■ Discover Freecycle.
We are big fans of this idea – if you are moving home, Freecycle is a brilliant source of free furniture and equipment that you might not be able to afford to buy new. The people running the local sites can be pedantic about the way the ads are worded, though, and there are often many more people wanting things than offering them. You will need to be quick if you see something you like.
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Freecycle is a good online resource where you can give and receive pre-loved gear at no cost. For safety reasons, some items are better purchased new, such as capsules, car seats and cots. If you are buying a second-hand cot, ensure it complies with current Australian standards. Visit www.productsafety.gov.au for more information.
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DUDLEY Council is urging people to take a hi-tech approach to giving unwanted items a second lease of life.
The website Freecycle allows people to advertise items which may otherwise be dumped in landfill for other site users to collect.
The Dudley Freecycle group has more than 12,000 members, items recently offered include an extending table with four chairs, house bricks and a steel pedal bin.
For more information visit www.dudley.gov.uk/recycling
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Worth a look is Freecycle.com, an online community that matches people who have items they want to get rid of to people who can use them. Not only kind on the environment by reducing landfill, but it is great for the pocket, too.
As one of the main rules of Freecycle is a “pick up yourself” policy, your local group is a handy way of getting rid of large items you would normally have to pay to have removed, such as garden furniture and sheds.
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Everybody’s favourite Saturday morning TV show Swapshop is back. But before you reach for those unwanted Christmas gifts, Monkey has to inform you it’s for one day only. Yes, the pre-eBay and Freecycle way of getting rid of stuff is being revived for one day at London’s Victoria station next Wednesday for a marketing stunt by Confused.com. Noel Edmonds will not be there but Keith “Cheggers” Chegwin will, natch. Suggestions that makeup company Nude is doing a similar stunt by bringing back Cheggers’ infamous Channel 5 show Naked Jungle for a day are wide of the mark. Thankfully.
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“One of the mantras of the amateur economy has been the need to repair, reuse, renew, recycle. Initiatives such as Freecycle will have an impact,” he said.
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He said he hoped the website would become “the eBay of storage” and encourage communities to exchange services with each other in a similar vein to Freecycle, a website which allows people to acquire or get rid of objects such as furniture for free.
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Freecycle is a UK-based online commuity that lets people give their unwanted stuff away for free to anyone in the local area. Sign up to your town or borough’s Freecycle group and you’ll receive email digests from your neighbours.
Of course, most of the time it’ll be people giving away power cords and leaflets, but every now and then there’ll be a genuine find.
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Home furnishings
“WE had just moved into our new house when I lost my business so we hardly had any furniture,” said Elaine.
She turned to giveaway website freecycle.org, where she was astonished to find quality furniture that cost nothing.
“I got pine furniture and beds for the boys’ rooms, which would have cost around £750 to buy new,” she said.
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For any residents not on a garden waste collection round, trees should be taken to the nearest household waste recycling centre or any local DIY retailer or garden centre that is running a tree recycling scheme. The District Council is also encouraging local people to take any unwanted gifts or old items to a charity shop or make them available online at www.freecycle.org to find them a new home locally.
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