National Old Stuff Day is a holiday that encourages everyone to rid themselves of all the junk and clutter in their lives and to add new things. Too many of us have outdated, broken, or useless items cluttering our homes, and this is the day to address all that stuff. This holiday is observed on March 2nd and is the perfect day for everyone to begin a new spring cleaning regimen.

The History of National Old Stuff Day

Unfortunately, we were unable to uncover the origins of this holiday. All we can assume is that whoever invented it wanted to rid their homes of junk. We’ll continue to search for the origins of this holiday and will update this section as necessary.

Amazing Facts About Junk

Hopefully, we’re not cluttering up our holiday by adding a section about junk, but we just couldn’t resist. After all, if getting rid of junk is the purpose of this holiday, then it’s important that we talk a little bit about junk.

• Some of the junk that’s been pulled from the world’s oceans includes rubber ducks, fireplaces, bowling balls, and even action figures.
• In 2014, the number one piece of trash picked up on shorelines and beaches was cigarette butts.
• Single-use plastics are now one of the main pollutants that end up on shorelines.
• Every year, 12 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean, and this amount increases every year.
• San Francisco recycles up to 80% of the waste it generates.
• Approximately half of all Americans replace their cellphones on a yearly basis.
• U.S. consignment shops, thrift shops, and antique stores generate over $17 billion in profit every year.
• Goodwill Industries posts almost $4 billion in sales across 3,000 stores.
• The average American produces almost 5 pounds of trash per day.
• The average American only recycles or composts 1.5 pounds of trash per day.
• Scrap recycling creates almost half a million jobs in the United States.
• From 1972 to 2003 in the United States, more than a trillion aluminum beverage cans ended up in landfills.
• The Guinness World Record for the most consumer electronics recycled during a one-week period was set in April 2015. A total of 1,180,442 pounds were recycled.
• In the U.S., there are over 3,000 community-based composting programs in operation.

Observing National Old Stuff Day

Want to observe this holiday? If so, then the first thing you’re going to want to do is take stock of the stuff you own. Make a list and decide whether what you own is junk that you can get rid of or if it’s still important to you. Once you’ve decided what’s junk and what’s not, you can then decide how to get rid of the stuff. Common ways include throwing it away, giving it to a charitable organization, or even selling it. When you’re finished, use the hashtag #NationalOldStuffDay to let us know how it went.