November 2008
The Freecycle NetworkTM
The Freecycle Network™ has a very interesting beginning and a rich history to go along with it. It is a grass roots organization and as such had, as what any grass roots organization has, a humble beginning (Home). The founder of The Freecycle Network™ is a man named Deron Beal (History & Background Information). He was working with a nonprofit organization, RISE, that allows recycling to occur in downtown Tucson, Arizona and also facilitates employment for people in transition stages of life (History & Background Information). Mr. Beal sent out an e-mail to a few other non-profits in Tucson as well as some personal friends introducing the idea (History & Background Information).
The people that took an interest began to call around to other non-profits or friends to see if they could use items instead of throwing them away (History & Background Information). No one wanted to see items that still had life in them to rot in a dump when someone could use it (History & Background Information). Mr. Beal then realized that he could set up an e-mail group instead of calling around to everyone to make everyone’s life easier (History & Background Information). The system allowed anyone participating in it to give away the things they no longer wanted or needed and receive the things they did (History & Background Information). The only cost to them was the time of getting the materials and joining the list-serve (History & Background Information).
The premise of this organization was to give and get things, without any strings attached, and to keep things out of the landfills (History & Background and J. Consiglio, personal communication, November 06, 2008). This type of networking allowed the local communities to become closer to each other while promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly practices (History & Background). In fact, the actual mission statement is: “Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community” (Mission Statement). What this means, is that the original goal of this organization was to grow into a multinational organization that allowed many local communities to utilize The Freecycle Network™ to give and take away other peoples trash. There is an authorless saying that “what is one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” and this organization took that saying to heart and ran with it.
The Freecycle Network™ allows members to join a local group via Yahoo Groups, then once approved by an admin, the group members are allowed to post if something is “wanted”, have something, have a “curbside alert”, and can delete the post once it is no longer relevant (B. Palacios, personal interview, November 02, 2008). I was also made aware that each local group has slightly different rules about the posts and how they are to be done (J. Consiglio, personal communication, November 06, 2008).
The organization allows people to give and receive things ranging from ordinary household things like beds or boxes, to random or bizarre things. Jan Consiglio, from Port Orange, Florida told me about how her sister, who lives in North Carolina, once got a pot-bellied pig from someone and another time received a pregnant cat (J. Consiglio, personal communication, November 06, 2008).
Currently, The Freecycle Network™ is a nonprofit organization that is incorporated in Arizona (History & Background). The network’s nonprofit status was approved in November 2006 by the IRS after initial application in July of 2004 (History & Background). The network celebrated its fourth anniversary as a viable network for people to access and use on May 1, 2007 (Media Release: May Day: A Fertile Freecycle Network™ Turns Four Today!). On this date, the media release reported that the network was gaining 20,000 new members each week (Media Release: May Day: A Fertile Freecycle Network™ Turns Four Today!). In 2008, a new press release came out saying that there were 40, 000 new members joining The Freecycle Network™ each week (Media Release: The Freecycle Network™ - Largest Environmental Web Community in the World!)
This amazing growth in only one years time means several things. First, it means that the people that are already involved with the network are happy with it and are spreading information about it via word of mouth. Second, it means that people are researching what kinds of things the network does and what the ramifications are of those things. Thirdly, it means that there are more active members today than there has been and that number is increasing exponentially. As a group that began with thirty members in a grass-roots way, the network has become the “largest environmental we community in the world” and as such, can make an enormous difference in the environment and if it wanted to, sustainable education and efforts (Media Release: The Freecycle Network™ - Largest Environmental Web Community in the World!).
The Freecycle Network™, as previously mentioned, has become a multinational organization. The concept has spread from Tucson, Arizona through the United States to include all fifty states and some territories, like Guam (Regions of the United States). In each of these states and territories there are local groups, just like the one in my hometown of Port Orange, Florida. These local groups allow individuals to connect with other individuals from the same area via The Freecycle Network™ in order to communicate what they need, have, want, or have taken (J. Consiglio, personal communication, November 06, 2008). The network is flexible enough to allow members to join multiple local groups through a process of being accepted from an admin of that particular local group (J. Consiglio, personal communication, November 06, 2008). In the United States many have come together and spread the news of The Freecycle NetworkTM to others in other countries.
The word of mouth had become so grand that The Freecycle NetworkTM has now spread from the United States and its territories even further. The concept has spread to over eighty-five countries across the globe (Media Release: The Freecycle Network™ - Largest Environmental Web Community in the World!). These countries range from Andorra to Venezuela (Freecycle is active in these countries) and count for hundreds of local groups working in conjunction with more than 5.7 million people (History & Background). The collaboration of this network is unprecedented and the connections that people are making are only rivaled by social software networks on the internet. The network itself, in some forms, is a social software network. It is a social network in the sense that people are talking freely and interacting on it. Then sometimes they meet in person to either give or receive things. Some people become close friends because of this network (J. Consiglio, personal communication, November 6, 2008).
