One Man’s Junk
Sunday Scriblings writing prompt this week is “Junk”. Now we all have junk, we all want more junk, and my post is about how you can give away or get more junk free!
One Man’s Junk
An old adage states, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” and no organization has proven this more than The Freecycle Network. Beginning in 2003 in Tucson, Arizona, with 30-40 members who had a passion to keep usable items from landfills, the organization has grown to include 4,831 groups with over 6 1/2 million members all across the world. I joined our local group over 2 years ago and I am always amazed by the wonderful items that are given away by perfect strangers to perfect strangers. Of course, that is the organization’s mission:
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.
Membership is free to belong to a local chapter/group in your area. Each group is moderated by a local volunteer who processes membership applications and moderates postings of items offered free or items wanted by a member. I will admit I have become more than a little aggravated when I see someone asking for a large screen television or becoming very specific in detailing what kind of couch they want, but all in all, most members requesting items are very humble and obviously in need. Freecycle estimates the giving and taking of its members keeps over 40 tons of items a day out of landfills. Now that is a lot of junk!
I have personally given away small appliances I no longer use, clothes, a bed, and a dog house. I have received a very nice wooden cradle for my niece, clothes for my nephew, a couch for my brother, a doll house for a neighborhood girl, and wind chimes for myself. I have seen through watching listings how fast items go. It has been a fun organization to belong to, and I would recommend everyone to sign up for a membership in your area. You just never now when the junk you have in your garage, closet, and basement would put a big smile on someone’s face. For more information, check out http://www.freecycle.org/ Our world becomes a better place to live when one man’s junk becomes another man’s treasure.
Cricket's Hearth 
What an important post, Cricket. Freecycling is such a good idea. So many things are thrown out that are in working order or usable. If we can prevent them from going to landfill that is fantastic. Good on you!!
Thanks for getting the word out on this. I’ve been using Freecycle for about two years now, and I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to have my decent stuff reused. (And how great it is to get things I can use, like plants and pillows and computer monitors.)
Nice reminder – Freecycle is a wonderful thing…
Freecycle is a great group and I think it’s awesome that you used this prompt to write a great essay telling folks just what to do with all that junk they have laying around! 🙂
So glad to see you back on the boards. I missed you! And then it seems you reappeared while I was AWOL. lol I’m intrigued by Freecycle. I’ll have to look for a group in my area.
I’m familiar with this network because someone called me from finding something of mine! Long story short, it was meant to be recycled. Great GREEN post for this prompt!
Looove Freecycle 🙂