We all have a basic understanding of what items that we can donate to charities; donate things that can be resold. If an item is damaged, stained or has pet hair on it, it cannot be resold or reused, therefore it shouldn’t be donated.
When you donate things that can’t be resold or reused, you create more work for the charity. Those items need to be disposed of at the effort and expense of the charity which has limited resources for disposal.
When you donate things such as books, they need to be considered more carefully. The main principle of being damaged, such as pages being torn or marked in any way indicates that it can’t be resold or donated to a charity or a local library.
There are however, other options to dispose of items that you no longer need or want than donation.
College textbooks or reference books should stay off the donate things list. If the topic has changed dramatically, it may now be obsolete, so it can’t be resold. If donation is not an option, let’s consider recycling.
Paperbacks that are damaged or obsolete can go into the recycling bin. Unfortunately, hard back books cannot be entirely recycled due to the varying materials used in the hard back covers. The pages can be torn out and recycled but the cover will need to go to the trash bin.
Another option is to repurpose when you can’t donate things. This is where creativity comes into play. For those crafters out there, consider turning these damaged or obsolete things you no longer want into your crafts. If you need some ideas, check out Pinterest to get your creative juices flowing.
When you keep these guidelines in mind, you are thinking responsibly before you donate things. This mindfulness is being a good steward of the earth in keeping your carbon footprint minimal. It also helps the charities keep their wonderful efforts within the resources they have available to continue their good work.
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