Households across New South Wales saved themselves $432 million last year by shopping second-hand, as they felt the crunch of the cost of living crisis.

The study also found the dollar-busting strategy banked huge environmental benefits, diverting 49,000 tonnes of waste from landfill, saving 51,000 megalitres of water and 321,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent to taking 134,000 cars off the road.

The report, Measuring Reuse Activity and Impacts in NSW, is the first of its kind and provides an in-depth look into the environmental, economic and social benefits of second-hand shopping.

It was developed by not-for-profit Charitable Reuse Australia in partnership with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

As she stands inside the treasure trove of salvaged industrial off-casts for sale at Reverse Garbage in Marrickville to launch the report, it’s clear that the social enterprise’s CEO Kirsten Junor is a lover of everything second hand. 

She’s wearing a jacket she found at a Salvo’s store and was handpainted by a local artist.

“By shopping second-hand and reusing things you really can create your own style and you find things that you love and you cherish and then those stories are passed on,” she said.

“But this report shows that reuse works, it has a huge environmental, social and economic impact – we see it here every day.”

Appeal of sustainability

The CEO of Charitable Reuse Australia Omer Soker said people were increasingly turning to second-hand as bills and other costs put more pressure on household budgets.

“That’s the role of charity shops and reuse organisations, to help people during those tough times. This is just another one of those times,” he said.

But he also said second-hand shoppers weren’t just buying second-hand to save money.

More recently it’s also been driven by the new generation of consumers, wanting, demanding sustainability in terms of their choices,” Mr Soker said.

“Second-hand is becoming cool, not quite as cool as it is the UK, but that’s what’s driving it.”

‘Perfectly fine to keep reusing’

Kerrie Felton has been second-hand shopping since she was 12 years old and was out hunting bargains at the Salvo’s store in Tempe with her two young sons in tow on Monday morning.