Winter activities: When things are too good to recycle, pass them on!

Goedzak 1 A de-clutter or Spring clean is a really good thing. But if you're doing it when your local charity/thrift shop's closed, the recycling centre's got a queue a mile long, and you're digging out things which are just too good to throw away, you can easily end up creating piles of 'stuff' that sit there for a while...

Happily, inspired by the Goedzak (do-gooder bags) created by the Dutch designers Waarmakers, who say "We like stuff, but we like people better", we've got a great idea of how you can pass on your unwanted but still mighty useful things!

Waarmakers Maarten and Simon

Simon Akkaya, one half of Waarmakers alongside Maarten Heijltjes, designed the Goedzak and describes it as, "a special garbage bag for items that are still useable. It’s a friendly way to offer products a second chance and stimulate sustainable behavior."

Basically, you put your unwanted things in a Goedzak, leave it out next to your recycling and if anyone can make use of it, they take them home. Then they can use the Goedzak to fill with their items, and it all rolls onwards...

So if you live in an area where you have a lot of folks passing, why not try to make your own Goedzak, maybe adding a label to say 'I'm free, take me home...'?

If you regularly pass on your unwanted items and have any other ideas, why not share them by leaving a Comment below?

Goedzak 2

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