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You Recycle Your Trash Now Freecycle Your Unwanted Valuables
By Lauren Lazaruk

Tara and Stephen Blanda of Westville, N.J. were in between jobs last winter and struggled to pay the bills, let alone put presents under the tree for their son’s first Christmas. They had little money, no work and no idea what to do. What the family did have though was the Freecycle Network.

“Someone had posted an offer for toddler toys,” said Tara, a 28-year-old waitress. “I sent an e-mail and explained my situation and some woman gave me a whole lot of toys. So I wrapped them up and put them under the tree. I got some really great stuff and my son loved all of it.”

Freecycle started in May 2003 in downtown Tucson, Ariz. as a series of e-mail exchanges to get rid of some warehouse items without cluttering already overflowing landfills. What it turned into was the grassroots and entirely non-profit network that it is today, which provides over three million members in over 75 countries with an electronic forum for recycling the things they don’t need anymore to people in their local communities instead of just throwing them in the trash.

“The degree of giving is up to the individual,” said Deron Beal, Founder and executive director of Freecycle Network. “That is what we are about: empowering the individual.”

www.freecycle.org  is a Web site anyone can go to in order to find something they need or give away something they don’t. The Freecycle Network gives a whole new meaning to the saying: “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” Just visit freecycle.org to find something you’re looking for or to join a group near you. If you can’t find a local group, start one and get the ball rolling in your community.

 “It’s very easy and very self explanatory,” Tara said. “You have to make an offer before you can even ask for anything, so it generates the freecycle of giving from the start.”

Then, it’s on to the giving and the receiving part. The wanted and taken notations on posts let members know what’s available and what other members need. Once you send an e-mail if you’re interested in an item, all you have to do is wait for the response and soon you’re have that item you’ve been looking for—for free! The best part is that it’s giver’s choice; Freecycle lets the giver decide who gets it and the pick up place and time to pass the item on.

“It is very important for us to be family-friendly,” said Beal. “We only have one main rule: keep it free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.”

Day in and day out things of all kinds are being given and taken through the Freecycle Network and the items that get offered could be anything from school supplies to kitchen utensils, kids’ clothes to furniture or building supplies to electronics.

 “I recommend involving children in the gifting process,” said Beal. Use the pass-on and pick-up processes as an educational tool to teach you child that giving can be fun too.

Freecycle helps build local communities and gives everyone a reason to meet the people in their towns and cities. There are plenty of opportunities to meet and greet with Freecycle friends. For instance, Free-Bees and Free-for-Alls are organized swap meets local members put together to get people out and about. There are other concepts too like the Traveling Treasure Box which lets people pick items from a treasure chest, put new things in, and then pass it on.

“We are representing the goodwill of thousands of others,” said Beal. Freecycle groups have arranged a number of non-profit efforts and donations for victims of house fires or theft and even people affected by hurricanes in New Orleans and Florida. The Freecycle Network idea has also motivated people to spawn their own non-profit organizations as well using Freecycle connections such as one woman’s efforts to supply clothing and toys to children in an orphanage in Haiti and another’s collection of gowns for disadvantaged teens preparing for proms and other social events.

Freecycle moderators and list owners work with the network that monitor online activity and try to make your online experiences with Freecycle as safe and easy as possible, but there are some basic steps Freecycle users should take to make sure the rest of the process goes smoothly. First of all, members should keep in mind that they use Freecycle at their own risk. Porch pick-ups are an easy way to exchange and you should never schedule a pick up when you know you might be home alone. Use good judgment, don’t invite strangers into your home, and be smart when releasing private information online like addresses and phone numbers.

Fun Freecycle Facts

• Freecycle has 20,000 new membership sign-ups a week.

• If all the items exchanged through Freecycle were piled into garbage trucks and stacked on top of each other, it would be four times the height of Mt. Everest.

• The next step for Freecycle is a multi-lingual Web site with alert tools.

Lauren Lazaruk is an editorial assistant for Curious Parents.