Freecycle your stuff
Posted by DavidM in Reduce, re-use, recycle | 12 August 2006
As I've started getting more interested in how I can make my lifestyle more sustainable, I've come across whole communities I never knew existed.
One of these is the Freecycle community. It's a non-profit organisation of local groups who give each other things they don't need for free. Imagine ebay without money being involved.
I thought it sounded a nice idea but would anyone really just give stuff away when you can flog it on ebay, in the local paper or at a car boot sale? Well, the first surprise was how many local groups there are.
It only started in 2003 but there are over 3,700 groups worldwide and they have 2.5 million members (including me now).
Having joined my local group (very efficiently and pleasantly run by Kirsty judging by the emails I've had so far) the next surprise was how many offers and requests there are. They are nearly 1,000 posts a month which I think is amazing.
And finally, the items being given away - no strings attached as is the criteria - is astonishing. Yesterday's email included offers of baby buggies, single and king-sized beds, a CD-ROM drive, guinea pig hutch and more. Previously I've seen fridges and washing machines on offer.
This is a thriving community and the fact that you can't charge or demand a swap for anything you offer gives it a really different feel. I really like this.
Now I just have to prize something from my wife's car boot sale stock to give away and I too can get that nice warm glow.
