The immediate change for retailers is that people are shifting from premium brands to down-market channels. Wal-mart (WMT) is a big beneficiary of this trend with its lower prices and higher value. There is also a move into dollar stores and thrift shops as well as Freecycle or Craigslist and other places where people can barter and exchange goods versus just throwing away unwanted items.
“What goes around comes around” is an American saying, and a Justin Timberlake song. It also describes the workings of Freecycle, an organisation that uses Yahoo Groups to recycle items that would otherwise end up as landfill. It’s not really a charity, though it can work that way. It is, rather, an example of a gift economy. Its tagline is: “Changing the world one gift at a time.”
Ebay, Craig’s list and Amazon are websites where you can find and buy anything but there’s a new site that’s drawing in thousands of fans everyday.
The website allows you to get everything for free and at the same time help the environment too. It’s called Freecycle.org and it’s purpose is to keep all that stuff you want to get rid of from piling up in the landfills.
Members of Freecycle can list items they want to get rid of and if someone wants those items, they can pick them up.
Freecycle promotes local offers of goods from those who want to give to those who have a need. Everything is free. This keeps useable items out of landfills and connects people within their communities. www.freecycle.org
The North Cotswold Freecycle Group was set up in September 2006 and is a branch of an incredibly fast-growing International Freecycle movement, which began in Tucson, Arizona, USA on 1st May 2003. The North Cotswold group now boasts over 1500 members and is growing daily.
Cotswold FreecycleThe Freecycle Network - “changing the world one gift at a time” - is made up of 4628 groups with over 6 million members across the globe. Their mission is “to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.”
Hosting “swop days” to encourage the re-use of unwanted items, popularised by websites like freecycle.
Alternatively, if you are upgrading perfectly good equipment you can find a home for the old model via freecycle.org.uk. This is a brilliant online community for off-loading unwanted goods in your neighbourhood – and for finding out if anyone in your area is giving away something that you’re looking for. Many products in working order find a new home on Freecycle.
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The problem was solved however, after I placed an ad in our local Freecycle group. Freecycle is a geographically based Yahoo group that enables you to list, and view, items to be given away for free. People are able to view the items and then email if they would like them.
The first person to make contact is then given an address from where to pick the item up. In our case six people were interested in the glasshouse. The result is that our glasshouse will be off to Dunsandel, 40mins from Christchurch, with the new owner coming over this weekend to begin deconstruction.
Heather Brigham and her cousin Allana Lang posted a want ad on Freecycle’s Portsmouth group.
Freecycle is an online recycling tool. Per the Freecycle Web site (www.freecycle.com), the network, which began in Arizona in 2003, is now made up of 4,637 groups with 6,136,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving and getting stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping things out of landfills.
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