Freecycle: Nix the Landfill and Get Free Stuff

The first time I ever heard of Freecycle, the group I was working with was trying to find a highland dancing trophy.

At the time we were making a gag trophy to use on a regular basis and the highland dancer version seemed perfect for our needs – the way the little gold dancers are positioned with their hands in the air made them perfect for holding our super-glued addition (in this case, a spark plug, but that's a long story).

We talked about buying a new trophy but this turned out to be ridiculously costly. Within a few days and a few mouse clicks, however, one very resourceful member of our group had procured the trophies we needed – free of charge – and had perfect strangers sending her tips on how and where to obtain more if we needed them.

Personally, I'd never seen a highland dancing trophy in my life. That she was able to pull off finding what we needed in less than a week was a near-magical feat in my mind.

Freecycle, she said, was the source of our good fortune.
Freecycle?

When it was discovered that I hadn't heard of the non-profit movement, it was a link she sent me almost straight-away.
Truly, the concept is brilliant – one of those things that really could only happen in the internet era. In short, it works like this:

People have good, usable stuff they don't want anymore. Rather than send such items to landfill, they post items they have to offer on their local Freecycle message board. Those who want or need whatever is being offered, e-mail the freecycler to make their case and the two parties arrange for pickup.

No money changes hands. Items are gifts, offered without expectation of payment or compensation. The goal of each transaction, the group's mission, is to keep good stuff out of landfills.

To participate, members find their local Freecycle group and sign up with the group's moderators. The process can sometimes take a few days – all moderators are volunteers.

Some people are truly avid freecyclers who participate almost weekly. (There's one editor here at AOL who even received a boat at one point before re-gifting it to a children's theatre group.)

Personally, I'm only an occasional freecycler. When I have bags of clothing or small items, I usually take them to the Goodwill or Value Village. When I have something large or really good to give away, however, I post the items on Freecycle.

So far I've found good homes for craft supplies, a bed and boxspring, moving boxes that we were done with and a bunch of other stuff as well.

On the receiving end, along with the highland dancing trophy, I got a bar/tournament style dartboard and cabinet from a really nice lady who didn't want the thing in her basement anymore. (I really wanted a dartboard but wasn't ready to fork out the $100+ to buy one new.) I picked up a number of old neckties that I used to fix some laundry baskets that were beginning to fall apart. (The baskets are awesome now!) And I even managed to procure a blood glucose meter when my pet ferret finally developed insulinoma and needed his blood sugars measured regularly. (For human use, drug companies give the glucose meters away for free. If you want to buy them though, man, they are REALLY expensive!)

It's true, there are ways to be a little burned out and disillusioned by the experience. When giving really good things away I've come across all manner of wheedling and emotional blackmail: "My mother is dying." Or "my two-year-old would really love to play with the crafting beads (TWO!) and we can't afford such things..." I've even had people claim to be working on behalf of charitable organizations when it turns out they only volunteered occasionally and really wanted the last minute theatre tickets for themselves.

When offering other stuff too, it's tremendously annoying to go through the paces and finally make a decision, only to have the would-be recipient no-show. There also seem to be a lot of takers online – people who post wanted signs for computers or gaming systems and rarely offer anything in return to the community.

On the whole though, most of the people I've met have been really, really excellent. And honestly, if you promise to be a good community member, I can only sing the praises and highly suggest you check things out.

For a survival guide to Freecycle, click here.

Kate McCaffery is a freelance writer in Toronto, Ontario. Visit mccaffery.ca/kate2.0/ for more information.