Westserve

Freecycling

I should perhaps submit this to Scott’s Bargain Blog, but it probably stands on it’s own.
I struggle with the best way to dispose of goods that have outlived their usefulness to me, but are not good to just send to the tip. For example, I have two DVD players and an old VCR that are not totally dead, but have been replaced due to some malfunctions. These are not good things to dump in landfill, due to toxic content, but what do you do with them?
Here in Australia, there is a great tradition of local councils having twice yearly collections for extra rubblish or bulky unwanted items. These items are placed out on the kerb a day or so before collection is due. Usually, much of the material disappears long before the garbage truck comes along – but it is a hit or miss process.
Now, Freecycle can fill the gap and is a great way to recycle things useless to me, but perhaps valuable to others. From their website:

“The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free… The Freecycle Network was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson’s downtown and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to “recycle” unwanted items. One person’s trash can truly be another’s treasure! Across the world, there are: 3,529 Freecycle™ Communities with a total of 2,175,186 members.

There are Freecycle groups set up in many geographical areas in Australia. So, for me, I joined the Sydney West group, and the Blue Mountains group These area groups all seem to be run as Yahoo Groups, and all you do then is post an email to the group OFFERing items you longer want, or REQUESTing items you need. If you offer an item, the first person to email you gets it. You then arrange pickup and you are done!
The main rule of Freecycle states: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.

It’s already working very well for me, and I imagine it will continue to do so.
About the only negatives is the sheer volume of email generated by the very active group, and the occasional abuse of the guidlelines which brings down the wrath of some. The Blue Mountains group is much smaller, but seems much more pleasant. Still, appropriate filtering in Outlook or Gmail takes care of that nicely.