uOttawa, We Need to Have a Discussion About Your Consumption Problem

Today is another day... wake up, brush my teeth, get to the University, spend the rest of the day emptying out the Free Store donation bin.
Monday, empty the bin.
Tuesday, empty the bin.
Wednesday, open the Free Store... then empty the bin.
Thursday, empty the bin.
Friday, empty the bin.
You're seeing the pattern right?

This is something we are seeing at the Free Store this summer. We used to fill up the donation bin once a week, now it is once a day. We are getting record amounts of donations, which is great from a waste reduction point of view, but horrible from a resource requirement point of view. Put simply, it takes too much time to sort and clean all the new donations.

We've spent some time trying to figure out what's happening (why are we getting so many donations) and we have come up with a few theories.

• Online shopping is taking off and that means a lot of purchases made were for things that didn't fit properly, or were passing flights of fancy, or weren't exactly what they were looking for, or were not as advertised (If you have some time, you can find some hilarious stuff online). And so, these things end up in the Free Store donation bin.
• Now that the bin is on campus (whereas before it was across the street on King Edward Ave), it is easier to use. What's more, the bin is located adjacent to the most central parking lot on campus. Indeed, many of the items that are showing up don't reflect the kinds of donations you would see from people living on campus, implying that many donations are coming from off campus.
• There's an environmental crisis going on... and this might be an unpopular theory but we think that people are donating more because they are recognizing that it is the right thing to do. The flip side is that there might be more donating than there needs to be. Rather than hold on to something until it is completely worn out or used, people are getting rid of them right away. You can buy more than you need, knowing that there is a moral way to manage the excess, by donating it.

I am going to stop the list right here because whether we have the exact reason or not, the source of the problem is always the same. We are simply consuming too many things. As a whole, we have fallen into the trap of the endless consumer cycle.

Think about it. Want to reinvent yourself? You can buy a new wardrobe. Want to start adulting? You can buy some accessories for the house. Bored and you don't want to be bored anymore? Hit up Pinterest and buy all the things...

Now I would love to end this post with a quick list about things you can do to avoid consumption, or maybe a checklist of initiatives that we have lined up to tackle the problem... hell I would even settle for a nifty quote or platitude that really makes you think. But I don't have any of those. 

The truth is, consumption is a really messy issue to tackle. It is an integral part of our economy, it is the metre stick by which we show someone how much we like them, it is the means by which we measure our success in life. We idolize people for how much they consume. We have turned dollar stores into one of the fastest growing businesses in Canada. We post our purchases online with little emojis of joy.

They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. I think we have a long way to go because this wicked problem of consumption is hardwired into the human condition and we are barely even speaking about it. So the big idea we are going to implement to save us all.... well there is none, sorry this post is more of a think piece. The problem of consumption is a problem that we can't solve for you, it is something you are going to have to do for yourself. But we trust that you got this.

~ jonathan rausseo - campus sustainability manager