As the cost-of-living crisis deepens, one way to help - you and the planet - is a library of things, making household tasks cheaper
Nice to see that Library of Things - the circular economy enterprise that sets up tool-sharing centres - is going strong, with (as the embed notes above) a new Library opening in Dalston.
We’ve covered tool-sharing initiatives from the beginning of A/UK - they seem one of the easiest wins in promoting sustainable living, making it cheaper to do your DIY or community improvement by making expensive or specialists tools collectively available, at a very reasonable hire rate.
All LoT’s establishments are all, so far, in London - Morden, Hackney Wick, Kentish Town, Finsbury Park, Crystal Palace and in 2022, Bromley. Local councils held by Labour, and lots of sustainable and green NGOs, involved as partners, perhaps? This 2021 article from Ethical Consumer shows that there’s a scattering of tool-libraries across the islands - but we hope for more of them, as the cost-of-living crisis shrinks household budgets all over. The piece has a helpful definition of a library of things:
A Library of Things is an organisation which loans out items to msembers of its local community, promoting a sharing economy. These items can be anything and generally include DIY tools, garden machinery, kitchen appliances, camping gear, event equipment and generally useful household items.
The benefits of borrowing items from a Library of Things rather than owning them are multiple: we free up space in our homes; save money by paying a fraction of the purchase cost; and ensure items get a full life of use, reducing over-manufacturing and material usage as well as waste and carbon emissions.
The impact on the planet of our existing consumer habits is unsustainable. By borrowing and sharing instead of buying and owning we reduce our collective impact on the planet and ensure the amount of waste is kept to a minimum. Manufacturing processes along with disposal and recycling processes are all carbon-emitting problems that we need to address if we're to tackle the climate crisis.