One man’s trash is another man’s treasure – so the saying goes. An article recently published by Money Saving Expert suggests there could be some truth in this.
Thrifty householders have been making money selling on their household waste, with toilet roll tubes, jam jars and coat hangers proving to be in high demand with those doing arts and crafts.
If you’re thinking of flogging your rubbish, you’ll need to head to eBay to find your customers. Perfume bottles have been going for the highest price, of up to £8 a pop, while toilet roll and kitchen roll tubes sell for 10-16p per item. You’d better be prepared to collect your rubbish in bulk though, because it’s bundles of items that are selling. Over a 3 month period, the top rubbish sales on eBay included 492 bundles of coat hangers and 420 bundles of wine corks. Even 36 bundles of milk bottle tops sold during this time.
Seeing some value in rubbish is a great way to challenge our perceptions of household waste. While hoarding your waste to sell online may not be for everyone, most of the items listed can be easily recycled from your kerbside containers to prevent waste of these valuable materials.
For more information on what can be recycled and where, check Recycle Now. If you can find a market for your unwanted rubbish, think what you can do with good quality items from around the home, like electronics and furniture, that you no longer need. Head to eBay or Gumtree to sell these on. Alternatively, try free local reuse sites Freegle and Freecycle or donate to a local charity shop if you want to clear these items out without asking for money.
