An explained secondhand shop for my mom

 

Some time ago, we decided to take a closer look at what happened to our unsold items. It was after watching Hugo Clément's report, which showed us where our clothes end up, that the ultimate shock hit us. For a long time, we wondered what to do with our unsold items, as we wanted to give them a second life. Our choice quickly fell on donating them to a resource center.

What exactly is a resource center?

The principle of a resource center is quite simple. It's a place where all objects and materials that have been deposited at various collection points within a given territory, and that their owners no longer need, are collected. In each region, the collection point has a service provider. The Chrysalide resource center (the fortunate recipient of our donation) handles the collection points in St-Etienne métropole. This represents 176 containers to be processed per week. Six people and three vehicles are in operation every day. That's when you realize that the recovery sector is a real business!

Resource centers also source items during house clear-outs. The one we work with is in partnership with Ikea and Leroy Merlin. It's worth noting that since the AGEK law, unsold items can no longer be thrown away. The role of the resource center will therefore also be to recover these products and resell them at a much lower price.

All types of objects pass through it. It's a kind of center for recovery, valorization, resale, and environmental education. The principle reminded us of Emmaus, but for reasons we've forgotten, the two are different. The goal of a resource center is truly to give products a second life. It's also to allow people in reintegration to work on a professional project and undergo training.

After collection, what then?

Once collected, objects are first sorted. Products in good condition are resold at minimal prices directly in the shop, or to thrift stores. Those that are not are recycled. For example, the Chrysalide resource center created its own brand of accessories OBAKE based on recycled fabric according to the principle of upcycling. This is also how we make our organic cotton scrunchies.

Discover our upcycled scrunchies!

During our visit, the manager explained to us that it was important for them to diversify into creation, while respecting the criteria of the circular economy. He also told us that many clothes are resold to another site in the region, which then resells them again.

These revelations prompted us to question what really happens to our clothing donations and what the true impact of our consumption is on the planet. This is a question we are working on and will try to answer in a future article.

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