Sharing economies are gaining traction.
In them, customers, citizens, and communities are able to share assets through digital platforms to both minimise waste and spending, while maximising community togetherness.
This is the idea behind the platform Lendecon.
Lendecon is a website that allows its members to borrow and lend equipment to one another. Featuring powertools like lawn mowers, camping equipment like sleeping bags, and sporting items like golf caddies, Lendecon encourages sustainability and the continued use of pre-loved goods.
Turramurra local Dylan Pathirana developed and founded Lendecon to rescue millions of items finding their way to landfill.
‘In today’s day and age, we are very materialistic and consumerist, we buy these cheap, low-quality products, which at the end of the day, get used once or twice,’ explains Dylan. ‘Probably, twenty other people on our street have the exact same piece of equipment. [Lendecon] is trying to improve the utilisation of what we already have. ’As a Renewable Energy Engineer, Dylan is interested in sustainability, and after taking a short course at Stanford in the United States, and seeing how quickly businesses scale with software, decided that software may be his way of implementing change.
‘I was cleaning out my garage and I noticed just how much stuff I had accumulated and I connected all the dots,’ says Dylan.
Lendecon, though is in its early days, has available items in categories such as tools, camping, leisure, party, events, and sports. Members of Lendecon can upload their items to be rented out, with a small fee, and browse items in their local area.
Through this, members can borrow items from neighbours they may have not felt comfortable asking for themselves and have the opportunity to begin friendly relationships during drop-off and pick-up times.
These ideas of sharing economies are coming to the forefront of society. Considering the devastating effects of the cost-of-living crisis, and the rate of rapid social disconnection, bringing the community together to reduce unnecessary spending and waste may be vital.
To learn more about Lendecon, visit www.lendecon.com.au
