If you haven't heard of Freecycle, it's a community messageboard (usually on Yahoo groups) where people can post items they want to give away. The purpose of the group is to keep things out of land fills and put them in the hands of people who can put the items to good use.
It works like this. I had an old broken DVD player that I didn't want to throw into the garbage, but I didn't want to waste money repairing because I had recently purchased a newer, better model. So I go to my local Freecycle message board and post a "Giving Away Broken DVD player" message along with my email address.
Lo and behold, a few hours later I get a number of emails from local handypersons who have a knack with broken electronics. I reply to the first person to respond and arrange a pick up time. At the arranged time they drop by my apartment and pick up the neglected item. I'm happy because I got some shelf space back and my fellow freecycler is happy to get a free piece of equipment to tinker with (and maybe sell?).
Interested? Yahoo groups is the best place to find your local Freecycle group, although they may be posting elsewhere so don't give up if you don't find it there. Here are a few groups from across Canada:
Toronto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleTO/
Winnipeg: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WpgFreecycle/
Calgary: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclecalgary/
Edmonton: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Freecycle-Edmonton/
Vancouver/Burnaby: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleBurnaby/
There are other groups that are not affiliated with the Freecycle (tm), but they operate under the same basic idea.
Happy Freecycling! Thank you for keeping our country beautiful!! <3
It works like this. I had an old broken DVD player that I didn't want to throw into the garbage, but I didn't want to waste money repairing because I had recently purchased a newer, better model. So I go to my local Freecycle message board and post a "Giving Away Broken DVD player" message along with my email address.
Lo and behold, a few hours later I get a number of emails from local handypersons who have a knack with broken electronics. I reply to the first person to respond and arrange a pick up time. At the arranged time they drop by my apartment and pick up the neglected item. I'm happy because I got some shelf space back and my fellow freecycler is happy to get a free piece of equipment to tinker with (and maybe sell?).
Interested? Yahoo groups is the best place to find your local Freecycle group, although they may be posting elsewhere so don't give up if you don't find it there. Here are a few groups from across Canada:
Toronto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleTO/
Winnipeg: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WpgFreecycle/
Calgary: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclecalgary/
Edmonton: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Freecycle-Edmonton/
Vancouver/Burnaby: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleBurnaby/
There are other groups that are not affiliated with the Freecycle (tm), but they operate under the same basic idea.
Happy Freecycling! Thank you for keeping our country beautiful!! <3