By Fletcher Nicholson
(We are grateful to Hilltop News for this item.)
I’ve always felt uncomfortable when putting perfectly good stuff on the tip – TVs and other working electrical items, surplus furniture etc. – because they are unsaleable and nobody seems to want them. So I was delighted to find the Freecycle website.
Freecycle was started in America in 2003 and now claims to have over 4,000 groups worldwide, each made up of people in a particular area. It is about people giving and getting unwanted items so that they are re-used and don’t go into landfill. It is free to join and non-profit-making and each group has a volunteer moderator who controls the group site.
There are some basic rules. Everything offered must be free (and legal) – if you want to trade, go to e Bay! Freecycle must not be used to advertise businesses and certain items, including pets, cannot be offered. You can place a ‘wanted’ message. It is acceptable for someone to take something and then sell it, so long as this is made clear at the time of the transaction and the offerer agrees.
To join a group, visit www.freecycle.org and click ‘Browse groups’. If you then click on the South East you will find a list of groups which includes Chiltern District. Joining is simple – you have to set up a Yahoo e-mail address and be approved by the moderator.