Избавление от лишних вещей — достаточно модная сейчас тема. Из последних трендов можно выделить метод наведения порядка в доме и гардеробе японки Мари Кондо, чьи книги пользуются популярностью даже в России. Кондо проповедует, что оставлять стоит лишь вещи, приносящие радость.

По оценке Marks & Spencer, в 2016 году только в британских шкафах хранилось 3,6 млрд предметов неносимой одежды. Таким образом, немало одежды и предметов быта, все еще пригодных для носки и использования, оказываются ненужными. Многим людям жаль просто выбрасывать вещи, они справедливо полагают, что те могли бы еще послужить. Так для вещей начинается вторая жизнь, о которой прежние владельцы ничего не узнают. Недавно издательство Bloomsbury выпустило о глобальном рынке секонд-хенда книгу, проливающую свет на то, что же происходит с вещами, которым люди подарили второй шанс.

Как верно подмечали еще Ильф и Петров, статистика знает все, да не все. Классики советского юмора указывали на проблему точного учета находящихся в стране стульев. А Адам Минтер уверен, что статистика так же мало что знает об утративших нужность вещах. В США, например, кроме понимания объемов утилизированных автомобилей, она выглядит беспомощно. К счастью, отсутствие данных не означает, что торговлю бывшими в употреблении товарами не отследить, просто вместо сидения в архивах исследователю придется попутешествовать по местам, где секонд-хенд собирают, покупают, сортируют и продают. Для Адама Минтера, автора книги о секонд-хенде, это не первый подход к теме — его предыдущая книга была посвящена исследованию мирового рынка мусора и проблем рециклирования.

Свои поиски Адам начал с США, где лидерами сбора ненужных вещей являются Армия спасения и некоммерческая организация Goodwill. Последняя имеет магазины, в которых собранное продается с большой скидкой. Но они принимают не все: так, почему-то совершенно не пользуется спросом бывший в употреблении спортивный инвентарь. В Японии на долю продаж секонд-хенда приходится целых 10,5% розничного рынка одежды.

Вообще рынки сбыта постоянно меняются. Одно время ношеную одежду тоннами свозили в Китай. Но китайцы разбогатели и с чужого плеча не носят. Они сами теперь доноры — их футболкам и мобилам рады в Африке. Из тканей хуже всего для второй жизни приспособлены синтетика (почти не чинится, на тряпки не пустишь) и шерсть. Теплые свитера нужны только в богатых северных странах, а основные потребители секонд-хенда живут в теплых краях. Раньше шерсть перерабатывали в грубую материю для одеял для солдат и спасателей, но сейчас ее место занял флис.

С тряпками тоже не все просто — на них существует устойчивый спрос целого ряда отраслей промышленности: нефтяникам и автомеханикам для протирки и чистки, клинингу для уборки. Чем хуже изначальная ткань (а сейчас происходит повсеместное намеренное снижение ее качества), тем меньше она годится даже на тряпки. Самый главный бенефициар «быстрой моды» — производители бумажных полотенец, ведь это, похоже, единственное, на что годятся ее обновки после нескольких носок.

Хотя секонд-хенд действительно хорошая альтернатива свалке или сжиганию, не менее правильным видится и требование к изготовителям делать свои товары пригодными к починке не только в авторизованных салонах. Да и вообще люди имеют право самостоятельно ремонтировать свои, например, айфоны. Например, основатель сервиса iFixit, опубликовавшего уже свыше 36 000 руководств по ремонту устройств (от электроники до машин), утверждает, что угроза лишения гарантии при самостоятельном вскрытии смартфона или планшета абсолютно незаконна.

Where do things go after we give them away? Books, clothing, electronics, furniture, and more: Minter explores the secondhand market (my favorite!) in this book.

I loved that he spends time looking at the consumer side of things in this book, because it will help readers realize that even the small things we do (buy, sell, give, toss) add up to make a huge difference. Hopefully all the knowledge in this book will inspire more people to reduce and reuse!

The information on clean-out businesses in the U.S. and Japan was very interesting to me. Minter also covers Goodwill International, Bookoff, and other companies around the world who shuttle and sell used goods to the people who can use them.

It was discouraging, however, to see that so much of what is donated is still landfilled relatively quickly. I was especially annoyed with the employee of Empty the Nest (a clean out company with a thrift store, supposedly committed to reusing and reselling as much as possible) who trashed perfectly good tchotchkes and asked, 'How many more times are we going to send them through the reuse cycle?' The answer: As many times as possible! That's pretty much the whole point of the reuse cycle!

The book is informative, fascinating, and important! It's also the perfect length. I would recommend it to anyone, especially in the developed world!

Note: There are a few instances of profanity. ( )

This book is full of information about how our "stuff" travels around the world. Very interesting. ( )

This is the story of your stuff. Not the stuff you're using: the stuff you're not using, not anymore. What happens to it, if we don't throw it in the trash or the recycling bin? (Recycling was the topic of Minter's previous book.)

