Tag Archives: reuse

Walking the dog and cleaning up the earth

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My dear friend and I have very enthusiastic conversations about conservation, plastic, and recycling, to mention a few. We tend to open each other’s eyes to different viewpoints. However, I have to admit, I think he is coming around to my side of the table. Even so, he has definitely opened my eyes to facts I never thought about.

I am not a big fan of plastic. Yes, it does have its place in our society, especially in hospitals and plumbing. However, I try my best to avoid it when ever possible and use some alternative, canvas bags, metal or glass jars and containers, instead of plastic; you get the picture.

My friend lives in San Francisco and needs to walk his dog several times a day. Of course he also cleans up when the dog relieves himself. The other day he proudly told me about his resourceful way of cleaning up his dog’s poop, the neighborhood, and reusing those dreadful vegetable plastic bags he collects when shopping at the grocery store. He knows I don’t and has informed me about how disgusting shopping carts are – they are rarely ever cleaned and some are used by people to store their possessions who don’t have regular access to bathing facilities. I guess they do get very gross and, yes, I just put my produce in them. I wash my produce, for sure, but now I wash them very well.

He told me he uses empty vegetable and bread bags to pick up after his dog. And during the walk, he picks up any trash along the way. When the bag is full, he simply deposits it into a trashcan.  I have to admit this is a fabulous idea. He no longer needs to buy little poop bags and reuses the bags from his produce and bread. Brilliant!

What do you reuse?  Please share and I will continue to share.

 

Your trash may be someone else’s treasure

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Do you have something that is perfectly good but you no longer want or need, perhaps clothes your son grew out or a bookcase? Would you like to remove it from your home, make space but you have no desire to coordinate a garage sale or cart it off to a second hand store and it makes no sense to throw it away. You would rather recycle it.  On the other hand, do you need something, a wheelbarrow, maybe fireplace equipment; it doesn’t have to be new, just functional. Perhaps Freecycle TM is for you.  FreecycleTM is a worldwide online network where you can post notices about items you’d like to give away and find things that you need. The only requirement is that the transfer of an item from one person to another has to be FREE.

Through FreecycleTM, you can help the environment by diverting useful items from landfills while also helping members of your local community. Everybody has something they want to get rid of, so instead of dragging it out to the curb and filling up the landfills, wouldn’t it be better to connect with someone who probably wants what you have?

The Freecycle Network is made up of over 5,000 groups with over 9,000,000 members, in 85 countries around the world. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. As a result, the network is currently keeping over 500 tons a day out of landfills! This amounts to five times the height of Mt. Everest in the past year alone when stacked in garbage trucks!

It is a wonderful tool for redistribution and I have been utilizing the network for almost ten years in towns from coast to coast. I have found it particularly helpful before and after a move. When we were preparing to move from California back to New York, I would list an item and sometimes within an hour, I would have at least 5 people requesting the item. It was so easy to purge, even on the day of the move when a large item simply would not fit into the moving Pod. On the other hand, when we moved into a new location and needed something, someone in our new community had the item we needed.

I know you must be wondering about safety. Common sense is always important. Most of the time when picking up an item, it is left by a mailbox or garage. I rarely ever meet the people that I make an exchange with, but thank you notes are often left. Some people do prefer to meet in a central location. After, almost ten years of exchange, I am happy to say no problems have ever occurred during an exchange. The worst issue is a no show, which is often frustrating.

Local volunteers moderate each local group. However, there are a couple of basic rules that govern all the FreecycleTM programs:

Keep it free, legal & appropriate for all ages

No offering YOURSELF or YOUR CHILDREN

Subject line of your posts should include:

  • Offer, note location
  • Taken
  • Wanted, note location
  • Received

By giving freely with no strings attached, members of The Freecycle Network help instill a sense of generosity of spirit as they strengthen local community ties and promote environmental sustainability and reuse. It’s a beautiful thing.

To sign up, simply go http://www.freecycle.org  and find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on ‘Browse Groups’ above the search box.

And of course, membership is FREE!

What ways do you redistribute your unwanted items? Please share and I will continue to share.