When dealing with and handling dormant goods, as an organisation we’re constantly reflecting on our relationship with resources and ‘stuff’. Our accumulation of new, bright, shiny things, has us a little out whack with nature. Some guiding philosophies around ‘stuff’ that we find helpful and inspiring are 3 Japanese terms – Mottainai, Wabi-Sabi and Kintsugi.. Over the next few weeks we’ll talk a little bit more about these terms, what they mean and how you can incorporate them into your life.
To kick things off, let’s start with Mottainai.
Mottainai
The Japanese concept of mottainai is to respect the resources that come to you, use those resources wisely and be grateful for that resource.
Loosely translated as both “what a waste” and “don’t be wasteful”, it reminds us to respect the items that come our way, take good care of our things, repair things when they are broken & rehome what we no longer use. At World’s Biggest Garage Sale we take all goods that come to us through a comprehensive resource recovery process. In line with the circular economy, we want to avoid comments like “what a waste” and keep products and materials in use for as long as possible.
We don’t yet have an equivalent word in the English language for mottainai, but we’re probably overdue! Only then can we move from ‘what a waste’ to ‘What? No waste!’.
To help moving toward ‘what? no waste’, rehome your unwanted items through our makerspace!
Stay tuned for next week’s blog where we talk about Wabi-Sabi.
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#dormantgoods #mottainai #respect #reduce #reuse #renew #repurpose #recycle #sustainability #positivechange #noplanetb #climateaction #impact #sdgs #wastediversion #waste #zerowaste
