5. The Freecycle Network
The Freecycle Network is made up of nearly 9 million members worldwide. It is dedicated to enabling members to get and give stuff for free in order to put goods to their most efficient use — and keep usable items out of landfills. This nonprofit describes itself as a “grassroots movement,” and local volunteer moderators help handle network activity to keep exchanges safe and posts accurate. Membership is free.
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`Freecycle networking connects people from all over the world. It’s a grassroots and nonprofit effort in which people give and receive merchandise for free.
Some say it’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by area volunteers.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
There are thousands of locally run, grassroots freecycling groups worldwide. Once you join a local group or start one, posts can be created for items to give away. Here’s how to advertise an item:
• First, you need something to scrap, such as a bike.
• Instead of throwing it away, do an online search and join a local freecycling group. Access a website, such as www.trashnothing.com, to conduct a search.
• Create a new “offer” post that is sent to the group and seen by all of the group members. SAMPLE OFFER: Mountain bike (in Massillon) I have an old blue mountain bike available. It could use some oil and the tires are a bit worn but it’s a great starter bike.
• Group members interested in your bike will contact you privately.
• You choose which person you would like to give the bike to.
• Between you and the selected recipient, a time and place are arranged for picking up the bike.
• The bike is picked up, and you let everyone in your network know that the bike is no longer available by sending a “taken” post.
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Before Craigslist, before even Facebook, there was Freecycle.
The grassroots Freecycle movement began 12 years ago – ancient history, in Internet years – with an email. The email was from founder Deron Beal in Arizona to 30 or 40 recipients, announcing the Freecycle Network as a convenient way for people to exchange desired items at no cost. Now the nonprofit organization comprises millions of members in thousands of groups in 85 countries around the world. Freecycle reports keeping 500 tons a day out of landfills.
Long Beach Island recently has its own group on freecycle.org, thanks to Diana Can of North Beach. Just type the Island ZIP code 08008 into the search bar and click the provided link to the LBI group. With 222 members at press time, the site showed one offer for a blue and white striped sectional couch in Beach Haven Terrace, someone in need of a TV stand for a 42-inch Panasonic plasma TV and one asking for a bicycle basket.
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Everyone has a bunch of junk lying around their house that they have no idea what to do with. Maybe it’s an old iPhone that you were going to try and sell but 3 new iPhones have come along since. Maybe it’s a stack of old textbooks from school. Or maybe it’s an ugly chair that clashes with everything in your living room. Or a broken food processor. Or a…you get the idea.
Deron Beal has set out to solve this problem with his website Freecycle.org, which has helped many unwanted items find new homes — 32,000 items a day, to be exact.
“Freecycle’s mission is really to make it easier to give something away than to throw it away,” Deron explains.
With online communities set up all over the world, 9 million members have used Freecycle to breathe new life into things that would have otherwise ended up in landfills. In the past year alone, if you were to pile the items gifted through Freecycle into garbage trucks, it would be 15 times the height of Mt. Everest!
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One devoted Freecycle user is on the hunt for a very specific person, as they search for a new home for a pair of slippers.
The ad, posted on ChelmsfordFreecycleUK, includes the headline: Wanted, Elderly Gentleman with Size 9 Feet, and is offering a pair of navy blue slippers to the first willing taker.
The full offer reads: “An odd request but I have a brand new pair of size 9 Marks & Spencer velcro fastening navy blue slippers and I would like to give them to someone locally who could really use them.
“I offered them to a local old people’s home but they weren’t interested so I would like to find someone who would use and appreciate them and maybe is a bit tight on funds.
“Genuine replies only please no traders etc.”
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David adds: ‘Finally, for those feeling virtuous and altruistic following their spring cleaning, sites such as Freecycle are an innovitative way to find unwanted items a home. The Freecycle network has 7 million members across over 85 countries and everything posted must be given away. The site estimates that it is keeping 500 tons a day out of landfills.’
Says David: ‘One common thing to many of these sites is that they lack flexible mailing options, or are set up so that the buyer collects. Often this is not convenient. Courier services such as ParcelHero can pick up items from a seller and deliver directly to the buyer, eliminating much of the hassle.
‘In addition, many sellers are nervous about selling beyond their own country. Offering flexible international mailing boosts the chances of a successful sale enormously.’
Essential advice on shipping eBay items, and for other market place sites, is available on the ParcelHero website.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/03/prweb12612675.htm
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5. Free Your Former Favorites
The Freecycle + Trash Nothing (Android, iOS, Web) app ties together popular online freecycling groups in your community to help you get rid of stuff that’s no longer of use to you but that might otherwise have value to someone else (and vice versa). You can offer up your own possessions or request items that you need, adding descriptions, location information, and photos to round things out. The main rule is that stuff has to be no-strings-attached free.
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8. Pay It Forward
Freecycle’s mission is to “keep good stuff out of the landfills.” With a few chapters available in Rhode Island, members post what they are offering for free, and what they’re searching for. freecycle.org
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. Join the Freecycle Movement
The Freecycling movement has been around for more than a decade now, and it’s the act of giving away your stuff instead of throwing it away. It’s a huge money saver; the idea is that you’re not spending money on things you don’t need. Instead, you’re recycling (or freecycling) them.
To get started, you can check out one of the many freecycling organizations out there — The Freecycle Network, FreeSharing and FreeUse — and see if there are meetings in your area.
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If you’re looking for a way to get rid of that old mattress or couch, the city of Frederick may have a solution for you.
The city has a new plan to help people who have no way of getting large, unwanted items to its next Freecycle Roundup bulk item drop-off event.
Employees of Frederick Community Action Agency’s Green Jobs program have agreed to help out.
The employees will drive around during the next Freecycle Roundup event in April to pick up items from people who preregister for the service, said Nikki Bamonti, executive assistant to Mayor Randy McClement.
“If it works out, it solves every problem we have had with this event,” McClement said.
The next Freecycle Roundup event will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 11 at Walnut Ridge Park, 1151 Rocky Springs Road. City residents are asked to bring their unwanted bulk items to the park, and nonprofits will be waiting to sort through donated items to see if they can be repurposed.
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