Today I am presenting to you the second-hand shopping mall — a story about fashion and the circular economy.
In the 21st century, trends change almost like on a conveyor belt. What was in one season may already be out of our homes the next. Beyond changing fashion, the quality of items often doesn’t guarantee they will stay with us for long. Whether we stick strictly to feng shui or simply feel it’s time to refresh and replace worn-out items, it’s not always easy to part with old things.
Sentimentality is often the first obstacle. I know those stories very well — I picked out this shirt with my mother; it doesn’t matter that I no longer like floral patterns, it could still be useful for wearing around the house. It’s not unusual that two-thirds of our closets are full of “around-the-house” clothes waiting to be worn for years.
Another reason, one that has grown significantly in recent years, is environmental protection. Waste pollution is one of the biggest ecological problems, and everything we do not dispose of properly becomes a part of that problem. Very few people know where their unwanted items can actually be taken to gain new value.
There is also distrust — will something truly be reused, or will it end up as waste? My mother and I once donated well-preserved items, perfectly usable but simply unnecessary for us, to a shelter. What we saw were dozens of bags waiting to be sorted, and much of it ended up being thrown away. This raises the question — where do these items actually go? Do they end up as waste? Some might say, I had good intentions; what others do with it afterward is not my concern.
But what if it is everyone’s concern? What if the consequences of others’ actions ultimately affect us as well — through the health of nature, and then our own?
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The Shopping Mall and the Circular Economy
Now I’d like to take you to the northern part of our planet, to a location near Stockholm. Ten years ago, the world’s first shopping mall offering exclusively second-hand goods was opened there. Every product in this mall is recycled, reused, or made from organic or sustainable materials.
The system works like this: residents bring old items — furniture, clothing, toys, electronics, and more — to a separate collection section within the center, where staff sort them. After that, each store chooses the items it wants and, depending on their condition, repairs, refreshes, or transforms them into something new.
One particularly important aspect is that the ReTuna Återbruksgalleria mall is located right next to a recycling center, which simplifies the entire concept. Anything that cannot be passed on to the mall goes directly to recycling.
Katarina Vuinac
