The Second Hand Effect Project

Achieving SDG12: There are many reasons why people sell and buy products on second-hand shopping sites. One obvious reason is to make a good deal. Another is that people also see it as a practical way to get rid of furniture and other things. There is also a growing trend to shop vintage items and clothes. Last but not least, there is the environmental aspect. A user-survey in Schibsted’s Swedish marketplace, Blocket, indicated that greater awareness of climate change is increasing the incentive to use the site. No matter the motivation, the trade on these sites is an important contribution to responsible consumption and towards reducing our environmental footprint. To calculate the savings of greenhouse gases and material, we have collaborated with the Swedish Environmental Research Institute, IVL. IVL has used the sales figures from the different marketplaces as well as customer surveys and information about energy consumption from office operations and data centers. The calculation is based on the assumption that each used product that is sold replaces the production of a new equivalent product. IVL has extracted data regarding the material composition of products sold at our marketplaces and recalculated it into the equivalent of tonnes of saved greenhouse gas emissions. This report shows that the Second Hand Effect actually reduces our negative environmental footprint. In 2019, Schibsted and Adevinta users from 12 sites saved 25.3 million tonnes greenhouse gases, 1.5 million tonnes plastic, 9.5 million tonnes steel and 0.9 million tonnes aluminium. This huge amount of greenhouse gas and material are equivalent to 50% of the total annual emission in Norway, the production of 204 billion plastic bags, 2.5 million steel containers and 60 billion aluminium cans. See the report https://schibsted.com/secondhandeffect/