When I think of technology, the Internet more specifically, as benefiting the environment, I think of the possibility that people will use less paper and more broadband.
But human imagination has found yet another use for the Internet--this time, reducing landfill waste by recycling used items.
Of course, I have been re-using and recycling items for years and years. My current sources of disposal (besides the trashcan and eventually the landfill) are: my church's semi-annual toy and clothing sale; Goodwill; the Rescue Mission; Habitat ReStore (just once but it still counts); friends and neighbors for kids' stuff. I tend to wear out items before ultimately disposing of them so they are typically unsuitable for consignment shops. I have, however, received credit for used books at a local book exchange shop. Unfortunately, I have also used a guy with a truck who hauls away stuff for a fee.
A few weeks ago, I read in the newspaper (still clinging to my print version by the way) about "freecycle" -- and was intrigued. It is an Internet-enabled way to dispose of and gain (otherwise) unwanted items rather place them in the trash. People post their items in a classified-ad-sort-of-way and then make a connection to either a giver or a wanter.
So, when I decided to (finally) get rid of a large piece of fitness equipment (deemed unwanted not only by me but also the local Play It Again Sports as well as the Rescue Mission), I looked up freecycle. There are a few sites with similar names and/or ones that appear in a Google search but I think that
www.freecycle.org is the one that I read about in the paper. It seems to be powered by Yahoo Groups, which I am somewhat familiar with. I found my local group, got a username and password, and then read the rules of free-cycling engagement. Main rule: everything is free so don't go around trying to charge for anything. Other rules are listed to make things easy for skimmers, though group members don't seem to pay terribly close attention. I tried to follow them to make them easy on me also: that is, I posted my offer as, well an OFFER, with as brief but clear description as possible. The posting had to be moderated but once it was listed on the site, I had a taker within an hour. I promised it to the first contact not just because I wasn't sure of the demand but because, well, any other way seemed to be a bit elitist--even though receivers may possibly sell a free item to someone else.
I am awaiting pick-up, that is the item is PENDING. If something falls through, I have other takers, which is comforting to me.
Let's see what happens and hope that the landfill growth slows down a bit.
