them to a vintage store or local market place.
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2. Re-gift: swap instead of sell
What if you could trade all the unused stuff in your home for things you’ll actually use? Listia is the leading goods exchange market place and help you do exactly that using a credit system, auctions and over 10000 items in dozens of categories including jewellery, electronics and collectables. The more stuff you giveaway, the more credits you earn to be able to buy things from other members. What makes this platform fun to use is the videogame experience including leaderboards, badges, social networking, offers and surveys. Their engaging approach has helped their 8 million members exchange 100 million items over the last five years.
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3. The gift of giving
Donating to charity as also gone virtual. Apps like Gone for Good help you donate to charity form the comfort of your home. Not only does this ensure that unused items go to those in need, but it can also help charities to earn a small profit in the process. Designed for donating unwanted goods such as clothes or other household items, you simply snap a photo of the product you’d like to get rid of before answering a few short questions. The app then matches the item with an appropriate charity for you, and reaches out to schedule in a suitable pick-up time. Gone for Good even track the donation during the shipment process to ensure the charity in question receives the item.
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4. Up-cycling DIY
Perhaps your gift doesn’t fulfil your needs with its intended purposes, but you might be able to get crafty and transform it into something that does. Perhaps you have enough mugs, but enough places to store your makeup brushes? Or that strange novelty item from uncle Bill could be reconfigured into a useful plant pot. Apps such as Recyclart do exactly that, or why not try perusing popular platforms such as Pinterest for other crafty DIY ideas.
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5. Host a giveaway
Social networks such as Instagram and Facebook have made giving away to your community easier than ever, but why not turn it into something more fun and launch your own competition / giveaway to a wider network? Professional giveaway apps such as Gleam help to streamline the process for a larger audience, but putting out something simple on a small scale is as easy as sharing your item and asking people to enter the chance to claim it by tagging a friend, posting a funny caption or re-sharing it on their page.
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6. Recycle
Easy recycling apps such as Waste Connect, iRecycle, and Olio will help you to avoid getting a lump of coal next year. Olio are designed for food-based recycling, by linking neighbours with eachother as well as local businesses to exchange edible surplus food. Users can also browse for food in their area and arrange a pick-up via private messaging.
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