by Magda D. Healey

Created on: May 05, 2009

Freecycle is a network of Internet mailing lists that allow members to give away unwanted goods and obtain such goods from other members free of charge.

The original motivation behind the idea was to prolong the life of stuff and keep it out of the landfill.

However, many participants do see it as a for of community charity: helping those who can't afford to buy stuff on one hand, being able to save some spending money on the other.

*General Info*

Freecycle is a fairly decentralised network. Groups are based on a locality and the idea is that they should be fairly local. To be able to use the "freecycle" name the group has to be accepted by the top-level network organisers and only one group is allowed in any given area. As far as I know it can take a looong time to have a group approved: one for my area (South Perthshire) took several months to be accepted. The particualrs below apply to the UK groups, but I am certain that the spirit of the thing is very similar all over the world.

All UK Freecycle groups use Yahoo Groups functionality and to be able to benefit from membership you need to have a Yahoo ID. You don't need to use Yahoo email, though, as any email address can be used to receive group messages.

All groups have designated admins who monitor the messages to lesser or greater extent. Some are fully moderated, some are partially moderated (i.e. new or unruly members are moderated only, some are unmoderated).

The rules of posting also vary from group to group: some allow animals, others don't (I have no idea why, but as I have no interest in recycling animals, it doesn't bother me either way). Some groups have rules about number of WANTED posts members are allowed to make, or other conditions on such posts.

*OFFERED*

The way Freecycle works is very simple: members post messages to the group (either via email or via the Yahoo Groups page) indicating items that they have for freecycling. Those interested in the items respond individually and it's up to them to arrange for the goods to be collected or delivered.

There are some sensible rules regarding the format of "offered" messages, the main one being that the subject line should contain a description of the item and the more precise location of the goods. This is particularly important if the group covers rural areas and thus there might be a substantial drive involved.

It's entirely up to the person who offers stuff to decide to whom it will go. Some people operate on first come, first served basis, some wait

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