The Ministry of Matter

"Christine enjoys her Prius & PT work at the library. She’s anxious about the State of the World, feels guilty about how much she throws away: she's aware that it’s a bigger issue than she can solve, but worries about her grandkids. She’d like to plug into a network that actually *does* something."

Sorting on Steroids

Overview: A socially-oriented hive-mind of dedicated and mission-driven stuff-sorters: giving back, paying forward, and delivering post-consumer supplies & materials specifically ready for repackaging & remanufacture.

Participants: Eco-Anxious Self-Soothers (ADHD, OCD, ASD) with discretionary time and an inclination toward community service.

Customer Profiles: Christine is 57 and semi-retired. She drives a Prius Hybrid and enjoys working part time at the local library where she feels protected by safety protocols and enjoys solid relationships with her coworkers and easy connection with regular patrons. She recycles judiciously and participates in her local FB buy & sell groups. She is, however, anxious about the State of the World: she feels guilty about how much she throws away (even as she’s doing her best: she knows it’s a bigger issue than she can solve on her own), worries about her grandkids’ future, and while she loves the connections she’s made online, transacting there feels inefficient, she’s not a huge fan of spending so much non-work time at a screen, and it can take a lot of work to get something from unlisted to picked-up, even when she’s giving things away. She’d like to plug into a network that’s actually *doing* something to reduce waste, maybe something that could also feed her desire to be more creative. If she could ride her bicycle to a volunteer gig and get a bit of exercise, too? Frank would be pleased to see her get out more, and some fresh air would be good for her spirit.

System Description: The Ministry of Matter is an organized social processing system that multi-solves for social anxiety/isolation while providing an organized materials flow for wholesale, retail, and production-oriented product flows.

Junket’s structured approach makes it possible for organizers to subsort product from thoughtfully gathered upstream sources (see also: Greener Gleaner, curated collection events, and commoditized collection processes) into organized, specifically-prepped, pre-production materials and pre-sale goods. This is a more detailed/structured system than monthly event programming, and pairs active, continuing activity coordination with both ad hoc and event-based processing for volunteer groups, retirees, and affiliated organizations seeking to contribute meaningfully to - or find focus and calm in supporting their community's transition to a post-carbon economy. Volunteers participate as they are interested/available. Participants may or may not participate in other Junket channels, and may or may not choose to contribute their own on-topic supplies or materials to a given processing effort.

SDG Mapping & future growth opportunities:

SDG Mapping: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

This system creates useful, scalable materials flow for piecework production of 100% reuse goods, plus specific, ongoing opportunities for individual contributors to opt into sustainable systems development, and has been intentionally designed in keeping with the following Sustainable Development Goals:

SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

This business model derives materials from upstream circular processes created in service to SDGs #6 (Clean Water & Sanitation) and #13 (Climate Action), and provides material inputs for downstream channels developed in alignment with SDGs #1 (No Poverty), #8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth), & #10 (Reduced Inequalities).

By packaging this System SOP for rapid replication and making it available on Etsy.com for licensed use in other communities, this system also maps to SDG #9 (Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure).

Future Growth Opportunities: Growth opportunities aligned with SDG #17 (Partnerships For The Goals) could include partnering to expand programming into therapeutic, healthcare, and group care environments: Play therapy? Mental health and/or job training programs?

Additional opportunities within this particular system include expansion into impact measurement, reporting protocols & service delivery; audit/certification of post-consumer product streams and providers, and direct sales of aggregated/sorted, certified remanufacture-ready materials & supplies to conventional markets.

This work represents the intellectual property of Julie Kearns for Junket: Tossed & Found (2010-2024). It may not be copied or shared without express permission. Inquiries may be directed to julie@shopjunket.com