• News
• Sport
• Comment
• Culture
• Business
• Money
• Life & style
• Travel
• Environment
• Blogs
• Video
• Jobs
• A-Z

Recycling that works in a gift economy

Freecycle enables people to give things away if they don't want them, and collect things that they do want, free

"What goes around comes around" is an American saying, and a Justin Timberlake song. It also describes the workings of Freecycle, an organisation that uses Yahoo Groups to recycle items that would otherwise end up as landfill. It's not really a charity, though it can work that way. It is, rather, an example of a gift economy. Its tagline is: "Changing the world one gift at a time."

Most of us have accumulated items we no longer need, and eBay is a good way to recycle them, for those willing to make the effort. The rest of us could give them away, if we knew someone who wanted them. Freecycle solves that problem. Post a message describing an item, and there's a good chance someone will offer to collect it.

While you are giving things away, you will doubtless browse the items on offer. See something you need? Go for it.

Often you will get several people offering to take something off your hands, so you can choose whoever seems most deserving. You may prefer to give things to people who are also giving things away. Swapping isn't allowed, but you can end up with things you want while disposing of things you don't.

Freecycle works best in small areas, since this makes it simpler and cheaper to collect goods. You can check for a local group on the Freecycle website. It covers almost 6 million members in more than 85 countries. If there isn't a group nearby, you can start one.

Freecycle was started by Deron Beal in Tucson, Arizona, in 2003, following on from a project to reduce waste. It's a non-profit organisation, with the work being done by local volunteers. However, it seems some participants have been upset by Freecycle accepting sponsorship, by legal injunctions to protect the Freecycle Network (TFN) trademark, and what they see as unnecessary secrecy.

A few have defected. In July, for example, Jeri Zerr posted an Open Letter to Deron Beal and said: "I have decided to opt the St Louis Metropolitan group out of TFN and over to the ReUseIt Network."

ReUseIt appears to have identical aims to Freecycle — the idea has been widely copied — and also works via Yahoo Groups. It's worth checking to see if there's a similar group in your area. However, you may find that Freecycle has much better coverage. For example, I live in Greater London, which has about 40 Freecycle groups (Islington has four), whereas ReUseIt has one. The imbalance in messages is even greater in Freecycle's favour.

Freecycle groups need some control because it doesn't want people giving away pornography, drugs (including tobacco and alcohol), medicines, weapons etc — things that might be dangerous. Also, "posting oneself or another person from the human species is not allowed".

Freecycle groups also need the local organisers to stamp out abuse, spam and other undesirable actions. And if a group is run well, local users need neither know nor care where the idea came from.

Close