– The simple is often the best. Use what you have and repair it before buying new.
That’s what Anja Bakken Riise, leader of Framtiden in our hands, says.
9 out of 10 Norwegians have ambitions to change their consumption in a more sustainable direction, write The Consumer Council.
More and more people are buying used clothes, shoes, accessories and furniture. Especially digital reuse platforms such as Tise and Finn has made reuse more accessible to anyone, anytime.
But second-hand purchases are only sustainable when they replace new purchases, explains Riise.
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Recycling week
- From 23 November to 1 December, recycling week is marked in several Norwegian municipalities.
- The week will ensure more sustainable consumption and reuse.
- The initiative emerged as a counterweight to Black Week, the week of offers leading up to the annual Black Friday shopping day.
- Instead, lending, a clothes swap market, repair and redesign workshops are organized around the municipality.
Source: Oslo municipality
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Wears new clothes more often
Senior researcher at OsloMet, Kirsi Laitala, researches sustainable consumption of clothing. She points to product lifei.e. how long the product is used by the owner. The very best thing is if the first owner wears the clothes until they are completely used up, she believes.
Even if the clothes are reused, the transport of the product between owners also has an environmental impact.
– You save the environment more by direct reuse where the clothes are not transported or go through many sorting steps, she says.
Laitala believes that many people have the impression that secondhand action is more environmentally friendly than it is. Although it is better to buy used than to buy new, consumption should be limited. The environmental footprint therefore depends on total consumption.
In one international survey of people’s buying habits, Laitala found that the clothes that were bought new were used more times than the clothes that were bought used.
– This can be due to several reasons. The clothes may be worn from before and have a shorter lifespan before they are “used up”, but you may also have less need for the used clothes, she explains.
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Researcher Kirsi Laitala’s tips for a sustainable wardrobe:
- Reduce your consumption level. Get an overview of what you own, avoid new purchases and use what you have.
- Reorganize your spending. Borrow, exchange and think long-term.
- Choose environmentally and climate-friendly options. Look for environmental labeling, energy labeling, etc.
- Exercise your consumer rights. Make use of the claim period, appeal period, right of withdrawal and the Environmental Information Act when the clothes do not measure up.
- Find local solutions. Flea market, clothing exchange, local production, repair and redesign.
- Activism. Support environmental organisations, demand transparency from companies and get involved.
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– Distorted impression of the value
In 2022, there were 540 second-hand shops in Norway, with a total turnover of NOK 918 million, writes SSB. Recently, several people have expressed dissatisfaction with the prices at Norwegian second-hand shops such as Fretex and UFF. It wrote NRK earlier this year.
Laitala believes that the problem is rather that you get brand new clothes at a very cheap price. Both she and Anja Bakken Riise in Framtiden i våre hödel believe that the cheaper the clothes are, the less time you spend evaluating the need for them.
– I myself have been to flea markets or second-hand shops where the prices are insanely low. Then you stop thinking, it awakens a gathering instinct in you, says Riise.
Riise believes that buying used should be cheaper than buying new, but that the price must also reflect the environmental cost and the labor cost of producing the product.
– Extremely low prices are not good anyway, because it gives us a distorted impression of the value, says Riise.
She nevertheless points out that everyone should be able to afford to buy clothes.
From July this year came new changes in the second-hand trade act, which lowers the requirements for preparation and storage before sale, so that it should be easier to sell second-hand. The Consumer Council and Fretex now also wants a cut in VAT for dealers on used goods. They believe that the VAT has already been paid the first time, and that you are now paying double duty.
Consumer director Inger Lise Blyverket says in a statement that it would therefore be cheaper to buy used.
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– We do not see the human consequences
Clothes and shoes often get a lot of attention in the debate about reuse, but Norwegians also have a high consumption of furniture, electronics and other equipment.
One new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Ernst & Young (EY) show that Norway must reduce its material consumption by 70 per cent to reach a sustainable level. The extraction of raw materials for the products we buy is responsible for half of greenhouse gas emissions globally.
Anja Bakken Riise explains that the consequences of our overconsumption are to a small extent visible to us at home in Norway. The production of the clothes takes place mainly in South-East Asia, and the metal extraction for, among other things, cars and electronics in Africa.
Norway also sends 97 percent of all used textiles collected by Norwegian second-hand shops and organizations out of the country. 125 million garments are sent to countries that neither need the clothes nor have the capacity to handle the waste.
Riise believes that the key lies in a circular economy, where natural resources and products are used for as long as possible, in a cycle where as few resources as possible are lost. Through price mechanisms, it should be more profitable to reuse, repair and take care of what we have, she believes.
She points to solutions such as VAT cuts on repairs, lending, sharing and employer’s tax, i.e. the tax that the employer pays to the state.
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Change the culture
Oslo City Council have an ambition about “making Oslo a role model in sharing, reuse, re-use and material recycling”.
Dagsavisen has previously mentioned The recycling platformwhich was to be launched in June under the auspices of Oslo municipality. It is a digital platform where various agencies in the municipality can give away and receive furniture for free, in order to increase internal reuse in the municipality and reduce new purchases.
Finance councilor Hallstein Bjercke (V) explains that the launch was postponed until this autumn due to a need for improved user-friendliness, around the use of the marketplace and communication between buyer and seller.
– This functionality is now in place and the rollout to businesses in Oslo municipality is in full swing, he writes in an e-mail to Dagsavisen.
In addition to specific measures such as the Recycling Platform, the city council is now working to change the culture and attitudes towards consumption, as well as making it easier for the population to participate in the circular economy, for example through Recycling Week, writes Bjercke.
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Norwegian consumption
- In 2022, Norway was in second place in terms of personal consumption per capita, 26 per cent higher than the EU average.
- Norwegians stand out in particular when it comes to the consumption of clothes, shoes and furniture, with 50 per cent above the EU average.
- Norway is Europe’s fifth most expensive country, when you look at the price level for household consumption.
Source: SSB
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