This network has spread like wildfire. In such a short amount of time because there is no other network out there like it. The only thing that I have found, while doing research and through life, that tries to promote giving away things that you no longer want or need to others that want or need them is Goodwill (About Goodwill). The concept of Goodwill, however, is not to keep trash out of the landfills and to connect the community but it is to “do the right thing” and to give what you no longer want and need to the less fortunate because they can buy it at low prices. Another institution that is about giving and getting is the Salvation Army. This network is similar to Goodwill in that people give things to them and they give them to thrift stores and to people for relief from disasters (The Salvation Army – Family Store). Both Goodwill and the Salvation Army have good intentions but they do not allow the same kind of connections that The Freecycle NetworkTM does, nor do they promote keeping things out of landfills and providing a means of doing so.
The Freecycle NetworkTM does have its issues. One problem with it is that sometimes people will want something but never go pick them up (L. Spears, personal communication, November 6, 2008). Part of the problem is that The Freecycle NetoworkTM only allows someone to come and pick up the item they want. There is no delivery service and many people, since it is in their local community, do not send things in the mail. One of the reasons for these things is that the price of gas and running a car is so high now (L. Spears, personal communication, November 6, 2008). This, I am sure, is an issue not only here in the local communities in Florida but elsewhere across the globe as well. People often do not have the capacity to bring larger things home with them because they can not find the means to do so. If people were to volunteer to be delivery people, then this might alleviate some of this problem (L. Spears, personal communication, November 6, 2008).
The international network would have this issue as well. In truth, the international community may have a harder time than the people in the United States have. The reason is that the people in the United States could find the means, if we had to. Often times finding the means to get or give things is not possible for people in other countries. People in these countries may use internet cafés to connect with The Freecycle NetworkTM (B. Palacios, personal communication, November 7, 2008). In that way, they may not have the means in their own home to connect to the internet and thus the network when they please. This could inhibit them in many ways. They could not receive essential updates that would tell them if someone else had gotten what they had wanted. It is also the case that not being able to have internet in the home would probably mean that their means of transportation is limited as well. Public transportation, especially in the Global South, is very limited and technologically challenged and where it does exist does not meet the needs of the larger public. In this way, the network would run into complications but the core concepts could still be put into practice.
The network has made huge successes in many areas of the globe. The network by having so many active members alone means that it is working. People in all places where the network exist are helping themselves, their communities, and the earth. People get around the minor hindrances of their individual or local situations to come together and give and receive to keep things out of the landfills. Keeping so much out of landfills is another success offered by the netwrok. The people in this network are keeping more than 500 tons of trash out of landfills a day by utilizing The Freecycle Network™ (History & Background). This “trash” is then put into better use by someone that either wants it or needs it. Trash is not truly trash until it is thrown away and this network and the people involved in it are demonstrating that everyday.
Often there will be someone that has a garage sale and puts whatever did not sell onto the network for someone to take off their hands (J. Consiglio, personal communications, November 6, 2008). This kind of behavior put into practice by the millions of people that have joined the network has certainly allowed The Freecycle NetworkTM to accomplish its goal of keeping the landfills freer of useful trash. The community has also felt more connected because they can see each other and help each other out (B. Palacios, interview, November 2, 2008). The community benefits not only from the ecological accomplishments that The Freecycle NetworkTM helps facilitate, but it also brings a sense of community to the community in need.
In lower income communities The Freecycle NetworkTM could benefit them greatly. Being part of the network does not mean that you have to give and receive all of the time you can do one or the other or one the majority of the time and the other only part of it. Often,
in lower income communities, people are lacking essentials and can not find them. This could provide a means for many of them to find clothes, bedding, appliances, and other essentials. This kind of networking between people has an array of applications that could help an array of people.
In larger cities people can feel very disjunctive from their neighbors and community. Since the network allows people to connect first through the web, then through real life, and then through a common goal, people feel better about their living situations (B. Palacios, personal communication, November 7, 2008). This can be seen in cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angels, London, Paris, and the list goes on. People in these cities can see their neighbors but the connections they feel to them are slight sometimes because there is so much diversity in the city and no common ground for them to bond on. The Freecycle NetworkTM allows for that common ground to occur. Obviously, this is not the case for everyone but on an individual basis.
The Freecycle NetworkTM has indeed accomplished many of the things that it wanted to work towards in its mission statement. The network has not only accomplished what it set out to do in the town of Tucson, Arizona but elsewhere as well. It has been as successful in the local places throughout the world as it has in Tucson, Arizona. It is obvious then that the few flaws that the network has inherently in it are workable and that many people do work around them both in the local and international sense.
