The lost property bins are overflowing: schools and halls are drowning in abandoned items and cases.

The bags of forgotten items are growing larger every year, and it’s partly because we’re less attached to our clothes today, says a lifestyle expert.

At Østre Skole in Ikast, bins and sacks filled with forgotten items—soccer cleats, hoodies, sweaters, food containers, rain pants, school bags, winter jackets—are piling up. At the school entrance, three large bins and three sacks are overflowing with forgotten belongings, all collected in just a few months.

“It surprises me how much we’ve gathered in such a short time since the autumn break,” says Mona Salquist, the pedagogical leader at Østre Skole.

Three times during the school year, they transport 5-10 sacks of forgotten items to recycling centers.

“As parents, we might not notice when we pick up our child whether they’ve left their sweater behind. And maybe we can’t even remember how much clothing they actually brought to school,” says Mona Salquist.

Above the bins of forgotten items now hangs a large green notice stating that the clothes will soon be taken to recycling.

“That does get some people to take a closer look. But for others, it’s completely overwhelming,” says Mona Salquist.

----------------------

Same trend in many places

----------------------

Gitte Madsen is one of the few parents who stops to check the bins this morning. She regularly inspects them when she comes to school and often finds something that one of her children has forgotten.

“It’s usually sweaters I find here. But I’ve also recently come across a pair of shoes that had been missing for some time,” says Gitte Madsen, who has three children at the school.

This same scenario plays out daily at schools across the country. At the schools we’ve spoken to—including those in Viborg, Ringkøbing, and Lemvig—the trend is identical: there are increasingly more forgotten items.

The same picture is seen at all the schools we’ve spoken to, as well as at sports halls.

At Holstebro Swimming Center, they have a storage room in the basement where forgotten towels, swimwear, and goggles are constantly accumulating.

“We fill about one laundry basket with forgotten items every evening,” says Tim Stigaard Lauridsen, the assistant hall inspector.

Right now, they have around 20 sacks of forgotten items stored at the swimming center, and the manager’s impression is that the problem is getting worse.

“I don’t think there’s the same culture as when I was a child, or as I’ve taught my own children. You really have to check before leaving to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything,” says Tim Stigaard Lauridsen.

----------------------------------

We don’t want to waste time searching

----------------------------------

The increasing forgetfulness is linked to our resources these days, says lifestyle expert Anne Glad.

“For most of us, time is scarcer than money. So it’s easier just to buy something new or order something online for home delivery than to spend time trying to remember where we might have left things,” says Anne Glad.

“It’s often fast fashion clothing that gets forgotten. And our attachment to these items isn’t as strong,” says the lifestyle expert.

At Østre Skole in Ikast, Gitte Madsen’s search through the bins of forgotten items didn’t yield any rewards today. The bins will be emptied next week, when the most recent months’ forgotten items will be taken to recycling. Gitte Madsen still hopes to find one of her grandchildren’s missing ski gloves.

“They’re just so hard to find in these piles. It’s a big school,” says Gitte Madsen.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.