Westerners have a lot of stuff, and it has a life cycle beyond our homes. Minter travels from Goodwill in Tuscon to secondhand markets in Benin to cleanup experts in Tokyo to find out what we have and where it goes. The state of our stuff isn't pretty. Quality is declining across sectors and younger generations no longer want their parents' and grandparents' stuff, which they perceive as being unstylish. Clothing is increasingly poorly made--not a new complaint, but there seems to have been a particular drop in recent years, down to clothing labeled as 100% cotton not being, well, 100% cotton. IKEA particleboard bookcases can only survive one move before they're fit for the trash. Meanwhile, antiques dealers are going out of business and you can't get rid of a solid oak dining set.

The sorting and grading of stuff, and how it makes its way overseas, is fascinating. Your local Goodwill has a complex system for deciding what will sell, and it does a great job of managing its wares. Traders from Mexico come to Tucson to shop at Goodwill, taking their buys back to Mexico. The Japanese send their used goods to southeast Asia. The fanciest goods may sell online; the next tier in special resale boutiques focused on higher end brands. The lowest tier is sold by the pound. As much as possible is sold to keep it out of the landfill.

Activists (and sometimes protectionist governments) often portray secondhand clothing in Asia and Africa as simply being dumped, depressing local industry. But it's not dumped: it makes its way over through a complex, sophisticated trading network. Consumers in developing nations know what they want. They perceive secondhand Western goods to be superior quality to cheap products designed specifically for their markets. The import industry supports not only grading warehouses in Mississauga, but repair industries in Ghana that supply west Africa with used electronics.

But the constant and increasing flood of stuff, in lower quality with planned obsolescence, may overwhelm the system. Already, the shoddy factories of India are turning from recycled wool to petroleum based polar fleece. Middle class consumers want their own new goods. Old shirts are becoming too flimsy to resell or to turn into rags.

(Also, turns out car seat manufacturers are lying about plastic degradation. That was fun to learn.)

This was really fascinating all the way through, and covered so many different aspects of the reuse and repurpose industry. There are so many interlocking pieces to the system. It was also a little depressing, when you think about the sheer amount of stuff we all own, and the unthinking ways we throw it all away--not to mention the vicious circle of poor quality goods. ( )

A little bit of a slow read - a few long magazine articles probably would have fulfilled my information needs in this area - but incredibly, globally well-researched.

A few key themes:
--"they don't make 'em like they used to" - true! And when items are of lower quality, they aren't as valuable in the secondhand market.
--The secondhand market is global. Used, high-quality goods flow (generally) from wealthier countries to poorer ones.
--Developing countries have robust secondhand markets - AND repair expertise (e.g. cars, TVs, and computers in Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria)
--Government regulation is one way to ensure higher quality and/or items that are possible to repair rather than replace, but other changes (e.g. lifespan labeling) can make a difference as well.
--People in most developed countries have more stuff than they know what to do with. We should focus on REDUCE, as well as reuse and recycle.

See also: Overdressed by Elizabeth Kline

Quotes/notes

Historically, personal identity revolved around religion, civic participation, and pride of...place. But as those traditional bonds disintegrate in the face of industrialization, urbanization, and secularization, brands and objects become a means to curate and project who we are. (6)

Mottainai (Japanese): a sense of regret over waste, as well as a desire to conserve (28)

"Customers are all about price, not quality" (57)

For people and families with living memories of immigration, of the Great Depression, bargains create a sense of security and identity. (68)

Among the reasons that antique furniture isn't selling in the volumes or at the prices it once did: home ownership among young Americans is in decline... (76)

But in time what matters from the past will shift... (85)

"Whenever there's a gap between wealth and poverty, there will be a secondhand industry" (89)

If the Chinese start throwing away at the same rate as Americans, the price of secondhand clothes is in trouble. (141)

China's manufacturers long ago mastered techniques for manufacturing similar goods to sell at a profit at different price points....[new and fashionable, for many consumers, matters more than durability]. (146)

A secondhand trade that once flowed in one direction - from rich to poor - now goes in every direction. [wiper rags] (179)

Since the dawn of the mass market, product manufacturers and retailers have been sensitive to the lifespans of their products. Some of that concern is in the interests of both consumers and manufacturers. (199)

...consumers instinctively value durability - and vendors price it in....[Consumers] know their long-term interests aren't served by purchasing the short-term reward; given the opportunity, they want to spend more to spend less. (201)

[Lifespan labeling] - [Gov't] regulations requiring minimum durability standards would inevitably chill the quest for innovation in new and existing products....The better approach is simpler: companies must be transparent about the lifespans of their products and attach a sticker or tag to their products informing consumers of just how long they're expected to last, based on verifiable testing. (214)

Encouraging consumers to think more seriously about the financial, environmental, and personal costs of their consumption would be a major step in addressing the crisis of quality and the environmental and social impacts of too much stuff. (216)

Are consumers willing to invest time, money, and effort to expand the lifespans of the objects they own? And if so, which ones? [iFixit] (233)

A consumer right-to-repair law would have two key provisions: [1 - manufacturers would be required to create and make available information for the disassembly and repair of any products they sell; 2 - they would be required to sell the same repair tools they use] (237)

The 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prohibits manufacturers from placing repair restrictions on a device for which it offers a warranty. (footnote, p. 289) ( )