Some sources say more than 10 million tons of furniture waste (F-waste) ends up in landfills annually in Canada and the United States.
This F-waste can contain plastics, glass, textiles and other material. Because it is often bulky and non-biodegradable, it can take up substantial space in landfills. It can also create long-term environmental problems.
And let’s now forget that greenhouse gas emissions are a byproduct of logging wood for furniture manufacturing, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Furniture that decomposes in landfills could also produce methane, another greenhouse gas.
Recent studies have also found that people purchased a lot of cheap furniture during COVID, and that is now beginning to clog our landfills.
What can you do?
You might start by purchasing better quality furniture that is made more sustainably.
And, of course, when that furniture ends its life with you, why not donate it to community organizations?
One of them is SIRCH.
The SIRCH warehouse in Haliburton accepts furniture. It used to be that the staff at the receiving door would determine whether the item was in good enough shape to be put up for auction, or onto the floor for resale.
Sometimes pieces were rejected, leaving the owner with no choice but to bring the item to the landfill. That could be expensive for the person dropping the item off, costly in terms of taking up space in the landfill, and environmentally-onerous as the materials broke down at the dump.
So, it is exciting to learn about SIRCH’s ‘last chance project’. As written about in today’s Highlander, SIRCH has employed Kevin Dunlop at the warehouse as part of the new project.
Now, when someone brings in a piece of furniture, the receiving team can get Kevin to determine whether the piece is salvageable. If it is, he works on the item from a trailer in front of the warehouse. From this mobile work station, he is saving furniture from going to the dump, and allowing it to be put up for resale, in turn benefitting SIRCH and its many programs.
He may not be able to save every piece, but he has a pretty good track record to date.
In addition to fixing the furniture, Kevin is happy to discuss the projects he is working on with the public.
He is eager to share tips of the trade.
He is hoping to inspire others to have a look at the furniture at their homes, and see if it can be fixed, before being donated to charity, or indeed, whether it can be repaired and stay at home.
This program is a lovely complement to SIRCH’s ongoing repair café. At the cafes, volunteer fixers repair all manner of items, not just furniture.
The next one is June 2. Incidentally, they are always on the look-out for volunteer repairers.
The Thrift Warehouse has diverted more than 75,000-cubic-feet of materials from going to landfills already in 2024. In 2023, it diverted 111,000 cubic feet.
Thanks to the ‘last chance project’ those numbers will only continue to climb.
It’s a win-win.
