Recycling has always been close to Pam Thompson’s heart, but when her 13-year-old son, Bobby, developed asthma, Thompson became more dedicated to taking care of the environment…In the fall of 2005, Thompson’s concern got her involved with a large and growing environmental movement, The Freecycle Network.
I’ve heard of people who shop Craigslist and/or Ebay for their wedding supplies, but today was the first I’ve heard of those who get their wedding supplies free through an organization called Freecycle.
Three pairs of women’s shoes. A box of record albums. Stereo equipment. A stovetop. A quill and ink bottle. A wicker basket. An acoustic guitar. A dehumidifier.
As I write, all those things and more are being offered for free on my local Freecycle Network. By the time you read this, they’ll be taken. As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
“What is really interesting about Freecycle,” says Daniel Ben-Horin, the founder of a nonprofit Web site called TechSoup, “is that unlike a lot of virtual communities, something very concrete happens.”
“It appeals to people’s thrift, to their green impulses and to their sense of community,” Ben-Horin says. “I think that’s brilliant.”
Deron Beal is the Executive Director and Founder of the Freecycle Network, and he was recently interviewed on Netsquared, which is a site dedicated to news and interviews relating to NGOs and nonprofits using the web for social change.
During the 2nd NetSquared Conference in May 2007, 21 projects that use the web for social impact presented their work and received feedback and support from the NetSquared Community - Freecycle was third place winner!
Congrats Freecycle Network!!
‘’You can be good to the earth — without giving up things you love. Plus, what those eco labels really mean.'’
Great Article with great eco-tips including:
‘’Recycle smart - From furniture to electronics, one person’s trash is another’s treasure — so when you want to dispose of an old item, don’t make the dump your first stop. Two sites with alternatives: freecycle.org and earth911.org.'’
And as the founder of Lubbock Freecycle - a growing, online network of people devoted to reducing waste - Seay is spreading his philosophy.
“I try to live fairly simply. Most of my life, I’ve looked for ways to be frugal and not to waste,” said soft-spoken Seay, 52.
Today it’s reduce, reuse, recycle. For earlier generations, make do and mend. Done assiduously, the result is next to no rubbish. With zero waste the goal for many councils, a life-long adherent shares her tips in the first of our week-long look at recycling.
Rather than add to overflowing landfill sites, the couple have given away coat hangers, shelving and an old cooker on Freecycle, a website which offers unwanted items for free.
Alex Steffen said “there is no such thing as garbage, only useful stuff in the wrong place.” I now monitor what is coming and going, and there are some bizarre things offered, from scrap metal to old bathtubs, and invariably a few days later we see that it is taken. There is clearly someone out there for almost anything, just waiting for a simple system for getting useful stuff into the right place.
Congrats to Canada Freecycle!
Enjoy this great interview on CBC Canada (http://www.cbc.ca/) featuring the head of Canada Freecycle, Catherine Qua.
Click Here to Watch the Video!
Morris Freecycle group spreads unwanted stuff to those who want it…
“It was a eureka moment,” Wilson said.
For the last two years, Wilson has logged on to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ freecycleMorrisNJ to check the local postings — the best stuff is available in early morning — and conducted dozens of transactions. All free. No money passes hands. Even joining is free.
A total of 5,693 other Morris County residents are doing the same, generating between 2,000 and 3,000 posts a month, according to Mary Fritz-Mazoh of Mendham Township, who moderates the traffic with Patti Michelson of Landing.
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