If you want to know how to get rid of unwanted furniture for free, you’re in luck – there are lots of options available to you. But how do you know which are the best ones from an environmental perspective? Should you recycle furniture? Should you donate furniture? Should you leave it outside and hope for the best? To stop you doing that last one (it’s illegal!), we’ve got tons of eco-friendly ideas to help you get rid of your unwanted furniture – and they won’t cost you a penny.
Why be eco friendly when getting rid of furniture?
Reducing waste is a vital step towards protecting our planet and the environment. It preserves finite natural resources, it reduces carbon emissions, it protects ecosystems and wildlife, and it saves energy.
Yet in the UK, we’ve been throwing away more than 300,000 tonnes of reusable furniture per year according to waste think-tank RSA. Even recycling (while better than not recycling) still uses energy, water and other resources. Not to mention furniture can be tricky (though not impossible) to recycle. So how can we do better? The fact of the matter is that if we want to protect our planet we all need to be a lot more careful about how we get rid of unwanted furniture and other common household waste. And we can do this by following the core principles of reducing waste (the 3 Rs) – reduce, reuse and recycle (in that order).
Do you really need to get rid of your furniture?
Before we get into our tips for ridding yourself of genuinely unwanted furniture, it’s worth asking yourself – do you really need to get rid of it at all?
The first ‘R’ (reduce) is all about reducing the volume of natural resources you consume. So if you’re thinking of getting rid of furniture in order to replace it like-for-like, is that really necessary? You only need a brief browse on Pinterest or Instagram to see there are literally hundreds of ways to breathe new life into any type of furniture, from chests of drawers to sofas. Here are a few ideas…
Upcycle wooden furniture
If you’ve got an old piece of wooden furniture that isn’t quite to your taste anymore, then why not turn it into something new with our easy upcycling ideas? It’s amazing what a fresh lick of paint can do.
Refinish wood furniture
If your furniture’s simply looking a bit rough and worn, it’s actually surprisingly straightforward to give it a little TLC and a new finish.
Reupholster your sofas or chairs
A good upholsterer should be able to help you completely transform old sofas and chairs. Given how much these can cost to buy new, this could also be a more pocket-friendly approach. Plus you’ll get a completely unique finished piece.