In Frome, Somerset, a community venture called SHARE started lending tools, kitchen equipment, and camping gear to local members in 2015, at a time when the idea of borrowing a drill rather than buying one still seemed slightly eccentric. It was one of the first of its kind in the UK.
The logic was straightforward. Most households own tools that are used for a total of a few hours over their entire lifespan. A drill, on average, is used for somewhere between twelve and fifteen minutes in its entire life. The rest of the time it sits in a cupboard, occupying space and representing a purchase that could have been shared.
The lending model solves this without requiring anyone to give anything up permanently. You join, you pay a modest annual membership, and you borrow what you need when you need it. The drill gets used for twelve minutes in your house and twelve minutes in forty other houses, which means forty fewer drills manufactured, forty fewer drills in landfill at the end of their lives.
Frome was not alone for long. There are now over a hundred Libraries of Things operating across the UK, from community sheds in urban areas to more formal services operating alongside existing spaces. The Library of Things, which operates across London and several other UK cities, has expanded the model to include camping equipment, party supplies, and household appliances alongside tools.
The environmental case is clear. The social case is equally strong. People who use these services report meeting neighbours they had never spoken to, learning skills from other members, and feeling more connected to their local area through the shared resource.
It is a genuinely old idea. Borrowing things from people you know rather than buying things you rarely use is what communities did before the economics of mass production made ownership cheaper than sharing. The Library of Things is simply a more organised version of that, with a catalogue and a booking system and a community of people who have decided that sharing makes more sense than accumulating.
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