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Freecycling, also known as Free Recycling is "the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills. This term is most often associated with online groups who run mailing lists which offer items to members at no cost." One such online group is the Freecycle Network and their mission statement reads as follows: "Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."
"With over 4,600 groups and 6,400,000 members around the world, the Freecycling community is thriving and for good reason," writes Brian Merchant at Planet Green. "It's an organization based on the idea that giving and receiving gifts for free is not only good for the obvious reasons (who doesn't love free stuff?) but it's good for the environment, too."
Jaymi Heimbuch offers her 8 Etiquette Tips for Curbside Freecycling as follows:
For Leaving Stuff at Curbside
1. Know Your Garbage Pick-Up Days
2. Leave A Note
3. If It's Still There, It's Still Yours
4. Junk is Junk. Don't Pass It On
For Picking Up Curbside Finds
1. Inspect It First
2. Take the Whole Thing
3. If You Don't Want It After All, Don't Return It
4. Return the Favor
