Freecycle
I was going to write about something totally different today, but Russell sent me a mail which reminded me that I hadn't actually mentioned Freecycle yet.
I am astounded at the number of people who don't know about this fantastic piece of logic. It's a win-win situation for everyone - except the manufacturers and purveyors of tat - and let's face it - are we going to weep for them if they don't sell an extra nasty cheap item at a vastly inflated price?
In case you don't know what Freecycle is then make yourselves comfortable, children. All your storage/waste/eco-guilt problems are solved - not to mention that you might actually get something fab yourself.
Freecycle is a Yahoo group which aims to keep useable rubbish out of landfill. It starts with someone posting up something they want to get rid of. It can be an old TV, a bicycle tyre, a microwave, children's toys, clothes - you name it, people post it.
Everyone who's signed up to the list receives info about what's on offer. Since there's bound to be someone in London who wants it, the next thing is that someone arranges to come and collect the item as soon as possible. There is only one rule - no money can change hands.
Everyone gets a result. The person giving away their own particular "piece of old tut" is relieved of having to drag it to the dump, the person receiving their own particular "lovely treasure" gets something they want for the price of collecting it and the local tip has extra room.
I love Freecycle. I have personally got rid of an entire kitchen (someone came and collected it from Woolwich in installments in a Ford Fiesta) a microwave, a fridge, a stereo - plus many other items - all of which were perfectly good, but had just been upgraded and I no longer needed. Russell tells me he has got rid of some Lloyd Loom chairs, a pasta maker and various dodgy Christmas presents. What he has got, though, is amazing - but pretty typical - a double bed from someone who couldn't be bothered to sell, a flat-screen monitor for his PC - you name it you can find it here. From the sublime - a bag of rubble - to the ridiculous - I've seen cars listed and, once, an AGA...
It's not just big stuff. You can offer (or get) spare seedlings for your garden, the free DVDs that come with newspapers - anything (that isn't alive.) It's worth putting slightly broken stuff up there too because a lot of artists use it to get 'unusual' materials. I've seen things like "offered - TV - broken" - and then seen, a few days later "taken - TV- broken."
I particularly love Freecycle because I've always had a problem with throwing things away if they're still good. If they can go to a good home I can declutter without guilt. The one thing you must remember is that everything has to be free. If you want to sell something, take it to Greenwich Auctions or Ebay.
I have always used the London version of Freecycle - partially because I want my stuff to go and I can never be absolutely sure that anything smaller is a big enough catchment area.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclelondon/
Russell tells me there is now a local Greenwich one. I have no experience of it, but since the more local people are, the less chance of no-shows, I would probably now advertise my stuff on that one first. I have had a few problems finding it though - maybe you could post a URL, please, Russell?
I am astounded at the number of people who don't know about this fantastic piece of logic. It's a win-win situation for everyone - except the manufacturers and purveyors of tat - and let's face it - are we going to weep for them if they don't sell an extra nasty cheap item at a vastly inflated price?
In case you don't know what Freecycle is then make yourselves comfortable, children. All your storage/waste/eco-guilt problems are solved - not to mention that you might actually get something fab yourself.
Freecycle is a Yahoo group which aims to keep useable rubbish out of landfill. It starts with someone posting up something they want to get rid of. It can be an old TV, a bicycle tyre, a microwave, children's toys, clothes - you name it, people post it.
Everyone who's signed up to the list receives info about what's on offer. Since there's bound to be someone in London who wants it, the next thing is that someone arranges to come and collect the item as soon as possible. There is only one rule - no money can change hands.
Everyone gets a result. The person giving away their own particular "piece of old tut" is relieved of having to drag it to the dump, the person receiving their own particular "lovely treasure" gets something they want for the price of collecting it and the local tip has extra room.
