Nice article!
Right now, having young kids, it's really hard to pare stuff down. We have bins full of clothes for all seasons (3 boys) that won't be gone until we have #4 (if we decide to do so). Same with age-appropriate toys. As much as I'd like to freecycle them, it's hard to find the stuff my kids really like to play with without spending a lot of $.
But more to the point of the article, it really got me thinking - it's just awful that as a society (at least in the US), we don't have many great ways to 'properly' dispose of stuff, especially when it's so damn easy to acquire stuff. I know plenty of people who are just glad to throw everything in the garbage but it just seems so wrong to do so. And yet, if I want to, say, get rid of a broken TV (kids like to throw shit at TV's)- I have to drive myself 10 miles/20 minutes to the county waste collection site, which also only happens to be open when I'm working and for 4 hours on a Saturday.
I think this is why most people have so much stuff. It just comes in, and then never leaves because we don't know what to do with it all. Purging it feels like being a contestant on the "Biggest Loser" - during a purge, it's really easy to get rid of stuff that's long sat around because you've dedicated mental energy and time to the task at hand, but slowly it all starts to come back without even thinking about it - keeping the junk away is almost a lifelong task, something that you must commit to and not let slip.
I know plenty on this forum have an easier time keeping things away (as in the OP's article, living in a small space is an easy shield), but for the average person in this country, it's probably not something so easily accomplished.