EVERYDAY HEROES
28 | May• 2019
The impact has been instant. It has
over 500 items in its inventory with
another 500 waiting in the wings.
These are items that would otherwise
have gone into landfill when their
owners tired of them sitting on the
shelf – most are in as-new condition.
“It doesn’t need to be like this,” says
Sabrina. “It’s not just about reducing
waste when things are at the end of
their life cycle. And recycling is not
enough. We need to rethink con-
sumption from the very beginning.
We need systemic change.”
The most requested item has been
the jackhammer, as they’re costly to
buy or rent. One member borrowed a
food dehydrator after she bought lots
of heavily discounted strawberries
during last September’s needle tam-
pering scandal and needed a quick
way to preserve them.
It’s all part of the rise of the share
economy, where phone apps allow
users to share rarely-used goods with
people who need them. While this
peer-to-peer approach is often mon-
etised – with the items rented out or
sold at cheaper prices – libraries have
been around for centuries offeringSabrina’s next step for the tool library is to create an income for the volunteers