A green exchange at the click of a mouse
BOISE - Ada County has more than five thousand members who are part of a thrifty on-line exchange system.
"Just this weekend, I scored," said Jack Puckett of Boise. "I got about four or five different shirts. This being one of them," (referring to a shirt he's wearing).
This dad of six kids says he's always searching for a good find, especially when it comes to pants, shirts and sneakers.
"The email comes with a regarding line and tells you what the product is to give away and often you will get something like 'a pair of shoes size 7.5' and you think of who that may fit in your family, and I have a lot of feet to cover," Puckett said.
It's like E-Bay, except users would say it's more environmentally friendly. The items on the Ada County Freecycle site are not for sale, and usually, whoever claims the stuff first will get it for free. Items range anywhere from clothes, pet supplies to even large exercise equipment.
"There is a lot of items that come across that are very expensive and nice items," Puckett said. "I got a treadmill that my son occasionally borrows."
Users say it is a way of recycling items without sending them to a landfill, hence, the name: "freecycle."
And for those of you who have heard of the saying, 'one man's trash is another man's treasure;' this on-line green exchange may be the map to where X marks the spot to your treasure. For many of these members, unwanted treasures are found within their neighbors' garages.
"We don't use it; we don't need it; it definitely doesn't belong in a landfill; and there is definitely someone who can use it," said Casey O'Connell of Boise who is referring to an outdoor umbrella that's tucked away in her garage.
She hopes when it comes time to do some Spring cleaning, items such as her outdoor umbrella will be of good use to someone who may need it.
"When you are cleaning out the garage, (you think) 'why am I even storing it; why am I hanging onto it; what am I going to do with it?' so you think, ah, I'll just post a quick ad on freecycle," O'Connell said.
O'Connell says she's hoping her green ways will rub off to others around her.
"There have been times when people are moving out of my neighborhood, and they put things out on the curb," O'Connell said. "People who moved out here a couple years ago, put out a really great wheel barrel; so I went and grabbed it off the curb before the local dump man could come and get it and I 'freecycled' it and it ended up going to a lady who lived in a small home who couldn't afford a wheel barrel but wanted to spruce up the property and she totally needed it and it was great."
Not only is "freecycling" happening here locally, it's a global movement with more than 5 million participants across the world.
"It is really just a grass roots kind of a movement, people that have things, people who need things, and it is a need on the Internet that people can come together and people can get those needs met," O'Connell said.
If you are interested in this green movement and want to remove a little clutter in your garage you can join the Ada County Freecycling group, just check out the link below.
