Secondhand shopping at the Zero Waste Market: ‘Can we manage to carry this home for 20 minutes?’

Hente (24, Industrial Product Design) sits on a secondhand black leather chair next to the Aula, trying to think up solutions. Next to her is a round oak table with a see-through plastic coffee table on top of it. She says that she and her flatmate were looking for a table like this. And that coffee table is perfect. She sighs deeply. “The delivery people are already full. Can you think of any way to get it home?”

The delivery service that OWee is using for the secondhand furniture is indeed already busy this afternoon. For EUR 10 you can use the service. While the Zero Waste Market is open from 10:00 to 17:00, a lot of items already have a ‘reserved’ sticker shortly after noon. And this while this is the first time that the OWee Board organised the market.

They managed to gather a wide range of good secondhand furniture for the day. All the goods – from tables and chairs to vacuum cleaners and containers full of records – looking for a second life.

Various things

The records draw the attention of 18 year old Martje (Industrial Design Engineering) who proudly shows her haul. First is the Dikkertje Dap’ children’s poem, then one of Dutch singer Herman van Veen, the Matthäus-Passion and a Mozart requiem in a luxury shiny red cover. The “really pretty two seater striped sofa which was perfect for a room” that she had seen earlier is very unfortunately already gone.

A secondhand market like this is nice, says Joren (19, Mathematics), joining the group. “You see things that you don’t normally see. There are really good things here. It’s better that they are here than in the rubbish dump. There are good pieces of furniture for a ridiculously low price.”

He needs a sofa for his new room, but is restraining himself. “I’m waiting for my flatmate and his parents. But things are going fast so I’m going to app them to say that they need to hurry.”

Sustainability

The Zero Waste Market came about from ideas about sustainability, says OWee Board Member Madelief de Bruin (24, Architecture and the Built Environment master). The Board collected the items over the last two weeks. Delft residents could bring their secondhand goods to the special Avalex containers. Avalex is the waste processing plant in Delft. Two large containers full were brought to campus on Thursday.

The Board sees the market as a win-win. Cheap furniture for the students while at the same time avoiding discarded things ending up in the rubbish dump while they are still usable. A perfect match, believes Board Member Madelief. “Students don’t care much if not everything is in the exact same style. You just like that sofa and it fits in the living room.”

Rosa (20, Songwriting in Rotterdam) is fiddling with the drawer of a small wooden cupboard. Her parents had told her about the OWee market. “I thought it would be useful. At the moment I still live with my parents in Delft, but I need furniture for my new room in Rotterdam.” In answer to the question if the cupboard will go home with her, she looks cautiously at Bob (19, Econometrics at the University of Rotterdam), her childhood friend. “It will be hard on the bicycle. Can we manage to carry this for 20 minutes home?”

Tired faces

Traditionally, the Thursday of the OWee is a quiet day after four days of partying. The market and the festival in the adjacent Mekelpark are the last events on the programme. Some student associations give a closing party on the Thursday evening. While walking around the area, OWee Board Member Madelief saw a lot of ‘tired faces’.

For her, it was a memorable week. But she hopes that the visitors think so too. “It is the start of a new period for them. Everything is new. I hope that at the end of this week everyone has the feeling that things will work out well, that they have found their place at TU Delft, and that they will have a good time.”

For Artem (19, Electrical Engineering), he is sure that everything will work out fine. The DSB wrist band on his left arm shows that he is a new member of the Delftsche Studentenbond. “Hopefully I will be able to get a room through them.” He saw a lot of nice things at the market. But “Without a room, I can’t put things anywhere.”