So you finally cleaned out your closet.

You can admit it.  We’re all Americans here.  We’re consumers.  We consume.  Who among us doesn’t acquire stuff?  We work to earn money to buy.  We buy and use.  Styles change.  Fads come and go.  We outgrow.  We upgrade.  We get bored with whatever it is we bought.  We buy new stuff to take the place of the old.  Our old stuff goes into storage, usually a closet or garage, until we forget what we originally paid for it.  And one day we wake up hating the stuff we used to love, angry at the space it’s taking up.  Our new new stuff is getting old, but our old new stuff is occupying square feet.  Commercials entice us…there are new things to buy…all at once the decision is made.  Enough time has passed for us to throw our old new stuff into the trash.  We’ve got to rotate the “stuff”.  The FIFO Method.  First in, first out.  It’s good for the economy.  We’re Americans.  We’ve got to do our part.

Wait a minute!  Where are you going with those two armfuls of clothes you haven’t worn in six years?  Not out to the curbside on garbage day…please tell me you’re not doing that?  The future is now, and we’ve got alternatives.  Although you may not believe it, there are hundreds of people, right here in Cape Coral, who would love to take those used clothes off your hands.  Over one-thousand, three-hundred and fifteen people to be exact. 

Well, maybe they don’t all want your clothes, but that’s how many folks are going to get a chance to second-hand your trash-bound duds if you decide to join Freecycle™ Cape Coral.

Started in May of 2003 in Tucson, Arizona, The Freecycle™ Network has revolutionized the community-based recycling of “stuff”.  Founded by Deron Beal, a 37 year old professional recycler and dreamer, the organization began as a small thought and within two years has grown to 4,008 grassroots groups in over 50 countries, and boasting over 3,380,000 members.  One human being’s trash is truly the rest of the planet’s treasure.

The Freecycle™ Network is a computer-driven grassroots movement of people who are giving and receiving free stuff amongst each other.  Each local group is run by a volunteer moderator.  Membership is free.  Essentially, you go to the website (www.Freecycle.org ), click a few buttons to locate and join your local Freecycle™ group, and everything is automated via email from there.

Think of it as an environmentally-conscious Ebay® without money…or charity-based trash-picking without getting dirty.  Every day over 85 tons of stuff, destined for a landfill or incinerator, is now posted on the computer and gifted away to the first responders.  As soon as you join the group email begins filling your inbox.  10 or 20 emails a day describe stuff you can have.  If you’re the first to respond, and you don’t mind traveling to retrieve the stuff from the donor’s front yard, then it’s all yours.

Clothing, shoes, furniture, building supplies, toys, furniture, household appliances, packing materials, audio tapes, CDs and DVDs, books and magazines, dishes and plates, vitamins, computer equipment, and a hot tub are just some of the stuff that’s been posted over the past week. 

The Freecycle™ movement is on a mission to change the way people think about what they buy, when they buy it and what they do with it when they no longer want it.  Just looking at the emails coming from the Freecycle™ group should be enough to cause any consumer to think twice before they purchase their next piece of temporary stuff.

But, as elsewhere, the laws of supply and demand prevail over the Freecycle™ population.  For everything being given, there is a taker.  For every person having too much stuff, there is someone who wants more.  And for every email offering something for free, there is another email asking for something for free.  The community works both ways.  Give away what you don’t want any more, and ask for some of the things you do.  Moving boxes, dolls, bricks, clothes, vacuum cleaners, daybeds, packing peanuts…all of these have been requested over the last week…and many of the requests have been filled.

Big stuff is on the horizon for the Freecycle™ Network.  They are in the process of creating a brand new website to facilitate and centralize their operations.  At this point they are still using the cumbersome Yahoo® Groups mailing lists to organize their legions.  The new website will enable reception of posts by category and distance, meaning you’ll be able to cite your preferences and have only the offers you’ve specified sent to you.  This should cut down on the cumbersome volume of email each member receives under the current format.  They’re planning to provide worldwide coverage, in every language.  They’re attempting to increase the educational component of their concept by offering municipal recycling information and locally based planned events.  The Freecycle™ mission is to create a fully functional worldwide gift economy in an effort to help those with a surplus help those with a deficit, all while helping the environment and our communities stay cleaner. 

Now finish cleaning out your closets and give some stuff away.