UnEarth Magazine.

Words by Margaret Chingos, Art by Lucy Brown.

There is a constant whirlwind of borrowing that sweeps through St Andrews. For me, this culture of sharing manifests itself in the parades of chairs marched from friends’ flats to my own before any dinner party, or the rain coat I was lent for a fieldtrip drying on my door. I have found St Andrews unique in the fact that people are much more likely to borrow before they buy. So, these days I have scarves and spoons strewn from DRA to Lamond, and a corner of my room dedicated to returns. And strangely, despite the absence of buying, it is in St Andrew’s culture of sharing and generosity that I experience more abundance than ever before.   

So how come the culture of borrowing and sharing in St Andrews is so strong? After asking around, the reasoning has mostly come down to affordability and convenience. It is no surprise that St Andrews, is not the most affordable place to buy your common goods; anyone who shops at the Market Street Tesco is painfully aware of this. However, St Andrews also simply lacks affordable and reliable places to buy student staples. Don’t want to buy your dress for the next ball at Spoiled Life? You’ll have to travel to Dundee to find more affordable options. So, unless you want to refinance your life or succumb to shopping at Amazon, you’re frequently out of luck. 

This is where the culture of borrowing comes in. To avoid issues of affordability and convenience, the solution frequently is to share. There are programs in place within St Andrews that formalize this culture, such as St AndReuse, a program run through Transition St Andrews where staff, students and locals alike can donate unwanted goods for others to take free of charge. Since 2009, St AndReuse has been successful in rehoming over 40 tonnes of items and thereby saving people over 500k pounds and avoiding 200 tonnes of CO2.  

Alongside this program, much of the borrowing is informal and goes unaccounted for. My flat mate always cracks the same joke when I ask to borrow clothes, she says “of course! I couldn’t possibly wear them all at once!” To this I always laugh, but there is truth behind the sentiment. Most of us cannot use everything that we have at once, so of course it makes sense to share. It is this generosity, without a second thought, that makes this culture of sharing and borrowing so successful.  

This culture has impacts that span far greater than our small town, rather it is in alignment with formal worldwide movements. An example of such a movement is Buy Nothing, a campaign started in 2013 to encourage less consumption and more sharing through the “give-ask-gratitude” scheme on their app. Now, the app helps its 7.5 million users across 128 thousand communities rehome unwanted items. 

The benefits of formal movements like Buy Nothing, and their informal manifestations in St Andrews are immense. The founders of Buy Nothing explain that they witness communities become more ‘resilient, sustainable, equitable and joyful when they have a functioning gift economy.’ This can be explained by a general shift in mindset towards abundance and an increased connection to community, among other factors.   

A borrowing culture has incredibly positive benefits for the planet as it addresses the overconsumption problem we have in the global North. Currently, the material footprint per capita in high-income countries is ten times the level of low-income countries and if everyone were to consume like the United States, at least 5 Earths would be needed to compensate for the material demand. Overconsumption poses a serious issue as it guzzles natural resources and leaves us polluting the planet. By participating in a borrowing culture, we are reducing the amount we consume greatly.  

Obviously, the solution to overconsumption is not dependent on the actions of individuals alone, that is an oversimplification. However, individual action plays a part in the drive to lead less resource-intensive lives. Therefore, this article elevates and celebrates the positive culture around borrowing and sharing that helps the St Andrews community become a more sustainable one.  

So, next time you have an occasion you need to buy something for (a party with an absurd theme? A dinner that’s bring your own glass, spoon and chair? All very plausible St Andrews events…), considering making it a full St Andrews experience by asking your neighbor to borrow what you need before you hit the shops.