Words by Smiley Team
People across the UK are being urged not to throw away unwanted gifts or household clutter over the coming weeks to help prevent a surge in unnecessary landfill.
Instead, they’re being encouraged to embrace the ‘circular economy’ and find new homes for items they no longer need as part of a #SkipTheTip campaign.
The campaign is calling on British families to re-gift any unwanted items to dramatically reduce the 100 million bags of Christmas waste that is sent to landfill each year and introduce sustainable habits into households across the UK.
It’s led by circular economy platform YoungPlanet, an app which quickly helps find new homes for good quality children’s items and toys, to stop them from heading to landfill. It’s designed quite simply to declutter, give joy, and save the planet. Instead of loading up the car and heading to the tip, decluttering Brits are being asked to think more sustainably about where things end up.
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It comes as the latest report from the National Infrastructure Commission warned that the environmental impact of landfill will stop the UK from reaching its target of becoming net-zero by 2050.
With children in particular being the focus at Christmas, it's estimated that the average child will have received up to 16 gifts this year. This typically results in over £42 million worth of unwanted toys being thrown away, creating a huge carbon footprint despite most items still being in good condition.
Founded by parents Jason and Emma Ash, YoungPlanet works by allowing parents to regift children’s items they no longer need; creating a cashless, circular economy of giving and receiving that prevents waste.
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More than 20,000 items have found new homes already through the app.
Co-founder Emma Ash said: “The need for climate action is universal and the past year has seen some progress in the right direction. But we can all do more. Post-Christmas is a classic time for people to get the house straight and have a good clear out, but we’re asking them to skip the tip this year.
“Instead, we should all look to re-gift toys and items that other people might want or need. Second-hand is not second best; it’s a vital part of creating the sustainable, circular economy our planet needs.”
YoungPlanet combines transactional functionality with sharing economy principles. Users list unwanted items on the app or look for items they may want or need. In the latter case, they make contact with the ‘giver’ and exchange messages to arrange the exchange either in person, at a drop off location, or via post or courier. Everything is always given and received for free.
The YoungPlanet app is available from the App Store and Google Play Store to download for free. To find out more, visit youngplanet.com.
