Freecycle

I first heard about the Freecycle Network at an exhibit of alternative/guerilla environmental actions at the Canadian Center for Architecture, and it sounded great to me. Through grassroots communications, individuals and groups try to keep unwanted, reusable items out of landfills by letting each other know about the good stuff that's available. Couldn't be simpler: the movement now includes 4,775 local groups and about 7 million members worldwide.

Our own freecycling lately has been even more local: just a sign and an ever-changing pile of stuff on our lawn as we clean out the house. What's astonishing is that literally everything has gone, from metal shelving to old shelves and chairs, wooden cross-country skis to slightly-moth-eaten rugs. All the old videos and unwanted DVDs have disappeared; a perfectly good leather purse; a camera bag; oil paintings and posters; all the dishes and glasses I've put out.

(The only thing I've found distressing is the size of the vehicles that have stopped to pick things up. Non-Americans woudl be shocked, I think, at the uniform enormity of what people drive. Almost every vehicle was a big van, a large SUV, or a pick-up truck. Our driveway has been used continually by a neighbor, in our absense, because his truck is just too big to park in his own drive.)

I happened to look out the door when a woman was putting a large watercolor painting into her van. It's a picture that J.'s mother always had, of a South American woman at a market; we've held onto it as a sort of family relic, but it seemed like a good time to let it go into other hands. The woman smiled and said, "You really want to get rid of this?"

"Yes, absolutely," I told her, "I'm glad if you like it."

"We've got a catering business," she said. "It will be perfect - I love it."

Yesterday afternoon J. put out our old Thule clamshell roof rack - we used to transport our skis in it - that hadn't sold at last spring's yard sale. It's got a crack and is pretty worn; it seemed like a long shot but we really didn't want to take it to the dump. At the endof the afternoon another van stopped and a guy and his daughter got out. The man, wearing a headband, turned the box over and examined it carefully; J. went out to talk to him, and pretty soon I saw them loading it into the van. J. came back inside, looking like the cat that's eaten the canary and all the goldfish. "That's great," he said. "You know what he said about it?"

"No..."

" 'All this thing needs is a little bit of duck tape!' "

Comments

[Kaycie]

I'm a moderator for our local Freecycle group. It's amazing the things people give away. Yesterday someone posted an old bass boat in perfectly good condition. I've been surprised at thing things people come to my house to pick up, as well: old water hoses that need repair, bushes I've pulled out of the yard when landscaping, and empty boxes.

Good for you on your freecycling! It feels so much better than paying $20 at the dump, doesn't it?

[beth]

Not just better, it feels great!

[Lorianne]

"Curbside freecycling" is hugely popular here in Newton, where someone WILL pick up virtually anything you put outside, even if it doesn't work. New England frugality lives on, it seems, with folks loving to tinker with someone else's old vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, or whatever.

I only wish I needed furniture, because some of the discards are really nice. I've never seen anyone haul furniture away, but it always vanishes. (I'd like to think that some of the Latino work-crews that tend so many of our neighbors' lawns help themselves to the "gringo goods.")

[Anne Gibert]

I'll see whether I can introduce the concept in England when I go to help my daughter move. The tip (dump) there now has a part where reusable items can be had for free. That's a recent innovation. There used to be a sign saying something like, "Under penalty of law, do not remove anything." Crazy.

[Martine]

How much is that guy near the window?

[Dave]

I am envious. We're a mile and a half from a public road, so yard sales or freecycle potlatches have never really been an option. We did let a friend come and clean out a lot of old metal junk from the barn last year, before the bottom fell out of the international metals market. He needed the cash and we were grateful for the free cleaning.

[Natalie]

Anne, Freecycle *does* exist in the UK (you can look it up on Google).Almost every neighbourhood in London has a branch. I recently joined two of my local branches and gave away a lot of stuff that was cluttering up my space, including a broken-down printer/scanner which was gratefully collected by a charity who repairs things to be used by youth groups. I also met two delightful people this way who I'm keeping in touch with. All notices about what's wanted and what is being given away are posted on the internet and you get access to your local site when you sign up (it's free, of course). Brilliant scheme.

Beth, I love the photo! What a lovely house you have (had!).

[Bill]

The most wonderfully weird stuff I ever gave away were two humongous, ugly, down river racing kayaks, that could be of no possible use to anyone but a very few people with specialized skills. I gave them to some neighborhood kids. They are absurd in any setting but one, and very close to art.

[EJ]

love the many uses of "duck" tape!