Borrow things is one of the most important basic rules to be followed in the sense of the Zero Waste Lifestyle to produce less waste. After all, we often buy things that we only need for a short time and which then disappear in our drawers and cupboards. Borrowing costs much less and protects the environment from further packaging waste. Today I want to show you why borrowing things is more than just a trend and where you can borrow all sorts of things these days. Let's go!
What does borrowing have to do with Zero Waste?
Why buy the drill new, if I need it only 10 minutes? And why should I buy a longboard if I don't even know yet whether I'll enjoy riding it? Renting instead of owning has been the trend for several years. Because borrowing has quite decisive advantages over buying a product. Here are the advantages of renting at a glance:
- More money in your walletsince borrowing is cheaper than purchasing
- No unnecessary packaging waste, since they are already used, unpacked things
- More space in the apartmentsince you return the borrowed items when you no longer need them.
- Just test thingsbefore you spend a lot of money on it and are disappointed afterwards.
- Meet cool new people, because usually you borrow things from private suppliers
- …
There are certainly many more advantages of borrowing, but these are definitely like the most important for me and also the main reasons why borrowing instead of buying is more than just a trend. Especially the environmental aspect plays more and more a big role. Because by borrowing you can Avoid plastic waste and also bypass garbage of any other kind. Both packaging waste and waste from the object itself. A win-win for everyone.
What things to borrow?
Now, of course, the question is what you can actually borrow? In principle, there are no limits. Depending on your personal wishes and the appropriate offer at the time of need, you can borrow anything. Here are a few examples, so that you get a feeling for what things can be borrowed:
- Plastic free toys for children borrow - This makes especially much sense, since children's toys are needed only for a limited time and then eventually disappear into drawers and boxes. In addition, the toys should be plastic-free, because Plasticizers in toys dangerous are and can disrupt child development.
- Borrow cars - Yes, that's right. This has been going on for some time and is called car sharing. It works particularly well in the big cities. Since you basically don't need your own car in a city like Berlin due to the good connections, you can simply borrow a car when needed. (e.g. for an upcoming move within the city).
- Borrow tools - This makes especially much sense and possibly also welds the neighborhood together. A drill has an average usage time of 13 minutes. After that, it will again disappear in the closet for months of years. That is why you can simply borrow the drill and many other tools.
- Borrow books - Do we always have to buy new books? After all, they just sit on the shelf after reading. That's why you can easily borrow books and return them when you've finished reading them.
- …
These are a few everyday examples of things that you might only need for a short time. Here, too, the list can become infinitely long.
Where can I borrow things?
Now the big question is where I can borrow things in the first place. In principle, this is very easy, since the possibilities are now very diverse, both offline and online. Here are some examples of places where you can borrow things:
- At Online lending exchangesThe selection is huge and not just limited to a small city district. You can find really good things e.g. at leihdirwas.de or also next door.com borrow
- Local Lending Shops There are more and more of them, especially in the big cities. There is nothing to buy, only to borrow and the principle is simple - you give an item to lend and can borrow another item in return.
- eBay Classifieds has its own category for things you can borrow. Click here to go to eBay's rental service
- Lending apps offer the possibility to quickly borrow things from your smartphone. One app that works well is e.g. Peerbywhich you can get from both the AppStore and Google Play.
- …
I know that there are some startups from the sharing economy that work in the field of renting instead of owning, but of course I only want to list the providers that are already working very well. I think with the mentioned starting points you already have a good selection 🙂 .
Borrowing things is so easy, isn't it?
Lending things is super simple and really makes sense in every way. For the lender, the platforms, the borrower and of course for the environment.
Do you have any other suggestions for borrowing things? What have you had good experiences with? Feel free to leave me a comment below.
Stay clean,
PS: Borrowing is just one of many basic rules of the Zero Waste lifestyle. Learn here in the Plastic free blog for example, also how the Reject things or the Reuse can save a lot of garbage.
