Fast furniture is all over social media and with trendy pieces at cheap prices it can be hard to resist. But low-quality, mass-produced items are often quickly headed for landfill. The waste recovery industry as well as local furniture makers are urging consumers to consider making more sustainable choices.
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00:00Tucked away in a converted Apple cool store, Laura McCusker is designing furniture to last hundreds of years.
00:13If you make something these days with all of the technology that we've got and all of the understanding we have,
00:18and you look after it, there's absolutely no reason that it shouldn't be able to last just as long, if not longer.
00:23Ms McCusker adheres to the slow design movement.
00:27Instead of buying stuff that's really quick to access, quick to make, and cheaper, you actually sort of invest in pieces that will last forever.
00:35So buying once, buying well, looking after it, maintaining it, and buying from makers who are local.
00:42It's an ethos which she says is important in the current era of fast furniture,
00:47which, like fast fashion, is mass-produced, cheaper furniture which is normally not made of solid timber.
00:55What we see online is influencing consumer behaviour, especially for younger people,
01:01who, when it comes to buying furniture, look for social media worthy pieces.
01:06They might be thinking, oh, this piece is going to bring me more attention,
01:11or this is going to allow me to engage with my mates on Instagram or TikTok.
01:17This tip in Hobart has seen an increase of dumped fast furniture since 2020.
01:25We end up with a lot more of it, and ultimately a lot of this material does end up in landfill,
01:31because it's much harder to recycle than our traditional old solid wood timber furniture.
01:37Consumers are trying to strike a balance between sustainability and affordability.
01:43As much as they want to be more sustainable, they face all these obstacles, these barriers,
01:49and this is where we possibly see they start to look for these cheaper options.
01:54If you're on a student, you know, your student income, by all means, you've got to do what you've got to do.
01:58But, you know, maybe when you finish with it, pass it on to somebody else, or look after it.
02:04There's lots of options out there, from your op shops and your tip shops, to things like marketplace.
02:11Showing that buying furniture more sustainably doesn't have to blow the budget.
02:17All sorts of options out there.
02:20.