Circular Economy: Shop and Save the World
By Yiler Huang
This is a Nike Air Jordan, picture took in the secondhand store HardOff
We went to a special place last Thursday – HardOff, the world's largest second hand store. That day, I learned something new about value. It was a special experience, because HardOff gave me some different feeling of second hand things. I think it is interesting that what some people considered junk can still be useful, this is just like what Mr.Mark from the recycling company do– They are doing Circular economy. Circular economy is a system where people and major companies reuse, recycle, share existing materials and products for as long as possible. This is to tackle problems like climate change, pollution, and waste. This trip has given me a new way of looking at things, and that circular economy should be the future.
In this trip, I’ve learned that things that are useless to someone doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. HardOff is a second hand store that cleans and fixes the things people don’t want anymore so they can sell them for money. This keeps the unwanted items from ending up in a dump, producing less wastes. On top of all that, I got a little money back from selling my old keyboard. One that I would have thrown away if I hadn't brought it along with me for the trip. The value of this trip to me wasn’t just monetary, but also educational.
I feel the value of this system for the people around me would be: they learned something just like me, because we’re all students. They may also learn that throwing away their stuff is not good for the environment, and it is better to reuse and recycle. Some might even be creative enough to refurbish their old things. This may help people be more aware of climate change and the need to protect our environment as well.
I believe the circular economy system would provide great environmental and monetary value for society. Some rare or hard to find products may have been thrown away despite still being in good condition. People can get some of the money back with a circular economy. On top of all that, the greatest societal value I feel would be that it reduces wastes and slows down the environmental problems that we are having now.
Our trip to HardOff was a very educational experience for me. We got to see one way that a circular economy can work and still be a successful business. I think if more people participated in this type of economy. There would be less pollution, global warming, and waste. This system can help our future generations with a clean environment as well. Striving for a complete circular economy might be hard, but I feel it will be more beneficial.
循環經濟：購物拯救世界
上週四我們去了一個特別的地方——HardOff，世界上最大的二手店。那天我學到了一些關於價值的新概念。這是一個很特別的體驗，因為 HardOff 給了我對於二手商品不同的感覺。我覺得有趣的是，就算別人不用的東西對別人來說也許仍然有用，像Chegho公司的Mr.Mark所做的循環經濟系統一樣。循環經濟是人們和大公司盡可能長時間地再利用、回收、共享現有材料和產品的系統。這是為了解決氣候變遷、污染和浪費等問題。這次校外教學給了我一種看待事物的新方式，讓循環經濟應該是未來的趨勢。
在這次旅行中，我了解到對有些人無用的東西並不代表著它沒有價值。 HardOff 是一家二手店，負責清理和修理人們不再需要的東西，再轉售給需要的人。這可以防止不需要的物品最終進入垃圾場，產生更少的廢物。最重要的是，我賣掉我的舊鍵盤拿到了五十塊。如果我沒有帶它來，我可能會把它丟掉。這次旅行對我的價值不僅在於金錢，而是有教育意義而且令人印像深刻的。
我覺得我周圍的人和我一樣學到了一些東西，因為我們都是學生。他們也可能了解到丟掉他們的東西對環境弊大於利，所以我們要再利用和回收。有些人甚至可能有足夠的能力來翻新他們的舊東西。這可能有助於人們更加了解氣候變遷以及保護環境的重要性。
我相信循環經濟體係將為社會提供巨大的環境和價值。儘管狀況良好，但一些稀有或難以找到的物品可能已被丟棄。人們可以通過循環經濟收回部分資金。最重要的是，我認為最大的社會價值是減少浪費並減緩我們現在面臨的環境問題。
我們的 HardOff 之旅對我來說是一次非常有教育意義的經歷。我們必須看到循環經濟可以運作並且仍然是成功企業的一種方式。我想如果更多的人參與到這種經濟中，污染、全球變暖和浪費都會減少。這個系統也可以幫助我們的後代擁有一個清潔的環境。爭取一個完整的循環經濟可能很難，但我覺得它與世界現在的經濟系統相比更對環境友善。