Museum Freecycle was launched in June following an open letter by Urban Salon creative director Alex Mowat published by Design Week, which called for an end to waste from temporary exhibitions.

Mowat’s proposal was for a “museum Freecycle website” connecting institutions so that at the end of an exhibition materials could be given away to other museums which might reuse them.

Freecycle executive director Deron Beal got in contact with Urban Salon via Design Week and the project got underway.

There are now 170 members across the UK including smaller museums such as the Bagpipe Museum and Bloxham Village Museum.

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The raised beds in our main growing site have been constructed from old scaffold boards while our container and planter themed gardens have been made from fruit bins, apple crates and half whisky barrels. The rest of our pots and planters have been acquired from the freecycle website – a brilliant way to offload or acquire all sorts of items for no money, and prevent them from going to landfill. We’ve even obtained quite a few loads of topsoil from freecycle too!

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How to dispose of a laptop or PC: Freecycle it

If you’re feeling generous, or you don’t think your old laptop or PC is worth much, you can give away a working computer to someone who would benefit from it. You might know someone, but if not, sign up to your local Freecycle group.

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• Pool and Beach Toys

Some pool toys such as buckets and spades are made out of rigid plastics that are not accepted at the recycling centres or in your kerbside recycling collection. If you’re no longer using them, give them away on Freecycle or ask local playgroups if they can make use of them. Plastic paddling pools are non-recyclable but they could be reused to cover bikes with later in the year.

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Freecycle. Not strictly a way of making money, but certainly a good way of saving it, the Freecycle community exists online and offers things to the group for free. Sign up to your local community group and post your unwanted items for collection — while seeing what’s up for grabs!

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At the beginning of 2014, Time named collaborative consumption as one of the “10 ideas that will change the world.” Collaborative consumption describes a shift in consumer values, from ownership to access. Together, communities and even entire cities are using less by renting, sharing, swapping and bartering products on a scale never experienced before. OneFineStay, for example, gives people the chance to stay in someone’s house while they’re away, whilst Freecycle allows us to exchange unwanted goods for free. These are just two examples of how collaborative consumption is transforming the way we live.

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Clothing

Freecycle everything

If designer Gucci isn’t top of your wishlist, then clothing yourself for next to nothing isn’t as tricky as you might imagine. Clothes are more sharable and riper for “gift exchange” than other essential living items, which makes sourcing garments in the free economy easy. Sites like the Freecycle Network, a grassroots not-for profit organisation, and CraigsList offer up white goods, furniture and clothing for no cost. The premise is simple: specify where you are and what you’re after, and chances are you’ll find someone giving it away. A quick search for “women’s clothes” came up with a “donator” just 800m away from my flat. Some adverts are vague – “bag of clothes”, “women’s coats” – and some specific – “eight pairs of cut-off size 8 Levis”. Free items, with stories behind them; what’s not to love?

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