Each day, massive amounts of trash get dumped into our landfills. And they stay there, piled high as small mountains, until a new landfill comes along to accommodate our waste.

Landfills are part of a vicious chain of events: filling one up leads to making another one.  And then another, and another.  Despite their supposed environmental benefits, there is no denying that having too many landfills is just piles of trash mounting up all at the same place, contaminating the area. 

In this light, there is a need for knowledge on how to properly deal with wastage.  Individual efforts to lessen trash include segregation and recycling.  And if helping preserve the environment isn’t a good enough incentive, what about earning some extra cash for doing so?

 Here are a few tips on how to turn your trash to cash:

  • Hold a garage sale

    • The most important factor in making your garage sale a successful one is promotion. Text your friends, announce it via social networking tools, or simply spread it through word of mouth. Be creative and give it an added spin: perhaps publicize it as an eco-friendly social event during which people can mingle while browsing through your items. You can even serve drinks so they’ll be urged to stay awhile.

    Make sure your things are displayed attractively, instead of piling them up and making them look uninviting. You don’t have to put the prices; if you ask the buyer to name his or her price, you might even be surprised at how much they’re willing to pay.

    Click here for a guide to starting, promoting, and holding your garage sale.

  • Sell at an online store/auction site

    • This is less time-consuming and tiring than holding a garage sale. Find a good, reputable online auction site, and post a picture and a properly-written description of the item you want to sell. You could also advertise your items on whatever social networking website you use: post a public message or create a photo album, and start spreading the news to your friends list. 

    For collectibles, put them up for sale on such sites as eBay and Amazon.com Auctions. Be wary of scammers, though. However, to save on shipping costs (and the fossil fuel used in order to ship these items), try to limit your item’s availability to local buyers.

    Click here for a list of Philippine auction sites.

  • Sell your recyclables to the right buyers

    • The biggest malls in the metro have now allotted specific days of the week for accepting and paying for old electronics gadgets, plastic bottles, paper products, cans, and batteries. Be sure to do research on which malls hold these events, and check the schedule of the one nearest to your area.  Further details would be available on their websites.

    Another option would be to haul all your scrap iron, newspapers, plastic materials, bottles, aluminum, cans, and other similar materials to the nearest junk shop.  They would be more than happy to take those things off your hands, sometimes for a handsome price.

    Click here to read more on the local malls holding trash-to-cash events.
    And click here for an extensive list of junk shops and recycling centers, grouped by city.

  • Be a D.I.Y. diva

    • If you’re handy with the sewing machine or the hammer and saw, all it will take is a stroke of inspiration for you to create something fabulous out of what you once thought of as junk. A pair of old pants made funkier by adding spare buttons and fallen-off sequins; a colorful tabletop from broken tiles; junk jewelry, such as a bracelet woven from colorful plastic wires; a necklace embellished with spare change that you know you’ll never spend (those holed 5-centavo coins, for instance).

    Create your own line, and start advertising online.

    For a list of interesting ideas, click here.

  • Try vermicomposting

    • This is not for the faint-hearted. Vermicomposting involves introducing worms – particularly the African night crawler – to a plot of land where you throw your kitchen and garden waste. These worms “eat” the waste (the tinier the waste is, the better), then excrete what is known as “vermicompost.” Vermicompost is great as fertilizer and can be sold to farms and greenhouses. You can also plant fruits and vegetables using vermicompost. You’ll find that your seedlings will grow well.

    Click here for a more detailed look at vermicomposting.  And for a guide to starting a vermicomposting business, click here.

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