In light of the network’s history, mission statement, and broader context there are a few things that they could still do to accomplish these goals more adequately. While The Freecycle Network™ has become a worldwide gifting movement that does reduce waste and eases the burdens on the landfills in the world, the thing that the network is lacking on most, is how it promotes saving resources. Many things are built to be finite and then thrown away. Keeping things in use longer than one person wants them does not solve the problem of keeping them out of the landfill or saving the resources. In reality, all that the network does is prolong the period between ownership and the landfill. I am not saying that the network is not helping keep people aware of sustainable practices or that the network is failing in its mission. I am saying, however, that the network needs to find a way to truly recycle the things that people are giving and getting so that when the times comes that the product has no “life” (defined as usable/viable time) left in it, it is not thrown away.
What I would suggest is that there be regional offices for these local groups to communicate at. At these regional offices there could be a place where when a member is ready to throw something away because either no one wants it or it has no “life” left in it, they can bring it to the regional office instead of the landfill. At these places there could be either volunteers or hired help to separate and truly recycle what they can from these unwanted items. This would keep all of these things out of the landfills and not just prolong the digestion period. For example, when a shirt is too worn and tattered to be wanted or used as a shirt they could bring it to the center and someone cold make something else out of the fabric or they could break down the shirt to reuse the fibers.
I would suggest trying this in a few regional locations first where the local networks are strong and very active. If these few regions succeeded in the new addition to the network then it should be expanded to other regions and eventually, as the network did itself, overseas to many nation-states. This would close the loop of the network and make the network not only a place where they communicated and helped out each other and the earth, but also a place where sustainability is showcased.
After researching this intricate network of people and the way that The Freecycle Network™ helps those people, I think that people can make a huge difference towards the goal of sustainability. The Freecycle NetworkTM’s concept is one that, because so many people have utilized it, has made an environmental impact on keeping things out of the landfills and out of the linear cycle that most products go into.
I talked to a few people that are part of The Freecycle Network™ in various cities (other than those cited) and everyone seems to think that by participating in this they are not only helping themselves and their community, but they are helping out the earth. This, to me, really opened my eyes on how much one individual can do if they can get many to jump on board. Imagine that Mr. Beal decided that his idea was silly and never e-mailed his friends. The ramifications of one person’s, Mr. Beal, decision to share has been tremendous.
Sustainability, as I have discovered, does not come from one thing but it comes from the collective action of the masses. The Freecycle Network™ is only one of those things that help inch the world and its population toward sustainable living. I want to get involved with this program and help out myself, my communities, and the earth. Something simple like participating in this, using florescent light-bulbs, and being aware of consumption are all things that I, as an American, can do easily with little extra cost. I feel that this network has opened my eyes to a whole interconnected world that wants to contribute in the only ways that they know how.
In conclusion, the sustainable efforts that The Freecycle Network™ endorses have helped me to want to become a more active and environmentally aware citizen, not only of the United States but of the world that we all have to inhabit. We are reaching, some would argue we have reached, a point that we are no longer just citizens of nation-states but we are global citizens. The ramifications of our dirty life-styles may not affect us but they do affect someone, even if they are half way around the world. Since we live in a finite world the things that we do and use often can not be replenished and as such we must all be aware of that. The most important struggle that the future holds for my generation will not be economics alone, or tolerance alone, but it will be the fight to keep our planet alive and endorse sustainable living to everyone, including large and small corporations.
Work Cited
Consiglio, Jan. Personal communication (e-mail). 06 November 2008.
“Freecycle is active in these countries.” The Freecycle Network™. Tucson, Arizona. 07 November 2008 < http://www.freecycle.org/group/?noautodetect=1>.
“About Goodwill.” Goodwill Industries International Inc. 2005. 10 November 2008 < http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about>.
“History & Background Information.” The Freecycle Network™. Tucson, Arizona. 06 November 2008 <http://www.freecycle.org/about/background>.
“Home.” The Freecycle Network™. Tucson, Arizona. 05 November 2008 <www.freecycle.org>.
“Mission Statement.” The Freecycle Network™. Tucson, Arizona. 06 November 2008 <http://www.freecycle.org/about/missionstatement>.
“Media Release: May Day: A Fertile Freecycle Network™ Turns Four Today!” The Freecycle Network™. 01 May 2007. Tucson, Arizona. 07 November 2008 < http://www.freecycle.org/pressreleases/ 07-05-01_The_Freecyle_Network_media_release.pdf>.
“Media Release: The Freecycle Network™ - Largest Environmental Web Community in the World!” The Freecycle Network™. 09 September 2008. Tucson, Arizona. 07 November 2008 < http://www.freecycle.org/pressreleases/ 08-09-09_Freecycle_press_release.pdf>.
Palacios, Bronwen. Personal communication (e-mail). 07 November 2008.
Palacios, Bronwen. Personal Interview. 02 November 2008.
“Regions of the United States.” The Freecycle Network™. Tucson, Arizona. 07 November 2008 < http://www.freecycle.org/group/US/?noautodetect=1>.
Spears, Linda. Personal communication (e-mail). 06 November 2008.
“The Salvation Army – Family Stores.” The Salvation Army. 10 November 2008 < http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/ vw-text-dynamic-arrays/E3610FB5DDD550A1802573250030E32A?openDocument>.
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