Concept of recycling adds new cachet to going for the ‘green’

What role, if any, do antiques and collectibles play in the environmental movement? The answer at the moment is a small one, albeit a growing one. But it is time to make it a major one. Antiques and collectibles are environmentally friendly.

What can the trade do to increase public awareness that antiques and collectibles can and do play a vital role in the greening of America — no, make that the globe? The first step is to acknowledge our historical past. We are the first recyclers. As early as the Middle Ages, individuals gathered on Fair Days to sell and exchange used goods. The individuals who bought them reused them. ”Reused” is the key word. Reusing existing resources is one of the basic tenets of the environmentalist movement.

During my recent visit to Lincoln City, Ore., to participate in its annual Antique Week celebrations, I visited with Rick Brissette and Dan Beck, owners of the Little Antique Mall (www.littleantiquemall.com). During our conversation, I asked Rick and Dan if they had developed any new sales techniques. Rick offered a one-word answer: ‘’sustainability.”

I take pride in my ability to be at the cutting edge of developments in the antiques and collectibles trade. Rick’s ‘’sustainability” took me completely by surprise.

Rick explained that an increasing number of customers are shopping at the Little Antique Mall for environmental reasons. Their goal is to buy older goods for reuse. They have two primary motivations for doing this. First, all the items they purchase are cheaper than new. Second, by purchasing and reusing older items they are reducing the necessity to manufacture new products, thus conserving scarce environmental resources.

As I wrote the above paragraph I heard conservative cries of unpatriotic, antibusiness and unAmerican in the back of my mind. America is a capitalist country. The sale of new goods is a vital part of its economy.

While true, it is clear that global consumption of natural resources cannot continue at its current pace if future generations have any hope of maintaining our existing lifestyle. We need to conserve. We must restore balance.

When did America reach the point where reusing older goods became unpatriotic? My parents experienced the Depression and the shortages of World War II. They recycled goods. I wore more than my fair share of hand-me-down clothing. My first apartment was furnished with hand-me-downs from my parents, aunts and uncles, and friends of the family. We repaired appliances that did not work. My parents and my generation assumed products were meant to last more than one generation.

Although Bernard London’s ”Ending the Depression through Planned Obsolescence,” published in 1932, introduced the concept, it was Brooks Stevens, an American industrial designer, who popularized the concept in the mid-1950s. It was widely accepted by the 1960s.

When individuals in the antiques and collectibles trade complain about something, I often recommend they look in the mirror to find the first solution to the problem. An honest look in the mirror reveals that my generation and the first wave of baby boomers are largely responsible for the advancement of planned obsolescence. We were tired of the old. We only wanted ”new” things, if not for ourselves, for our children. We ignored the advice of our elders who urged us to check out auctions, thrift shops and garage sales where we could buy cheaper than new and often better quality.

Planned obsolescence does work. Consider the abandoned BETA cameras and players, cassette tape recorders, out-dated computer equipment, dial telephones, pocket calculators, Polaroid and instamatic cameras, 331/3, 45, and 78 rpm records and the equipment to play them that consume space in America’s attics, basements, closets, garages and sheds.

The good news is that planned obsolescence does not work all the time. Consider the enormous quantity of reusable items available for sale at auction, estate/tag sales, flea markets, garage/yard sales and swap meets. Applying the cheaper-than-new concept, add antiques malls and shows to the list. There is more non-obsolescent material available than we realize.

In researching the concept of sustainability, I found numerous definitions. The definition on the Web site of the United States Environmental Protection Agency had the strongest appeal: ”Sustainability means ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”’ The EPA Web site features four areas of concentration: (1) Built Environment, (2) Water, Ecosystems & Agriculture, (3) Energy & the Environment, and (4) Materials & Toxics. I assume the reuse of antiques and collectibles is one aspect of the Built Environment.

Sustainability’s goal is to achieve a level of balance that can last indefinitely. The critical question is: ”How long can human ecological systems be expected to be usefully productive?” Is our modern industrial society destined to collapse?

The answer does not have to be yes. I realize encouraging individuals to buy antiques and collectibles for reuse rather than collecting and decorating (although some decorating may be viewed as reuse) purposes has an extremely minor impact relative to issues such an anthropogenic climate change and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves. However, the old cliché applies: Anything is better than nothing.

Rick and Dan recently developed this tag line for their mall: ”Antiques — sustainability, retainability, sensibility!” It is a great marketing approach, especially for younger consumers. Rick indicated there’s a growing number of younger customers buying for reuse rather than collecting or decorating purposes.

In an editorial, ”The Compact Market,” S. Clayton Pennington noted: ”This type of buyer can help infuse new life in the world of antiques, where dealers offer plenty of functional yet unique objects, often for reasonable prices.

”Compact shopping may be coming to a neighborhood near you. We think it makes sense for dealers to embrace, and help actively promote, this green philosophy. It’s good for the Earth, and good for the bottom line.”

The Compact originated in January 2006 in San Francisco when nine individuals decided to purchase nothing new for one calendar year. It has become an international movement.

It is not clear if ”new” applies to all goods or only to newly made goods. It certainly means all goods to those participating in San Francisco’s Really Really Free Market where a sign reads ”No Money, No Barter, No Trade, Everything Is Free!” Such an approach is clearly an anathema to the success of all business, including the antiques and collectibles business.

The less extreme members of The Compact stress living with secondhand goods. They stress reuse and are willing to buy reusable goods that fit into their lifestyle. While the antiques and collectibles trade needs to be aware of The Compact and develop sales techniques that appeal to its members, it will achieve far more by stressing the sustainability concept.

Finally, I asked Rick and Dan what objects were selling well at the Little Antique Mall. Their immediate response was glass storage dishes, especially those that can be refrigerated and also used for cooking. Rick told me to check out the concept of offgassing. Offgassing is the evaporation of volatile chemicals in non-metallic materials, such as carpet, paint, plastics at normal atmospheric pressure.

When lecturing antiques and collectibles dealers about how to survive in the trade, I stress the concept of giving the customers what they want. Guess I will be seeing a lot more glass containers for sale at antiques malls and shows and flea markets in the months ahead.

Let the greening of antiques and collectibles begin!

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are at http://www.harryrinker.com .

You can listen and participate in ”Whatcha Got?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8 and 10 a.m. If you cannot find it on a station in your area, ”Whatcha Got?” streams live and is archived on the Internet at http://www.goldenbroadcasters.com

By Harry Rinker

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