Scotsman.com Living - Freecycle is great accordion to Emma
Freecycle is great accordion to Emma
JULIA HORTON (jhorton@edinburghnews.com)

THERE was a time when recycling meant handing your unwanted clothes, books and household goods to jumble collectors, then buying someone else’s junk in return come the day of the sale, or calling Noel Edmonds on a Saturday morning and swapping your roller boots for a Monopoly game.

Then came the advent of mass car boot sales where people truly discovered that one man’s rubbish is another’s riches.

But these days, thanks to the advance of the green movement, the apparent falling-out-of-fashion of jumbles and the red and blue boxes supplied by the city council, recycling for an increasing number in Edinburgh is becoming a way of life.

And for them everything AND the kitchen sink can be recycled, from £2 off vouchers for film developing to beds, cars, TVs, bags of sand and even hay fever tablets.

These recycling fanatics are part of Freecycle, a kind of grassroots recycling online community who aim to save the planet by allowing people to pass on things that they no longer want to someone else who does want them, thus stopping goods from being dumped in landfill.

The range of belongings which are offered is so vast that people can and do furnish their entire homes through freecycling. And then there are the requests - such as one from a man desperate to find a pair of size 11 or 12 smart shoes for an imminent job interview.

Like many freecyclers, Emma Boyce 22, and boyfriend Craig Thomson, 28 of Morrison Circus in the West End turned to Edinburgh Freecycle to help them shift excess baggage when they moved house. Emma, a customer adviser at Scottish Water, is now a serial freecycler.

She says: “We moved from a three bedroom house to a one bed flat and we had lots of stuff like furniture which we couldn’t fit in which we gave away on the site. I recently gave away my computer, which wasn’t worth anything to me, to a family who didn’t have one. That made me feel good. I tend to give things to the people who sound like they need them the most.

“Craig is more into the environmental side of it, keeping things out of landfill, so he just gives things to whoever.”

She adds: “But we have got a TV and a DVD player through it. I’ve got some random things too, like a piano accordion. It’s worth about £750 and I don’t know why the man wanted to get rid of it but he gave it to me after I e-mailed and told him that I’m very musical and was really interested in learning to play it.

“I’m having lessons now and can play at least seven songs. I also posted a message asking for tap shoes and I now have some which I’m learning to dance in.”

In desperation recently she even posted a plea for hay fever medicine. She says: “It was evening and the chemists were all shut so I thought I’d give Freecycle a go. Someone replied that night. It’s amazing to think that if you need something like that people will give it to you. There’s a real community spirit.”

To become a freecycler, people have to register with the online site and give a basic outline of what they have available or need.

Some offers like “Free Small Car Nr Penicuik” sound too good to be true. And owner Emma Rawling admits that her Peugeot hatchback needed a new engine. But she is delighted that it has been taken by a mechanic who is doing it up for his wife.

Emma, 34, a wildlife conservation student living in Glencorse, near Penicuik, says: “I could not afford to repair my car myself so I am really pleased that it is going to be used by someone. It went really quickly too, it was all done within a few days. It’s such an easy way to get rid of something.

“I’m not a freecycle junkie but I’ve always been a bit of a fanatical recycler and I heard about freecycle through friends.”

Even the most unlikely items are snapped up, as Julie Dawson discovered when she offered a supply of used jiffy bags which she acquired through her addiction to eBay.

The 30-year-old children’s art teacher and textiles designer of Leith Walk, says: “I have had about a dozen responses. I don’t know why people want them but I’m delighted that they can go to some use.

“It’s incredible the things which people want. I started using the site at the start of the year and I remember seeing a posting offering three Lucozade bottles, and they went.”

Although the site urges users to be aware of the possible risk of meeting strangers in private, Julie says that most freecyclers prefer to have things picked up from their home, which she says works well. She does have one complaint which other freecyclers share, however.

“A lot of people are unreliable. They say they want something and then you never hear from them again, which is frustrating.”

Meanwhile Craig Smith, a 27-year-old actuary, used Freecycle for the first time to shift a bed which he and his wife Laura, 26, didn’t need at their Canonmills home any more. “It was in perfect condition but it was no use to us because we were getting new furniture delivered. My wife found out about Freecycle and we thought we would try it.

“Within about two or three hours we had about ten replies. If you call the council to pick something up it can be a couple of weeks.

“We gave it to the person we thought was the most needy. We gave it to someone whose sister had just split up with her boyfriend and had to move out of her flat.

“Since then we’ve given away a hi-fi unit to someone who wanted to use it as a vivarium to keep snakes in!”

It seems that jumble sales have definitely met their match.