Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Join Freecycle to cut waste

Do you have items in your storeroom unutilised or underutilised and is cluttering up your house? Join a Freecycle group to help clear clutter, cut waste, help reduce the mountains at your nation's wastedumps, help the environment, help a fellow passenger of spaceship earth, etc. etc. At the time of writing, there are 3,086 communities and 1,661,428 members spread over many nations.

What is freecycle?

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community near you from http://freecycle.org. Can't find a group near you? You might want to consider starting one (click on "Start a Group" for instructions).

Alternatively, go to Yahoo Group's homepage and search for "freecycle". You will find thousands of groups.

Have fun!

History

The Freecycle Network was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson's downtown and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to "recycle" unwanted items. One person's trash can truly be another's treasure!

How does it work?

When you want to find a new home for something -- whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door -- you simply send an e-mail offering it to members of your Freecycle group.

Or, maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member's offer, and you just might get it. After that, it's up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure.

One main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.

Non-profit organizations also benefit from The Freecycle Network. Post the item or items you want to give away and a local organization can help you get it to someone in need.

Who can use the freecycle network?

Think globally, recycle locally. The Freecycle Network is open to all communities and to all individuals who want to participate. Freecycle groups are run by local volunteer moderators from across the globe who facilitate each local group - grassroots at its best!

Support them, and you support your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren ..........

4 comments:

animeg said...

Yes, freecycle is great.

Ms Ella said...

We love Freecycle. We've given away a lot of things that would have gone to the trash when we didn't want them any more, we've gotten a lot of things we needed that other people no longer needed, the most recent, a lotof empty bottles that I will use for putting up our homemade beer :)

Jean C
JeanC's Cat House and Shooting Society
http://jeanc38.bravemusings.com

(usning Ms Ella's ID to post)

Anonymous said...

oh wow. what a great idea...
I just usually put stuff on the side of the curb for the bums to look thru (they never fail to take what they need and leave the "real" garbage).
I'll have to look at that site!

sarahintampa said...

I love that group! It's a great idea!