At the same time as working towards a plastic free lifestyle, I’ve been trying to declutter my life generally.

I’ve been vaguely doing this this for years, but I would always get bored because although there would invariably be at least two bin bags full of actual rubbish that had got trapped places, I would throw away so few actual objects that I never finished with any less clutter than I began with. When it came down to shelves full of charity shop ornaments and once-used makeup, I would just find ever more inventive ways of rearranging them so I felt like I’d changed things without actually doing anything useful.

However, a recent graduate who’s moved back into her childhood bedroom perhaps feels a particularly keen desire to take control over her environment, and so I embarked on the age old quest with renewed vigour – this time with some success.

Since deciding to embark on the good ship plastic free, I’ve had to look at things more critically before buying – checking the plastic content, deciding whether I really need something before buying it, checking the ethics of the manufacturer etc. This critical attitude carried over into decluttering, and I suddenly found it incredibly easy to let things go. Practical questions such as ‘do I need this’ and ‘have I used this’ in conjunction with the slightly cringey but very useful ‘does it spark joy’ (thanks Marie), meant I soon had a huge ‘I don’t want it’ pile.

What to do with the waste?

Now I had this big pile, what to do with it? Deciding where to send perfectly usable stuff that I just didn’t want, like clothes and ornaments, was easy – find your local charity and junk shops, donate, and voila.

But there was a bunch of stuff I didn’t want that it seemed wasteful to throw away, such as barely touched makeup and working pens. I wanted to avoid anything going to landfill, and hopefully allow someone else to get some use out of the things I didn’t need.

I had a rummage around on Google, and came up with a couple of solutions I was really happy with:

• Give and Makeup

This was my favourite find: “Give and Makeup is a non-profit initiative whose sole purpose is to get everyday essentials into the hands of women and children who need them the most.”

Women who have to leave dangerous relationships are often able to take only the barest essentials with them, and have nothing when they arrive at safety. You can send makeup, toiletries, clothes and plenty of other things in (including children’s clothes and toys) and they will distribute them to women’s refuges. The stuff you send has to be in good condition – their rule is, if you’d be embarrassed to give it to a friend, then don’t send it to these women.

https://www.carolinehirons.com/page-give-and-makeup

• Pens for Kids UK

I’m sure there are plenty of initiatives out there that do similar things to this one, but this was the first one I came across. Send in your unwanted but working pens and pencils, and they’ll send them on to the places that need them most. They have collection offices in the USA, Denmark and Portugal as well as the UK, or you can send your pens directly to their various partners in Africa. Do make sure you test your pens first, and leave a note in there saying you’ve done so! As you can see, I forgot and had to write it on the parcel…

 http://www.pensforkids.co.uk/contacts.html

• The Toy Project

I doubt I’m the only sentimental nightmare with piles of childhood toys (particularly stuffed animals) that it’s hard to let go of, and one of the reasons I found it difficult was because I hated the idea of them sitting in charity shops, unloved and unused or maybe even kept in the back. But then I thought well, they’re not getting any love or use from me either – so where can I send them?

You can send them to women’s refuges (as above), but there are also other initiatives like The Toy Project, which make sure your unwanted toys and games go where they are wanted and will bring someone happiness. I’ve picked this one because they have a wide range of projects to choose from (and donate to if you can).

http://thetoyproject.co.uk/

 

There are plenty of options out there for what to do with your unwanted items without anything ending up in landfill, of which these are just a couple. It’s a little extra time (and postage) than throwing things away, but if you are able, then it’s a good way to make sure improving your own life doesn’t come at a cost to the planet – and can hopefully even bring some happiness to others.