“Green Tip” from Philippa Guthrie

Freecycle.org. 

It is an Internet based, national  exchange system for used items.  You just go to their website, find a local group (in our case it’s Bloomington/Bedford or Indianapolis) and sign up to be a member of the group.  You can then participate by reading and responding to, or making your own postings for, items wanted or items for offer.  The range of things is incredible–guinea pig with cage, book cases, desks, plant stands, tool kits, pool tables, garage doors, cloth diapers, clothing, cell phones….  Exchanges are arranged via e-mail and then phone, if necessary, and everything is exchanged for free.  Freecycle.org’s stated mission is to extend the useful lives of things by getting them to subsequent owners and thereby keeping them out of the landfills.

 

Personal experience with it:

 

We had an old queen sized sofa bed, old meaning from the fifties.  It had been my parents–one of the first pieces of furniture they ever bought.  It had upholstery that was basically OK (no rips, tears or weak spots) but worn at the edges and very outdated.  But an excellent, sturdy sofa.  After my parents’ house, it had been in our basement for ten years for the kids rec room and still the cushions were firm, the Simmons mattress on the hide-a-bed was in great shape and comfortable, the mechanism worked perfectly.  The biggest downside–it weighed a TON.  We tried to find a place to come and pick it up. St. Vincent De Paul will take anything.  Not this.  They said old sofa beds are too heavy for their clients to carry and move, and no one wants them.  They also said the worn upholstery would not be appealing.  Red Cross said to try Salvation Army or Good Will, but we would have had to take it there.  After St. Vincent De Paul’s comments, I had no illusions anyone would ever want this sofa, but it was still an incredibly sound and useful piece of furniture. In desperation I went on the web to try to find some way of disposing of this, preferably recycling, and found Freecycle.org.   It looked dubious, but I joined and posted the sofa bed.  That was late Wednesday night.  By Thursday morning I had five people asking about it by e-mail.  It was too big for several, but for two it was fine.  First one to respond they wanted it got it on Friday.  They picked it up on Saturday.  A family–they were thrilled.  Their kids range from teen to married and they suddenly have all kinds of guests–college kids’ friends, grown kids with their grandkids–and they needed more places for people to sit and sleep.  I am incredibly relieved and so amazed that someone thought of this idea and that it works!

Monthly Tips: Ways to Reuse

• Buy bigger – try buying larger packages of food items instead of individual items like yogurt and water bottles
  • The U.S. throws away 10 billion yogurt containers a year!
• BYOM – Bring Your Own Mug – instead of using the plastic or recycled coffee and water cups, bring your own mug or cup to work