A BOSS that doesn’t spark joy—you can’t throw that out, unfortunately. But other things that cause stress, anxiety, and even depression, you have more control over. Like clutter in your home.
Aside from cooking, baking, gardening, and binge-watching series and movies, many of us resorted to decluttering our homes to maintain our sanity at the height of the lockdowns. It’s probably safe to say that at least one of you readers have unleashed your inner Marie Kondo at some point in the last two years.
Where did you take all that clutter though? Did you sell them, donate them, or simply throw them away? Or maybe a combination of two or all of those? If you were able to find new homes for your clutter—other than the landfill, that is—then congratulations on your contribution to a circular economy.
‘Round and ‘round
IN a circular economy, consumption and waste of resources—such as various raw materials, water, and energy—are minimized. The life of each item produced is “extended,” usually by way of reusing, recycling, and upcycling. At the heart of circular living is responsible consumption. This is not always easy, especially when you don’t really have the means to buy sustainably. Luckily, there are now businesses that can help make circular living a reality for more Filipinos.
Social business Humble calls itself “a platform for circular living.”
“We collect items that people or businesses no longer use and bring them back to circularity, passing back some of the value to the people or businesses we collected them from,” the company said.
Founded by half Dutch, half Welsh Josef Werker and full-blooded creative Filipina Niña Opida, Humble provides a platform for individuals and businesses who would like to live sustainably but don’t know where to start. The process is straightforward:
1. Businesses with unused assets or people with items to declutter get in touch with Humble for a pick-up or drop-off schedule.
2. Humble then collects their items for disposal, brings them to its Mandaluyong warehouse, and sorts them.
3. Some of the items are sold on Thrift, Humble’s digital store on Shopee. Other items are brought to Humble’s partner recyclers and upcyclers.
4. People who donate items to Humble are given points or vouchers that they can use to shop for items on Thrift.
Humble collects a wide range of items, including electronics, school and office supplies, accessories, baby items, toys, furniture, books, and clothes. It even accepts items for consignment from partner-retailers that want to dispose of slow- or non-moving items.
The social business has so far collected and processed more than 150,000 items from more than 1,500 homes. It also has several corporate partnerships, including one with Robinsons Land Corp. for pick-ups from its various vertical developments.
Its collaboration with 50 recyclers and upcyclers allows Humble to collect more kinds of items from homes and businesses that are looking to declutter.
Saving the planet
HUMBLE’S business model is anchored on and contributes to three of the 17 United Nations Sustainability Development Goals:
• Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities—by collecting unused items, Humble helps reduce waste in landfills and provides livelihood to recyclers
• Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production—the goal is to make circularity a part of Filipinos’ consciousness and daily lives
• Goal 13: Climate action—by way of a carbon footprint tracker, it can measure its community’s impact on the planet
Mental health issue
BECAUSE Humble aids people in their decluttering journey, it also contributes to its community’s mental wellness.
According to research published on the Journal for Environmental Psychology: “Possession clutter has a strong negative impact on psychological home and perceived well-being.”
Too much clutter in the home can cause stress, anxiety, and even depression, as evidenced by research published on the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin titled “No Place Like Home: Home Tours Correlate with Daily Patterns of Mood and Cortisol.”
“Women with higher stressful home scores had increased depressed mood over the course of the day, whereas women with higher restorative home scores had decreased depressed mood over the day,” it stated.
It looks like Marie Kondo was really on to something. Decluttering one’s home does have more benefits than aesthetics and hygiene. It can lead to better mental health, as well as a more sustainable lifestyle. Let organizations like Humble help you live a healthier, happier, more productive life by taking your clutter off your hands.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Abigail L. Ho-Torres is AVP and Head of Customer Experience of Maynilad Water Services, Inc. She spent more than a decade as a business journalist before making the leap to the corporate world.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.