Reuse It or Lose It
Ecological and economic anthropologist Cindy Isenhour鈥檚 photographic exhibit at the 91福利 Hudson Museum explores Maine鈥檚 thriving reuse economy
By David Sims
91福利 assistant professor of anthropology and Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions associate Cindy Isenhour attended college as a business communications major鈥攚ith minors in marketing and management, worked as an account executive for an advertising agency, had something of an epiphany, and did a one-eighty.
鈥淚 had grown up in a household that was not particularly socially or environmentally engaged and at this point in my life I started to think more critically about what I was doing,鈥 Isenhour says. 鈥淪o I decided to go to graduate school, and for my master鈥檚 work I did an historical examination of what led to the development of the really strong mass consumer culture in the U.S.鈥 Both Isenhour鈥檚 master鈥檚 and Ph.D. are in anthropology. In her continuing journey, years later, Isenhour has trained her research focus on the strong culture of materials reuse in her adopted home state of Maine. A current exhibit at 91福利鈥檚 Hudson Museum provides a vivid portrait of this culture.
The reuse of material goods represents a simpler and less costly means of consumption compared to, in Isenhour鈥檚 words, 鈥渢he linear production-consumption system鈥 that drives economies, devours vast quantities of natural resources, and generally results in prodigious amounts of waste. Consider a single pair of blue jeans鈥攁n item of clothing that requires 11,000 gallons of water to produce.
Through photographs and detailed captions, the exhibit details Isenhour鈥檚 research of the reuse culture throughout Maine. Isenhour took the bulk of the photographs in the display (with additional contributions from her husband Ben and 91福利 Ph.D. student Courtney King) and wrote all the descriptive captions. Many of the images capture the innate beauty of聽the 鈥渇ound art鈥 of reuse items: shelves of well-worn, retired boat propellers, a glinting collection of blue-green glass telephone insulators.
鈥淚t鈥檚 aimed at educating the general public about the topic,鈥 Isenhour says of the exhibit. She adds, 鈥淎nd one thing that has surprised me when talking to people about all this is how very few of them have even thought about reuse, period, but especially from the environmental, economic or social perspectives that define our project.鈥
鈥淩esourceful ME鈥 examines the range of economic entities that support reuse in the state of Maine, ranging from flea markets, yard sales, antique markets, repair shops and architectural salvage to tool rental companies, pawn shops and the widely used Uncle聽Henry鈥檚 and Craigslist peer-to-peer exchange platforms. Whether the goal is to provide low-cost goods to families, protect the environment, connect with others in the community, or merely make a dollar, all are essential elements of Maine鈥檚 strong and long-standing culture of reuse.
鈥淲ith its vibrant tradition of 鈥榳aste not,鈥 Maine has lessons to share with other communities interested in sustainability and resilience鈥 according to the exhibit.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
There is nothing novel or new about reusing stuff, of course, and Isenhour points out that defining the practice is, in some ways, a matter of semantics. She notes, 鈥淪ome people characterize it as part and parcel of choosing 鈥榲oluntary simplicity鈥 as a lifestyle and the Quakers have a really long history of conserving resources and living simply. So the root of this comes from a quest for simplicity, in certain ways.鈥
But Americans鈥 consumer culture in general is anything but simple. According to the exhibit, the average American throws away more than four pounds of stuff every day, which over the course of a year adds up to more than 1,400 pounds per person. And total waste generation rates continue to rise year after year, resulting in increased financial strain for municipal governments, landfill pressure, and environmental contamination.
鈥淎nd yet, here in Maine, we can be proud to have one of the lowest per capita waste generation rates in the country due, in part, to a strong culture of reuse,鈥 says Isenhour.
As part of a larger Mitchell Center-funded project focused on materials management (solid waste), Isenhour works with a team of scholars investigating the reuse, repair and resale of objects as they relate to conserving Earth鈥檚 resources and helping to ensure more resilient and just economies for future generations.
Her interest in the reuse aspect of the project was sparked, in part, by meetings she鈥檚 attended with the Urban Sustainability Directors Network.
Says Isenhour, 鈥淕oing to these meetings鈥攑opulated mainly by sustainability directors for large U.S. cities like San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, Boston鈥擨 learned that reuse has really come into focus in many cities where they are exploring policies and programs designed to encourage the extension of product lifetimes. The problem is, we have very little data about the economic, environmental and social value or potential for reuse.鈥
Helping to fill in this data gap is where Isenhour鈥檚 team comes in.
鈥淲e are realizing that the consumption of goods and these linear product cycles that extract resources and put tons of energy into them to produce products only to bury them in the ground鈥攚e just can鈥檛 continue to do that,鈥 Isenhour says. 鈥淪o our work is not just about disposal prevention, it鈥檚 also about the prevention of economic waste鈥攖he idea that we鈥檝e invested human and natural and economic capital in these products and suddenly their value is just gone.鈥
Not if Uncle Henry has anything to say about it.
鈥淯ncle Henry鈥檚 is huge, the circular sells out and the number of people using the online platform is impressive,鈥 says Isenhour. And this, she adds, is a very positive development given the 鈥渁ging nature of a lot of our antiques and collectible shops.鈥 That is, research, including her own, has shown that traditional reuse venues in Maine are run by people who are, on average, in their 60s and, thus, might not be in business for much longer before retirement.
鈥淒ata suggests that traditional reuse avenues may be something that鈥檚 disappearing but, on other hand, we see online outlets like Uncle Henry鈥檚 and Craigslist are very popular among younger people,鈥 Isenhour says. 鈥淎nd so raises it the question, are they really fading out or is the reuse sector just shifting in form?鈥
Evidence of a shift in the form of reuse can be found in the popularity of collaborative consumption and sharing economies among younger people鈥攍argely in more urban areas鈥攚ho participate in things like tool libraries and car sharing where people exchange useful items without actual ownership.
Isenhour adds that completion of a statewide survey her group is doing will provide the age breakdown to determine what forms of reuse people are participating in鈥攙irtual, brick-and-mortar like thrift shops, peer-to-peer, etc. 鈥淥nce we can get that data then we鈥檒l have really good information on whether young people really don鈥檛 care about reuse or if they鈥檙e just participating in a completely different way.鈥
Regardless, the Pine Tree State鈥檚 strong tradition of reuse is not likely to disappear anytime soon. Says Isenhour, 鈥淚鈥檝e never seen a reuse economy like that in Maine and I鈥檝e lived in a lot of different places. It鈥檚 just really vibrant and to me it raises all sorts of questions about how it came to be and why is it so vibrant here compared to other places. There are even lots of people who travel to Maine because of it鈥攖here are blogs about Maine thrifting and antique tourism.鈥
One interesting finding from Isenhour鈥檚 recent survey of reuse businesses suggests that reuse has a significant financial benefit in Maine in the form of tourist dollars. 鈥淥ver 80 percent of the responding businesses reported that customers from out of state make up a large portion of their customer base and thus bring in a significant percentage of their income,鈥 she says.
Isenhour and her group鈥檚 research into Maine鈥檚 reuse economy, both historically and currently, will answer some important questions that, perhaps, will help ensure the state鈥檚 tradition of thriftiness, environmental stewardship, and strong local communities continues well into the future.