Car boot sales play an important role in providing a social point for the resale and reuse of items that would otherwise be destined for landfill. In London alone there are around 30 car boot sales taking place each week.
During the spring and summer months all across the UK car boot sales open their gates and communities come together to sift through each overs unwanted items.
The car boot phenomenon is thriving across the UK and is now speading its wings into other countries.
It's claimed that Father 'Harry' Clark, a catholic Priest from Manchester first introduced the Car boot sale to the UK after seeing a similar event being held in Canada while on holiday there in the early 1970s.
It appears that thanks to Father Harry Clark that now millions of pounds of goods are exchanged and thousands of tonnes of previously unwanted items are saved through car boot sales in the UK.
Car boot sales set themselves apart from traditional markets in many ways, perhaps most noticably because the majority of goods are the general publics unwanted private belongings and not new goods.
Car boot sale goods are also much less rigid on prices and encourage the age-old tradition of bartering that was once associated with medievel markets.
In the early years car boot sales where typified as being the pastime pursuits of the less well off, cousins to the more traditional jumble-sales. However, in a short time they have grown to become important community focal points and their impact on recycling has been acknowledged by professional and govermnet groups.
However, by an large governments have ignored the social and economic benefits of car boot sales, save to look at ways of picking taxes out of them.
Last year we spoke to a lot of people at our event and it was clear that car boot sales have many facets.
'It is good to see parents encouraging their children to sell off old toys in order to save for new ones. It teaches the youngsters the value of things'
'We don't get out much these days. The bootsale is a great place to meet up with friends and have a cup of tea and a chatter.'
'I paid £2 for this ironing board. I don't see why I should go to the shops and buy something impoted from China when I can but it cheap at a car boot sale.'
What to do with unsold car boot sale items?
in 2012 we will be offering an onsite waste disposal service!
It's not always possible to sell everything at the car boot sale on one day. Some people come back and have another go or wait until they've sorted out some more items to sell.
You could always contact your local charity shops as they are often eager to recieve stock, even car boot sale items. But please don't just dump your unwanted items outside their doors, it's fly-tipping and illegal!
If your charity shop is not able to take the items then try freecycle. You can advertise the items and they're free to the collector.
If you do need to take your items to the Dump, you'll find out the new name for the dump is HWRS, household waste recycling services! If you ask the guys there they'll show you the best place to put your items.
Due to new EU targets and local investment a lot of items can now be recycled such as Textiles, CD's DVD's, electronics etc, which saves on us processing new raw materials and sending everything to landfill.
Horsham HWRS is closest to us.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on the impact of car boot sales on both recycling and community and any interesting ways of recycling.
Why not share your thoughts by using our car boot sale forum?
Just click here
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