ACADEMY OF UNNECESSARY THINGS

There is just an ordinary urban landscape with high rise buildings and the things you can usually see on a housing estate like overflowing rubbish bins whose contents not only tell you which store most residents shop at, but also what kind of lifestyle they lead. Frequently, especially outside old blocks of flats or houses you can see torn cardboard boxes full of old things, piles of well-thumbed books and, what makes you feel quite sad, old, once loved toys. What was only yesterday a child's oldest and best friend, to which he or she confided all their secrets, a favourite cute but ordinary doll or a little toy car, is ending its days on the rubbish tip.

As time is passes and children grow up and get older, they become less trusting and open to the world about them. Those favourite toys and things are frequently no longer needed and thrown away. The best thing that can happen to them is that they are passed down to younger siblings, but more often than not they just gather dust in a cupboard or are simply thrown away. The same thing happens to old, but still good things like clothing, books, domestic items. You can frequently find perfectly acceptable used machines and domestic appliances on the rubbish tip.

Going back to what is old  

Even the great Leonardo da Vinci said that, if you don't use something for a year, it is time to throw it away. The Japanese have a tradition of throwing out all old things before the new year starts so that positive energy can keep circulating. Our grandparents, who lived through the post-war years with little to eat, our parents who became accustomed to survive in age of complete shortages, have taught us to be thrifty. Toys were passed down to younger children, old things were resewn into fashionable new garments, broken domestic appliances were carefully cleaned and repaired. This attitude deserves to be respected not only because it teaches us to be thrifty, but as a mark of respect for the person who made it, and also from the point of view of the environment, because over-consumption results in masses of domestic waste. Today, at a time when there is an abundance of everything, there is no need to become attached to old things since you can always buy new ones, freely available for every taste and pocket, to replace the worn-out old things you are fed up with.

But is it really necessary to get rid of old things, toys and domestic appliances without any good reason if they can somehow still be used? What happens to the things that are thrown out just like that?

The flea market  

In wartime and periods of shortages and crises people have been forced to sell their valuables in order to earn money. Sometimes, these really were valuable antiques, jewellery, sometimes the once fashionable crystal glass items, dinner and tea services and clothing. Now flea markets are held in cities and towns all over the world. Moreover, things are not always being sold just to buy groceries. Old vintage objects have always been popular with lovers of antiques and exotic things. At these second-hand-goods' markets enterprising people buy useful domestic items cheaply, and those who like Soviet-produced goods can find literally heaps of stuff produced in the former USSR. It is quite logical that tourists really enjoy going round the flea markets found all over the former Soviet Union. Battered old articles made by proletarian industry are now regarded as genuine relics; naturally the older they are the more valuable they are. Mementos of the Great Patriotic War [Second World War ] are particularly sought after as well as old cameras, badges and coins, which are very much collectors' items.

You can quite often put together the entire history of family from what is on the stalls (and often just laid out on an old blanket on the ground); old crockery, sometimes chipped at the edges, makes it especially authentic and valuable to those who like it; silver glass holders, china figures, which were once a must in every sitting room; grandmother's lace-edged serviettes; the scarce German rubber dolls produced by good neighbour countries in the socialist camp, the favourite soft teddybears which have become tatty, kaleidoscopes, binoculars… In general, everything that forms a picture "of a family's ups and downs".

Not many people are aware of it, but there is a flea market in Baku. It is not far from Sabuncu  station. Visitors to the capital and even Baku residents, who wish to take a dip into the Soviet past, can visit what is almost a rather rare location. Here you can find not only nice old records that music lovers are so fond of, original presents and souvenirs, but also useful items for the home. Uncle Vitya, one of the salesmen, who trades in Soviet-period souvenirs, told me that traders from the city centre souvenir shops often pay his stall a visit. They buy things cheaply there and then resell them to tourists with a considerable mark-up. Another salesman, Mahir, who trades in collectors' items such as slide projectors with various sets of slides and small portable gramophones among other things, told me that he earns 20 to 30 manats at weekends. Many of the city's inhabitants have seen notices stuck on the walls in the entrance halls of their blocks of flats, offering to buy old coins, medals, samovars and Soviet-produced articles. Since there are bound to be quite a few of these things in every flat, this is a splendid way of getting rid of "old rubbish", as some people call it, that we no longer need.

Social networking  

The existence of interest-based social networks has made contacts between people and the search for the information they need much simpler. Lovers of "things that are hard to find" can now get in contact with like-minded people and exchange unwanted "things that are worth having" without even leaving home. The "Free to a good home" and "Ready to take away free" sites are equally popular. Amazing as it is, there are still quite a few people who love old toys. They are not just collectors, but people who hanker after their childhood or wish to expose their children to some of the joys of their own childhood. They are ready to pay a small sum for toys or things that you are not regarded as particularly valuable, but which can be of use to others.

Exchanging and giving away children's things free is a particularly important aspect of this practice. Mothers whose infants have outgrown their things can easily provide a needy child with a whole batch of little-used things. "I constantly access exchange marts," a young mother, Solmaz Movsumova, recounts. "Children grow quickly and need bigger things all the time. Here on the exchange mart website I can get all the clothing I need quite cheaply."

"Flash-mob-type" exchange marts have become popular of late. Groups of people spontaneously put photographs of their unwanted items on the Internet, and those who want them can get them free or for a small sum. As mentioned above, the abundance of clothing and toys available now means things don't have time to get worn out and spoiled and can quite easily be of use to someone else. The exchange of second-hand books has already become quite a tradition on the Internet;  surely it is better to give away books to people who want them or to a library, rather than watch how they are torn up and turned into paper cones by sunflower seed sellers.

Those who do not have access to social networks and are not able to get information from them give old unwanted things to the church or the mosque. Nadejda Kolesnikova tells me that she always takes her old clothing to the church, because the priest and the clergymen know who is poor in the parish and distribute everything among the needy. 

Charity  

There are always people in society who think about what happens to orphans, the homeless and other representatives of the socially unprotected strata. These people take an active part in their fate, helping them in any way they can. Since orphans, fostered children and those living in old people's homes often need clothing, toys and the necessities of life, volunteers very often launch appeals for the things required by these socially vulnerable groups. Games, clothing and toys, old books and textbooks are often needed. Parvina Quliyeva, one of the volunteers on the www.umid.az website, who is engaged in collecting money and things that are needed says, "We often make appeals on the Internet for help for a needy family. We receive information about needy people from all kinds of sources: either someone knows of an old lady, a neighbour living on her own, or someone makes regular visits to an orphanage and learns what the children there need or there is a big family that barely has enough to provide itself with food." 

Don't throw things away that can still be of use to someone. Who knows, but perhaps an old flannelette blanket that you are fed up with because it has worn thin may keep a homeless person warm on cold nights, and perhaps a bunny rabbit with one only eye left may be the best present for a little child. Think about that the next time you take your unwanted things to the rubbish bin.