I've recently been clearing out my loft and had a lot of stuff I've accumulated over the years. None of it was rubbish, so I wanted to give it away - so I did. I gave it to people I didn't know who said they wanted it. There was a cot, a couple of turntables, a slide projector, a negative ionizer, a couple of children's bicycles, some ADSL microfilters - and several other things.
My heating recently broke down. As I'm replacing the boiler I didn't want to get it fixed, so I asked some complete strangers if they had some electric heaters they could spare. Two different people came up with six dimplex heaters to tide me over till the new boiler was fitted.
A few years ago, this kind of transaction would have been the stuff of dreams. Stuff went to the tip if you didn't know someone who wanted it. You would never go round asking strangers for things you needed. But the internet has changed all that. The internet and a rather clever idea called Freecycle. You can read all about it here, and find your nearest branch.
Freecycle is billed as a way to "keep stuff out of landfill". I think it is far more than that. In fact the issue of filling up landfill is a bit over-done and Freecycle probably doesn't even scratch the surface. What Freecycle is, is a real community. We hear about "online communities", which often means a group of people who communicate on-line but never meet. Freecycle goes much further than this. It's about local people being able to contact each other, know each others' needs and support each other. That's far more valuable than any environmental ideal or any chatroom you can find anywhere else on the internet.
