Is this a Furniture or a Waste Problem?

The solution will reflect our answer. Let’s choose wisely.

If we want to perpetuate our obsession with short term corporate profit maximization above all else, then treating imperfect, unwanted furniture as waste makes great sense. The global waste industry captures all of the gains and their stockholders win. Meanwhile, landfill space shrinks, methane emissions increase, and leachate grows. The tyranny of new continues unabashed, and existing top down power structures remain intact.

If, however, we want to build just, resilient, and more prosperous local economies, then we would harness these materials, incentivize collection and redistribution, and prioritize local wealth building.

We know not all imperfect, unwanted furniture is waste.

But, by not seeing past our conditioning, we sacrifice all opportunities to create thriving secondary markets that reclaim, refurbish, reupholster, recycle, reuse, and resell these materials; job training and small businesses who can use these materials as inputs go unfunded; and local, closed loop infrastructure and supply chains remain unbuilt. These systems need to be pioneered, prioritized, and normalized.

My city spent over 5 million dollars cleaning up illegal dumping. What if we invested (even) half of that in building closed loop furniture-material reclamation systems that paid dividends to our community for extending the life of these materials, instead of to corporate shareholders for dumping them?