Amid the cost-of-living squeeze, plenty of households have turned to second hand shopping. A new report shows they saved themselves more than $430 million last year. And it found the dollar-busting strategy also had some huge environmental benefits.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00One man's trash is another man's treasure.
00:05Rainbow bear.
00:07Oh, that looks pretty cool.
00:09And seasoned second-hand shoppers are saving plenty of pennies.
00:13So much, so much.
00:14When I hear what other people spend on clothing every month,
00:17I know that what I spend would come even close to that,
00:20and that's covering the house, the boys, my husband, all of us.
00:24For the first time, a study has calculated
00:26the environmental, economic and social benefits
00:29of second-hand shopping in New South Wales.
00:31Developed with the state's Environment Protection Authority,
00:34the report found households saved $432 million last year.
00:39And the benefits aren't just financial.
00:41The habit also diverted more than 49,000 tonnes of waste from landfill
00:46and saved 51,000 megalitres of water.
00:49There's a very significant environmental saving here.
00:52Over 300,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year avoided.
00:56Charities say more people have been going second-hand
00:59amid the cost-of-living crisis.
01:01That's the role of charity shops and reuse organisations,
01:04is to help people during those tough times.
01:06This is just another one of those times.
01:09But the shift towards reused goods is also being pushed by shoppers
01:13who want to make more sustainable choices.
01:16Most of the things here are perfectly fine to keep reusing,
01:19so, you know, the less trash we can send to the landfill, the better.
01:24And I'm very anti-fast fashion, so it suits me to shop second-hand.
01:28Last year, more than 107 million reused items found new homes in Australia,
01:33everything from pre-loved shoes to vintage wedding dresses.
01:36And I have to say, it's pretty hard to resist a bargain.
01:39This fluffy vest and rather fabulous hat for just $5
01:42have just found new homes in my wardrobe.
01:45Fabulous finds that are good for the hip pocket.