Life for rent

Published on Saturday 7 November 2009 19:03

OUR obsessive desire to own things is stifling the drive to create a leaner, greener world, but could a new 'borrowing' culture yet save the planet, asks Dani Garavelli

WE ALL have them. The impulse buys, worn once, and then left to languish in the back of the wardrobe. Or the DIY gadgets that looked so useful on TV, but which are now lying underused and rusting in the garage. Bought during the boom years, these fripperies are testament to a decade or more's conspicuous consumption; symbols of our long-term love affair with our possessions.

Now, in a bid to tackle global warming, we are being challenged to change our materialistic ways. Last week, the government's waste watchdog the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) said the "secret weapon" in meeting climate change targets might be overcoming our obsession with ownership.

With many products used for only a fraction of their lifespan, the report says we should stop buying so much and start renting instead. The quango identifies five categories of goods suitable for renting: high-end clothing; glassware and tableware; tools and equipment for house and garden; vehicles; and telephone, audio-visual and recreational equipment. It says shifting a fifth of household spending from purchasing to renting would cut emissions by about 2 per cent – or 13 million tonnes – of CO2 a year.

In a sense, Wrap is tapping into a cultural shift which is already underway. Driven by a combination of the recession and a growing environmental awareness, people are already becoming more receptive to sharing. Where once, wearing hand-me-downs would have been frowned upon, clothes-swapping parties have become all the rage. Car clubs have taken off in a big way, with almost 100,000 people having signed up across the UK (although only 3 per cent of them are in Scotland). And last year, Zilok.com, a rental eBay set up in the US, started operating in the UK, although, at present, it is difficult to get hold of more obscure items if you don't live in a big city. In London, it is even possible to "rent" your pet by the day, instead of buying it. For an annual fee of 50, plus a monthly subscription, time-poor dog- lovers can buy themselves four days a month with their dog.

When you think of how little some purchases are used (clothing is only used, on average, for 66 per cent of its potential lifespan), and how much storage space they take up, paying by the day for the use of them does seem like an attractive proposition. But how economical and practical would it really be to live a life for rent?

When it comes to high-end clothing, I'm sold on the idea: how fantastic would it be to slip into a new dress, knowing your children won't have to eat beans on toast for the rest of the month as a result, and that it won't end up gathering dust when you put on a few pounds at Christmas?

Renting clothes for big nights out allows you to wear designer names you would not otherwise be able to afford and to sport a different outfit on every occasion. And why stop at the frock? There is now a plethora of websites offering designer handbags, shoes and jewellery for special occasions.

If you pay 7.50 a month to join Handbag Hire HQ, you can rent a red Balenciaga brief worth 1,200 for 35 a week. "There are a lot of people who spend 1,000 on a handbag and then it sits in their wardrobe," says Jo Trafford, who owns the company. "Others may feel incredibly guilty about spending money they know should be going elsewhere. Renting makes it easier. But we try to capture the experience of buying for our customers. We put each handbag into a lovely leatherette package, so when they open it, they still feel special."

For women, then, renting their finery has real advantages. But less so for men, perhaps. Hiring a fairly ordinary tuxedo will set you back around 40, but you can buy one for 150-200, so you would only have to wear it four or five times to get your money's worth. And for many Scottish men, buying a kilt is a rite of passage; it's a luxury item that's supposed to last a lifetime.

Gardening and DIY tools are obvious contenders for the rental market. Few of us want a backpack sprayer or wallpaper stripper lying cluttering up the house and the jobs they are required for are likely to take a day or more, making the cost and palaver of hiring them worthwhile. But mowing your front lawn and digging up your borders are likely to be spur-of-the- moment chores, carried out on the one dry day of the week. Would you really want to plan your grass-cutting in advance and – unless you have an enormous garden – 13 a day seems a lot to pay to be able to do it.

On the other hand, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't rent tableware and glassware for house parties. Few people these days have more than 12 matching plates, dessert bowls and sets of cutlery – and picking it all up on the day saves you worrying about locating every last fork.

When it comes to swapping ownership for renting, cars are probably my biggest sticking point. Although I know car clubs are increasingly popular (Edinburgh has the most successful one outside London, with 110 cars; and one is being launched in Glasgow's west end later this month), I just can't imagine ever being organised enough to make it work.

Former Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland Clive Fairweather says he always rents (through a rental company rather than a car club). Some weeks he doesn't need one at all, other weeks he rents for five days on the trot. But, he says, the very fact he has to plan it in advance encourages him to be more disciplined about his car usage.

"I think you just get to a stage where you think: 'I've got a car, which I'm having to pay insurance and tax for, but which spends half the time sitting in the garage,'" he says. "When I haven't got a car, I walk more which is good. And when I am renting, I make sure I pack a lot into a small amount of time. Renting makes me drive more carefully – I don't want to bump someone else's car and it even makes me drive more slowly because, believe me, it's embarrassing to have to tell the girl at the rental desk you've got a speeding ticket."

I know I could use my car less. My children could travel to school by bus, though that would cost me. And I could do the bulk of my grocery shopping online. But what about their after-school clubs? Are we really going to hire a car, every time we take them to the cinema, swimming or football training? And what about those many nights when I suddenly realise we've run out of bread and milk?

Among the biggest, bulkiest purchases many families make are those related to camping. But there are already websites which allow customers to rent everything from tents and airbeds to car roof-boxes and lanterns. The upside of renting is that sleeping bags will no longer drop on your head every time you open your wardrobe. The downside is that impromptu guests will no longer be able to crash on the floor and you won't be able to sling everything in the back of the car and drive off whenever you fancy.

Renting your in-home entertainment is also very much on Wrap's agenda. For years, a large proportion of the population rented their TVs and VCRs, but gradually it went out of fashion. Now, however, it is possible to do so again, the advantage being that when it breaks down, you don't have to spend hours wrestling with unintelligible instructions, you can just phone the rental company.

The idea of hiring a portable DVD player for long car journeys, or a Wii for a couple of weekends when you've got children staying, also seems appealing. As for DVDs themselves, there's something obscene about owning piles of discs which have only ever been watched once. That's why Lovefilm.com – where customers can sign up to have DVDs of their choice sent to their home – has proved so popular.

Iain Gulland, Wrap's director for Scotland, holds up Lovefilm.com as an example of how the whole renting market can be transformed. "It has taken an old concept – renting films – and made it work for the digital age," he says.

In his book Affluenza, psychologist Oliver James identifies the cult of possession as one of the main blights afflicting the West in the 21st century. If this cultural attachment to ownership is to be overcome, people will have to be won over on cost and convenience as well as by a desire to save the world. And the rental sector will have to expand so everything you need is more or less on your doorstep. After all, it's difficult to see how carbon emissions would be cut if you had to drive 25 miles every time you wanted to use a spade.

Nevertheless, Liz Goodwin, director of Wrap, believes we need to kick our consumption habit to create a greener, leaner world. "Why would anyone want to own that many things anyway?" she says. "We need to have the confidence that we can get things when we need them, but we don't need to have them sitting beside us every day."