I spent Sunday doing some work around the house. I pulled everything out of the closets and storage areas for a little reorganizing.
In the process, I came across things that I no longer want or need. I thought about donating them.
But then I had a better idea. I decided to list them on Freecycle. On Freecycle, you can exchange things you no longer want.
A year after having first noticed the green ‘cyber’wave, months after informing the world about Global Internet giants going green and weeks after being appointed as the new Moderator of the Delhi Freecycle Network(TM) group, the green ‘cyber’wave just got stronger. And Yahoo! has taken the lead. Starting Earth Day, it is not just spreading the message, “Free is good - Give stuff, get stuff. Do good for the environment” through its green pages, but is also working to achieve the same.
Be a “Freecycler”
Freecycle.org, a membership organization with thousands of local chapters, helps people give away unwanted goods, such as brand-new baby clothes, computers and furniture, to other “freecyclers” so that it won’t end up in landfills. Most of the time, it’s not worn-out Salvation Army merchandise. Not long ago, the Boston chapter featured an entire Ethan Allen living room set free for the taking. You can “ask” for something specific, and often, you’ll get it.
From April 20 through May 4, Yahoo! will help inspire people to join groups and recycle by placing eco-friendly prizes, such as a “Smart car”, eco-trips and green cleaning services, in randomly selected reuse groups. Yahoo! created a microsite to make it easy for users to find a reuse group in their community. The site will be promoted on Yahoo!’s homepage and throughout the network. Yahoo! will also host reuse events at many of its campuses worldwide for employees.
Yahoo has unveiled an Earth Day initiative to divert mountains of landfill trash, using the Internet to match people unloading “junk” with those that want the stuff.
Yahoo is hoping to convince its 500 million users worldwide to join Freecycle.org, a nonprofit devoted to finding new homes for just about anything people are getting rid of.
But Freecycle has given me riches far beyond the material. I’ve met a saintly foster mom (and actually cried when she was told she couldn’t adopt one of the children), and several delightful junkster shut-ins who, miraculously, wanted chit-chat as much as I did. My husband secretly arranged to pick up a decade’s worth of old New Yorkers for me, surely the most romantic thing he has done since cutting little heart-shaped pork chops for me for Valentine’s Day circa 2000 (apologies to the vegans among you Freegans).
- One person’s junk … Yahoo! has coordinated a big push with Freecycle in order to encourage the reuse of all sorts of existing resources. (Incidentally, I’ve written about Freecycle before. I love their model, which plays into the garage sale mentality of one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.)
“Freecycle” it. The online community at Freecycle.org connects donors with recipients to reduce landfill waste and strengthen communities. “You’re on a listserve, and you can tell them you have an old computer or TV you don’t want anymore,” Dorfman explains. “It only goes out locally, so nothing gets shipped. They come to you and pick it up.”
Freecycle veterans shake their heads and say nothing surprises them anymore. On the daily e-mail postings, where people exchange everything from hookas to housewares, no item is too obscure. Even more startling than the oddities offered is the fact that almost every castoff is immediately snapped up.
In many parts of the U.S., you can join a local freecycle.org group. There you can easily and quickly find a new home for your old office chair, file folders, computer screen, telephone, as well as bedroom furniture, books, or clothes. Just post your offer and you’ll find an eager taker who will pick it up.
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