The Freecycle Network is a great grass roots organization who’s primary goal is to keep useable waste from our landfills. What is useable waste? Well, have you ever heard the saying – “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure?” By creating groups on the local level, Freecycle has been able to bring people together where they can offer their unwanted or unused items to other members free of charge or obligation. Most of these groups on set up on Yahoo! Groups, and finding one in your local area is as easy as visiting the Freecycle Network homepage and typing in your location.
These groups are ran by volunteers, and some have implemented an enrollment process in order to cut down on spam and undesirable traffic to the group boards. This is a very simple process in which you’re asked to read all of the terms and conditions of the group and verify your location. Once accepted, you will receive access to the group board and email notifications of new postings if you choose. The boards are moderated, and all attempts are made to keep them local and in accordance to the Freecycle Network rules and guidelines.
If you have something that is no longer of use to you, but still a usable item – it’s the perfect thing to offer on a group board! If you’re in need of a particular item, you might be surprised at what you can find as well. When you give the gift of a useable item to another person, you’re not only helping someone else – you’re helping the whole planet by keeping these items from landfills. Almost all of us have something laying around that’s no longer of use to us. Instead of tossing these items into our landfills, why not give them to another person? By both the act of giving and receiving – we can all work toward a cleaner planet, one item at a time.
