In any Spanish city, thousands of pieces of furniture, appliances, and useful objects are placed on the street every year. Comfortable sofas, tables that would last another decade, cribs barely used. Things someone needed at that very moment, just a few streets away.
Sharing isn’t a small gesture. It’s the most obvious answer to a problem we tend to treat as inevitable: produce, buy, throw away, repeat.
What happens when we share
Every item that changes hands instead of ending up in a dumpster prevents tree cutting, transport, packaging, and the kilos of waste involved in making a new one. A crib reused by three families does the work of three cribs, but only one was ever produced.
This is just the visible part. Sharing also rebuilds something big cities have been losing: the feeling that your neighbor exists. That the person on the fourth floor has a bookshelf they don’t use anymore, and you could use one. That asking and giving are everyday actions, not awkward ones.
It’s not about quitting shopping
Sometimes you need something new, and that’s fine. But before placing an order, it’s worth asking: does anyone already have one, nearby?
The answer, almost always, is yes.
How to start today
- Look at what you have stored and don’t use. Something taking up space for you can solve someone’s day.
- Before buying, ask for it on Givore. There’s a good chance someone in your neighborhood has it stored away, waiting for a new life.
- When you receive something, pay it forward when you can. The chain sustains itself.
Sharing doesn’t save the planet overnight. But every object that circulates instead of being thrown out counts. Every neighbor who connects counts. Every small gesture counts.
And together, they end up being big.