Who doesn’t have the house’s closets overflowing with objects rarely or never used?
According to statistics, 80% of the objects in our homes are used less than once a month. So why don’t sharing them?
Yerdle, is a start-up that was born with this idea.
“On one hand we are overwhelmed by the objects and we do not know how to get rid of them. On the other hand we need always new objects: the equipment for the new sport of our son, the dress for a costume party ..” explains Bretlyn Curtis, Yerdle’s Product Manager .
We met at Greenstart incubator, where Yerdle is located, a large open office where young start-ups are developing green economy projects. A beautiful loft with exposed bricks, old style chairs, tables, guitars and hanging bicycles, in the heart of San Francisco.
“People like to donate items they no longer use, if it’s simple and convenient.”
Today the community of Yerdle is made up with more than 20,000 people from all over the world, also from Italy.
“Our job is to help people to become generous in many ways, to offer the community a platform to exchange experiences, as well as objects,” says Bretlyn.
“When we buy an object at the shop is different, it’s just a piece got out of the factory and stored in a shelf. Whereas when we share an object, even a simple ceramic cup, we perceive the charm of the people that have used it, the history that has brought it up to us … almost as if we could hear the conversations that have surrounded this old ceramic cup! ”
“There are 62 “LEGOs” for every man and woman on earth,” says Adam Werban, co-founder of the start-up, “to someone may sound like a good news, however this is not sustainable, if we consider the resources needed to produce them. […] We need to move from a linear economic system, which transforms the products in wastes to a circular system, where objects can get back on the market, because they are shared and exchanged a few clicks through social media.“
“We have to put the resources we don’t use anymore available to the others, doing the exchange more interesting and exciting of the shopping” says Adam.
Certainly this revolution starts right from the people, by generosity innate in all of us.
Then maybe it’s not that difficult to imagine a better future, where you can sharing instead of buying!
Info: www.yerdle.com
Cover photo: Yerdle’s Open Office, San Francisco, photo by Silvia Ombellini