by Lorelei Cohen

Created on: March 18, 2008   Last Updated: March 30, 2011

If you have an article to give away, and you don't know who to give it to, then Freecycle.com is a website that you might consider visiting. Maybe you work for a company where cardboard boxes or wood pallets need to be disposed of, they are still in good condition so you really don't like seeing them wind up in the landfill, but you don't know how to connect to the people that could use them. Well freecycle is the site for you! A farmer looking for egg cartons or a mother looking for used baby clothes; Freecycle is the perfect local connection for you.

Freecycle.com is a site that helps people who have a desire to recycle articles by giving them away rather than throwing them away. Freecycle.com is a network of community groups that help people connect with each other. Individuals who have articles to give away, rather than throwing them away, can locate people who would could make use of those same articles. Articles are posted on the site and other local members of the group can peruse the site to locate articles that they might be interested in receiving. It is a win - win situation and the overall benefit is in the health of our environment.

Deron Beal created the network Freecycle.com in the spring of 2003. Using Yahoo groups to open the lines of communication between himself, and any others who might be interested in making the process of recycling in their community a little easier, he opened the internet doors to freecycle.com. Although his original site focused on his community of Tucson Arizona, freecycle groups are now located in thousands of cities throughout 60 different countries worldwide.

The site itself is very easy to negotiate around and offers information on the history, locations, availability, sponsors, sources and more, for those who are curious enough to investigate. Otherwise just punch the name of your community into the site locater to find out if a group exists in your neighborhood. If it does, you just need to sign up to begin browsing the postings, or listing your own articles there. If you should discover that a group does not exist in your area then you are given the option of starting one.

Thanks Deron for creating a much needed listing of free merchandise. I love it!

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