What is sustainability?

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

“Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” (Brundtland Report, 1987)

An example of sustainability would be sustainable forestry, where a certain percentage of trees are removed while still allowing the overall growth stock to increase each year. The act of cutting down the trees is sustainable because it does not deplete the resource.

Sustainability draws from three different pillars:

Environment, Society and Economy

At Borrow Don’t buy, we are invested in re-designing the current throwaway culture of buying things and shortly after disposing of them into a more sustainable use of resources by borrowing and reusing items, therefore providing a more sustainable option for the community.

Society

Borrow Don’t buy are committed to solving issues within society, the GEO (get everyone online) scheme tackles an important issue within society; Lack of access to technology. Learn more here (Getting Everyone Online | A Borrow Don’t Buy Project (borrowdontbuy.co.uk)) We also provide education through various events, such as the repair café. Learn more here (Repair Café – Borrow Don’t Buy Plymouth (borrowdontbuy.co.uk)).

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Environment

Borrow Don’t Buy have focused their efforts on serving the environment; instead of drawing from the earth’s natural resources and contributing towards their depletion, we encourage reuse and, therefore, more limited use of resources. This leads to reduced use of raw materials, water, energy and space.

Economy

Borrow Don’t Buy relies mostly on donations which feed back into maintaining our products and growing the company. Borrow Don’t Buy provides jobs within our community and is a social enterprise, providing a platform for people to rent items they need. Currently, 2 of the positions are funded by government organisations, aimed at issues such as preventing long-term unemployment.

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Not to mention, we save our customers a lot of money!

The combination of factors from these 3 pillars leads to more sustainable systems.  

Why is sustainability important today?

Issues such as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” make making sustainable decisions even more important today. 1.6 million square miles of rubbish has been floating around in the Pacific Ocean, harming marine organisms and leading to an increase of microplastics in the ocean and our seafood.

Along with this, landfill capacity is decreasing, meaning eventually there will not be enough space for all of our waste. For this reason, tackling the core issue and reducing the amount of waste is the way forward for ensuring the future of our planet.

Why Borrow Don’t Buy?

By borrowing, you will be reducing the number of materials and resources needed to create new products. The products you borrow will be getting the most use possible as we squeeze every bit of life from them by maintaining and repairing them at our workshop.

Browse our inventory today to see the products we have that might save you some money and our planet!

Inventory – Borrow Don’t Buy Plymouth (borrowdontbuy.co.uk)