Better to barter [News]
December 8, 2011 by Zero Waste Singapore
Filed under News
By Grace Chua, The Straits Times, 8 Oct 2011.
Instead of buying toys for her daughter, a housewife rents them. A Singaporean tutor learnt to drive in the United States by swopping his computer-repair skills for lessons.
And a young couple who traded his Hindi for her Mandarin even hit it off and tied the knot.
A new breed of consumers is renting, sharing, swopping and bartering, and a growing number of start-ups are popping up to meet their needs.
While such ‘collaborative consumption’ has been around for years, technology is playing a bigger role than before.
Click here to read the full story.
Die Die Must Share – The Idea of Collaborative Consumption
December 8, 2011 by Zero Waste Singapore
Filed under Insights
Eugene Tay, the Editor of Green Business Singapore and Founder of Green Future Solutions, is a person whom you would describe as a green maven – someone who reads and knows a lot about environmental trends and ideas, and who likes to share them with others.
Having come across many green ideas over the past few years, there is one recent idea Eugene would claim that he ‘die die must share’ – the idea of Collaborative Consumption.
Collaborative Consumption refers to the idea of sharing that is empowered by technology and social networks, and how it changes consumption and the way businesses operate.
Sharing also covers renting, swapping, lending, trading, exchanging, bartering, and gifting. The advantages of sharing are that fewer resources are used to make and ship products, and less waste are generated and disposed.
The term Collaborative Consumption was first described in 2010 in the book What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers.
Other resources with similar ideas on sharing include the book The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing by Lisa Gansky and the Shareable website. Read more
Share, Borrow or Rent Tools and Items
December 8, 2008 by Zero Waste Singapore
Filed under Reuse
Some tools in the house such as the hammer, screwdriver, electric drill, handsaw, ladder and toolbox are not used frequently. If you have these tools, share them with your relatives and friends. If you don’t have the tools, you can ask around and borrow them. By sharing and borrowing, you reduce the need to buy new tools and free up storage space.
You can also borrow or share other items like newspapers, magazines, party decorations, cutlery, kitchen appliances, audiovisual equipment, CDs, DVDs, etc.
BlockPooling is a social network for neighbourhoods and you can use the platform to share and borrow items from your neighbours.
Rent Instead of Buying
Renting items is cheaper than buying them, and by reusing an item among several people, it helps to reduce the resources used in its production and packaging, and creates less waste disposal after its use.
Rent Tycoons provides a platform that allows you to rent out your items to others and earn money.
Other rental services include:
1. Rent home and office furniture:
2. Rent VCDs and DVDs:
3. Rent children toys and baby equipment:
4. Rent designer bags:
5. Rent maternity wear and gowns:
There are also rental services for sports equipment, audiovisual equipment, books, electrical appliances, computers and more. So before you buy something, think about whether you should rent it instead.
