Freecycling... a broader perspective.

At the beginning...
When it first started back in 2003, freecycling was intended to be all about keeping stuff out of landfills.

And then...
But, it very quickly became apparent to me that it was being used for much, much more than that! People immediately began using freecycling to clear out their clogged living spaces... to get rid of stuff they weren't using, but would never ever thinking of sending to the landfill.  Still valuable, but stuff they no longer used or no longer wanted. Stuff that was probably too much effort to sell.  In fact, probably more than 90% of the stuff changing hands on freecycle in all its iterations and flavours (reuseit, fullcircles, buy nothing, BCG... etc.) was that kind of stuff.

Freecycling... It's kind of like an iceberg 

Think of it like an iceberg. That stuff which would have ended up in the landfill is like the tip of the iceberg; maybe 10% of the stuff exchanged on freecycle venues. And all that other stuff clogging our homes and living spaces is like the hidden 90% of the iceberg.

Out of the starting blocks

This morning I decided it was time to start logging some of my stream of consciousness on the topics I find myself thinking about.  And this blog was just sitting there, waiting to be put to use.  So here goes!

Yesterday, Helen and I visited my 94 year old cousin Marge here on St. Simons Island.  In the course of casual conversation, Helen mentioned that her iron is no longer working properly.  She asked Marge if, by any chance, she had any irons she wasn't using that we might borrow.  Marge brought out three irons she doesn't use and she also confessed that she no longer irons anything.  All wash and wear now.  She can't be bothered at her age!  So, Helen gets to borrow one of the irons for the duration of our snowbird stay on St. Simons Island this winter.

Got me thinking this morning...  What a waste!  Those irons are kind of like "stranded assets".  Still useful, but not being used.  In their current state, they were liabilities... unused stuff... clutter... just taking up space in Marge's cupboard.  So, one of the three will now be productively used.  In fact, Helen's using it as I write this.  This is the magic of freecycling / reusing.  Liabilities in our community can become useful assets, contributing real value.

Got me thinking that this was sort of a rescue operation.  (think rescue vs. recovery).  This iron still has lots of life left in it, maybe 80 or 90% of its life.  One of the other of Marge's irons was much closer to being useless trash!  Well used and pretty much used up.  Dealing with it might considered more of a recovery operation.  Recovering and disposing of the corpse (metaphorically speaking).