How to reduce clutter at home

By Teresa Carr

Adams County Senior Council

From nextavenue.org – My Corner of the Landfill, by Linda Goor Nanos. How to reduce clutter at home without increasing clutter in the environment.

Somewhere in the local landfill is a section for my belongings. I admit having accumulated too much, and as I work on getting out from under it, I want to do it in the way that is most friendly to the environment.

My dresser drawers and closet were jammed with unused clothing. I have a favorite donation bin tended by a reputable charitable organization. I called to ask if they accept undergarments and was told that they accept those that are wearable, otherwise, I should find a drop off for textile recycling. The term was new to me, so I began to educate myself about it.

Textiles Are Trouble – The buildup of fabrics in the landfills is rising at a shocking rate, and the worst part is that many materials do not break down. As I suspected, Spandex, is a culprit that breaks down into beads of microplastic, but I was surprised to learn that one of the worst offenders is plain old cotton (unless grown organically). The toxins that mass agribusiness uses to grow cotton linger in the environment.

I sorted the clothes I chose to give away into two piles: wearable garments to donate and worn-out apparel to recycle. I found a list of textile donation sites on a website run by my state government. In my area, it seems I was supposed to toss everything into a single bin and let charity workers sort it into usable and disposable. I labeled it for recycling to be clear that I wasn’t offering it for someone to wear.

Separately, I found a home for worn and torn towels at a pet shelter. I was told dogs and cats particularly welcome fleece blankets.

Recycling Dos and Don’ts – Once I made clutter-busting a priority, my initial round of paper shredding produced seven grocery bags of paper. They went out on my curb with the weekly recycling.

After the sanitation pick up, my bags of shredded paper were still there. I called the town sanitation department and learned it had switched to a single stream system that sorts recyclables, and shredded paper jams the equipment. I developed a new method of disposing of any paper that contains identifying information. Depending on how much sensitive information is involved, I either use a marker to obscure the information or cut off and shred only the name, address, and account number. The remaining sheets can go into the regular recycling.

What to Do With e-Waste – A pile of electronics in my home office required my attention. My old laptop presented the problem of safeguarding sensitive information. I called my tech support person to remove the hard drive, and then made a trip to the dump, which has set aside an area for disposing of computers, televisions, and other electronics.

If there is no dedicated electronic drop off in your area, many companies that sell electronics now offer recycling, and even encourage it because they can salvage the valuable precious metals they contain. Best Buy, for example, says it has recycled 2.7 billion pounds of electronics and appliances since 2009 and is committed to protecting the environment from its own electronic products.

Next Challenge: Buy Less Stuff – It’s easiest to put unwanted possessions in the trash when you no longer need them, but finding a more responsible disposal solution is worth the time you dedicate to it.

We can address the vast world of yet-to-be purchased items by eliminating impulse buying. I pledge to shop online or in a store with intention to replace, update or meet a new need, and not to buy an item tantalizingly placed near the checkout or on my computer screen based on my most recent search.

I’ll leave the shiny objects for the crows, and hope my legacy won ‘t be having the largest pile in the landfill.

Just A Thought: “Good humor is the health of the soul, sadness is its poison.” ~Philip Stanhope (4th Earl of Chesterfield)