2,330 tons of CO2 saved with second-hand goods

For the third year in a row, second-hand goods were bought, exchanged, repaired, recycled or passed on throughout Switzerland and on online platforms on Secondhand Day on September 24, 2022. This annual day of action was launched in 2020 by Ricardo, myclimate and Circular Economy Switzerland to raise awareness and enthusiasm among the Swiss population for sustainable consumption in the form of secondhand as part of the circular economy. The idea behind it is simple: by using products longer, the amount of new goods that need to be produced can be easily reduced. There are many ways to do this: Share products, pass them on, reuse them, repair them or refurbish them. Secondhand Day takes into account the fact that this form of consumption directly saves resources and emissions such as CO².

2,330 tons of CO² saved

This year, around 2,330 tons of CO² were saved through the sale of used goods, which is almost a quarter more than in the previous year. This amount saved corresponds to the daily CO² production of the equivalent of 58,400 people or a city like Biel. The initiators Ricardo, Circular Economy Switzerland and myclimate draw a positive conclusion for the Secondhand Day 2022. "We are extremely satisfied that the third edition of the Secondhand Day was also a great success and that we could bring the colorfulness, the coolness, the high quality and ultimately the sustainable sense of second-hand goods closer to numerous people. We are getting closer step by step to our goal of getting the Swiss population to rethink their consumer behavior and change it in a sustainable way," says Francesco Vass, Managing Director of Ricardo.

Second hand goods are more and more accepted

The data collected annually on Secondhand Day gives hope: In 2020, 1500 tons of CO² were saved on the first Secondhand Day, in 2021 it was 1,895 tons of CO² and this year even 2,330 tons of CO². The trend is strongly increasing and the willingness to buy second-hand goods is growing. One of the reasons for this is the growing variety of modern second-hand and vintage stores, attractive second-hand shops as well as trustworthy online marketplaces and vehicle-occupation platforms in Switzerland. This diversity can also be seen in this year's Circular Heroes, who contributed physically or digitally from all over Switzerland. The frontrunners among the stationary Circular Heroes are the Salvation Army's Brockenhäuser, while the online leaders were the platforms Ricardo and tutti.ch.

Source and further information: www.secondhandday.ch