Buy nothing new

Our lives are full of stuff. Some of it we use all the time, some we use just occasionally and some... well frankly, is just junk that shouldn’t have been bought in the first place.  It’s time to join the ‘buy nothing new’ revolution and make a pledge to buy nothing new for a week, a month or a year.

We’re not alone in our lives with too much stuff. “Australians spend more than 10 billion each year on goods we never use, clothes we never wear, CDs we don’t listen too, DVDs we don’t watch and food that we don’t eat” says Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy. Australians send nearly 20 million tonnes of waste to landfill each year.

So how can we turn the tide? Join the buy nothing new revolution! Take up the challenge to “buy nothing new for a day, a week, a month or even a year!”  That's nothing new, except food and medicines.

In addition to turning the tide on consumption, new stuff comes packaged.  Beautiful, shiny… and wasteful.  Packaging is a huge contributor to waste, with around 40% of global plastic production dedicated to packaging.  Simply buying second (or third) hand avoids the creation of packaging waste.  
 
Second hand stuff is easier than you think to find.  Check out online services like gumtree, your local charity stores or the Green Shed.  Join your local buy nothing new movement’s Facebook group to find the stuff you need and share a little of the stuff you don’t.  
 
Be a part of the solution, join the buy nothing new revolution! Take up the challenge to "buy nothing new for a day, a week, a month or even a year!"