Thinking of throwing away that computer desk or bicycle? How about the clothes the kids have outgrown or the husband’s old golf clubs?
Instead of heading to the dumpster, individuals from Selkirk and the district are being asked to join a freecycle group, a non-profit organization that aims to keep useable items out of the landfill sites.
The Selkirk Freecycle group – which currently has 117 members and counting from the Triple S District – is open to anyone who wants to recycle that special something rather than throw it away.
“Our site is growing daily,” said Sheila Snider, owner of Selkirk Freecycle. “The site is (designed) to keep items out of the landfill and for people who need items to have easy access to picking them up.”
The local group, which has been around for two years, is part of the Freecycle Network, a non-profit organization and movement of people interested in keeping good stuff out of landfills.
Snider estimates she puts in 15 minutes each day maintaining the website but added she will be looking for members to act as moderators to help out as the site grows even more.
The site is easy to join, said Snider, but there are a few simple rules to follow. It’s main rule is that everything posted must be free.

Click here to read in full

Or join your local freecycle.org community group, post the items for free and wait until a fellow freecycler bites and picks them up from your home. Easy peasy.

Click here to read in full

Admittedly, this may have an impact on your social life but trading at the dump is a very good idea - think of it as a non-virtual version of the well-known trading website freecycle.org.

While you aren’t usually permitted to pick things up that have already been dumped, there’s plenty to be had by approaching people who are chucking stuff away.

Some council recycling facilities actually offer the best of the dumped items for resale, so check your local tip for knock-down bargains. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for things tossed in skips. Once again, don’t forget to ask permission first.

Click here to read in full

Denise Hopps has filled her house with other people’s castoffs. Her dining set, she said, is “kind of one of those retro pieces.”

“You’ll find a reproduction, and you’ll find it at a very high dollar. Mine was free,” she said.

She has gotten treasures as varied as her grill, towels and candles through Freecycle.

“Someone was just cleaning out their home and decided they didn’t need it anymore,” Hopps said. “So it kind of fell into my scheme of ‘Nothing matches in my home.’”

She said a cabinet she got for free ended up being a “beautiful addition to the room” after she spent about $9 to put knobs on it.

Click here to read in full

Of course, getting things for free is even better. If you haven’t already, sign up for our local freecycle group. (Find your local group at freecycle.org). I have given and received things such as landscaping stones, silver maple saplings, seed starting kits, baby supplies, and even a full-size mattress set. Freecycle can save you a lot of money on the home and garden odds and ends that really can add dollars to a project, but you have to respond to offers very quickly.

Click here to read blog in full

Junk. With the exception of perhaps the very young or the very newly parentally liberated, we all have it. It’s everywhere — at the office, in the bedroom, in the kitchen. Well, it’s time to do something about it. While it’s not exactly spring cleaning season, it’s never too late (or early?) to take inventory and take charge of your stuff. Good starting places for junk removal are found all over the Web. The old standbys, eBay (ebay.com) and Craigslist (craigslist.org), are great if you know you’ve got something others want. One Web site you may not be familiar with is the Freecycle Network (freecycle.org). If you’re looking to give something away or get something for nothing (literally), this is the site for you. But for the rest of the stuff? The junk that sits around day after day because you just don’t know what to do with it? That’s where this column comes in. It is here to help you.

Click here to read in full

SCOTLAND is exceeding its target for 30 per cent recycling. Figures show that last year the recycling rate reached 33.4 per cent as the country is becoming increasingly aware of recycling in an everyday sense.
The next recycling and composting targets are 55 per cent by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2025.

Websites such as freecycle.org and gumtree.com help to encourage Scots to give away their unwanted items rather than simply dumping in landfill sites.

While some “deposit and return” schemes do operate within the UK, a statutory system is in place in Denmark, on all cans and bottles containing beer, cider, soft drinks, alcopops and energy drinks.

Denmark has achieved a return rate of 85 per cent for bottles for recycling, with nearer 100 per cent of bottles designed for reuse returned.

Click here to read the article

VILLAGERS will be exchanging goods at a freecycle day next month.

The event will be held in the new Wedmore car park on September 14 from 10am-12noon.

This is the fourth such scheme that has been organised by Wedmore Green Group and, according to group member Steve Mewes, all those in the past have been very successful.

The two rules for the day are that no money must change hands and participants should take home what they cannot give away.

Click here to read in full

A work buddy of mine turned me on to the the Freecycle Network last week. Freecycle has been extensively blogged about (see here, here, and here for starters), but it’s certainly worth plugging again. Basically, Freecycle is a network of Yahoo Groups, based around cities and communities, where members post items to give away and request items to receive. Everything is freely given or received. That’s it! The idea is simple, but with more than 5.6 million members exchanging items, we’re keeping massive amounts of trash from going into city dumps…300 tons PER DAY, according to the Freecycle About Us page.
Click here to read the blog in full

Naomi Martin has found a charitable outlet for items collecting dust in her home. She sits down at her computer and offers her unused items on The Freecycle Network.

The idea behind Freecycle is to match up people who need things with people who have things to give away.

Martin, a Clovis mother, has been a frequent user of Freecycle since March. She is one of 422 members of the local chapter that Clovis, Portales and Cannon Air Force Base.

She said she has given away among other things clothes, an electric mixer, a fridge and a swamp cooler.

Click here to read in full