Secondhand

Travels in the New Global Garage Sale

By: Adam Minter

Narrated by: Daniel Henning

When you drop a box of unwanted items off at the local thrift store, where do they go? Probably across the country - or even halfway across the world - to people and places eager to reuse what you don’t want.

In Secondhand, Adam Minter delves into the vast, multibillion-dollar industry that resells used stuff around the world. He follows the trail of unwanted objects from the closets, garages, and storage units of Middle America to epic used-goods markets in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Ghana, India, Malaysia, and beyond. Secondhand takes us through the often painful and heartbreaking process of cleaning out a lifetime’s worth of possessions and shows that used stuff still has a place in a world that values the new and shiny - it entertains us, makes fortunes, fulfills needs, and transforms the way we live and work.

©2019 Adam Minter (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

fantastic

fantastic. everything I ever wanted to know about global second hand stuff market. wonderful book.

Fascinating!

Well researched and well written. Tells the story with data and first hand observations. Opened my eyes to the global circular economy.

Unexpected topics around second-hand goods

I really enjoyed this book, like I enjoyed Adam Minter's previous book about garbage. In this book, Minter follows the path of catastrophes of rich nations to where they often end up as secondhand goods in poorer nations, and how there is a thriving business in collection repair and reuse of such goods.

Two things I wasn't really expecting about this book but that were clearly important to the author, as well as to me, was that the book was both a plea for quality in new goods, and an expose of bigotry on the part of rich nations.

Specifically, the poor quality of new goods, especially a flood of very cheap goods from China to rich countries as well as poor countries, was destroying the second hand markets. Those cheap goods fall apart after a very small amount of use, such as one or two washings for fast-fashion clothes, and are not even worth going into the second hand market. The author essentially begs buyers in rich countries to buy better quality goods such that those new goods would keep their value as second hand goods in other countries that want and need them.

As for bigotry, he points out that laws designed to prevent dumping of used goods into poor countries as "waste" are part of a white-savior complex or colonial attitude in that the white or other rich-country inhabitants can't see the cleverness of the (generally black) talented Africans who repair and remake the higher-quality second-hand goods. Who are we, he asks, to decide what is good or bad for Africans to import? They don't see it as waste; they see it as raw material with which to make a living and to enjoy, such as a television that has been repaired over and over and can provide decades of useful life. He also berates other journalists who go into African countries merely to photograph the fires of burning insulated wire giving off toxic smoke (with the hand-wringing thoughts of "Oh, those poor dumb Africans who can't do anything better than burn our waste") but ignore the multiple TV and other repair shops that are extending the lives of used appliances.

The narration was a little odd in that every time the narrator got to a foreign name, Japanese, African, or whatever, there was always a slight pause as the narrator figured out how to say it. But I wouldn't have done any better myself.

This was a very eye-opening book, and I am really glad I listened to it. I already avoid fast fashion, but I will probably be more conscientious about buying quality goods in the future. If nothing else, the next time my clothes washer breaks down, I will go out and buy a Speed Queen. Read or listen to the book.

Great Perspective!

Most people have no idea what goes on in the second tier of the recycling industry. This is a quality analysis of both the manufacturing, economic, and industrial side of second hand. Any recycling professional or enthusiast should hear this book to broaden their understanding.

Fascinating book about so much

This book is about business, economics, ecology and definitely about sociology. You will rcome to understand that some of our assumptions about Africa are just plain wrong. Some of the truths we assumed about second hand are no longer true.. Get motivated to reduce comsumption.