I love Freecycle. I have personally got rid of an entire kitchen (someone came and collected it from Woolwich in installments in a Ford Fiesta) a microwave, a fridge, a stereo - plus many other items - all of which were perfectly good, but had just been upgraded and I no longer needed. Russell tells me he has got rid of some Lloyd Loom chairs, a pasta maker and various dodgy Christmas presents. What he has got, though, is amazing - but pretty typical - a double bed from someone who couldn't be bothered to sell, a flat-screen monitor for his PC - you name it you can find it here. From the sublime - a bag of rubble - to the ridiculous - I've seen cars listed and, once, an AGA...
It's not just big stuff. You can offer (or get) spare seedlings for your garden, the free DVDs that come with newspapers - anything (that isn't alive.) It's worth putting slightly broken stuff up there too because a lot of artists use it to get 'unusual' materials. I've seen things like "offered - TV - broken" - and then seen, a few days later "taken - TV- broken."
I particularly love Freecycle because I've always had a problem with throwing things away if they're still good. If they can go to a good home I can declutter without guilt. The one thing you must remember is that everything has to be free. If you want to sell something, take it to Greenwich Auctions or Ebay.
I have always used the London version of Freecycle - partially because I want my stuff to go and I can never be absolutely sure that anything smaller is a big enough catchment area.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclelondon/
Russell tells me there is now a local Greenwich one. I have no experience of it, but since the more local people are, the less chance of no-shows, I would probably now advertise my stuff on that one first. I have had a few problems finding it though - maybe you could post a URL, please, Russell?
Labels: Services
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:29
7 Comments:
I've used this - it's excellent! I requested some fold up chairs for christmas guests and a lovely person on Royal Hill obliged. The key the success of freecycle is to ensure that you offer as many items as you collect.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleGreenwich/
2112 members so far. Many people seem to give stuff on a first come first served basis which I think is rather unfair so inform people when I post that I wait a couple of days for responses to come in and then pick one at random. Note that "no shows" for picking up stuff is really, REALLY infra dig and, if you do it twice and the givers report back to the moderator, they can find themselves kicked out of the group.
Generates LOADs of Emails - best to set up a divert into a particular folder in your Inbox, so that you can peruse at leisure and so the emails dont swamp you!
Personally I tend to choose the people who are either closest (most likely to show up) or write me the nicest note. Call me a wuss but I'd always rather give something to someone who was friendly (not gushing but actually polite) than someone who just "yeah - alright I'll have it..."
there's also nothing stopping you from signing up and taking part in the Lewisham one (or the quieter Bexley one) if you want to broaden your horizons without sifting through the overwhelming amount of e-mails the London group sends.
Agreed. You DO get a lot of emails from the London site. I chose to get a daily digest of offers/requests/etc - which means I don't get swamped, though that's no good if you are actively looking for stuff since many people work on a "first-come-first-served" basis.
There's nothing to stop you signing up for all the groups. As far as I'm concerned this is A GOOD THING, whichever way you look at it and the more people who sign up, the better it will get. I feel sick to my stomach whenever I visit the council tip - seeing the stuff that goes into the " general household" skips makes me furious.
Now here's an idea - why don't the council set aside a warehouse-y type thing which would act like a "free shop" - anything that could be recycled could be left there for anyone to collect. Ok so some people would take stuff to sell it. Big deal - it's staying out of the landfill and someone's getting some benefit from other people's rubbish.
Can anyone see any flaws in this?
Another great recycling site is Greenworks, a charity that receives surplus desks, chairs etc from various companies in the City then sells them on cheaply to the public. It has a warehouse in Woolwich close to the council's recycling centre. It's a bit chaotic but always plenty of bargains.
http://www.green-work.co.uk/woolwich.htm
Thanks WG! That sounds fantastic. What a great idea.
I've just looked up the website and it looks like a brilliant idea. I'll definitely visit the Nathan Way branch and report back!
Now all we need to do is find a way of doing the same thing with domestic 'rubbish' - so much of the stuff that fills the skips for landfill is perfectly good.
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