Freecycle Groups: The Green Answer to Your Clutter

We’ve all seen the retailers that collect old cell phones for various charities, but what is the eco-friendly way to keep other electronics out of the landfills? Try Freecycle groups.

The Freecycle Network is a non-profit organization. Powered by nearly 10,000 volunteers, Freecycle includes 4,868 groups with 6.8 million members.  Membership is free. Everything posted on Freecycle is also free. (If you want to sell something, try Craigslist or eBay.) You can see the other rules at Freecycle.org.

Once you’ve joined your local Freecycle group, you can post a message to the group’s listserv  announcing an item that you want to give away. There are a lot of people that want your TV with the bad picture, old modems and routers, discarded keyboards, or ancient computer monitors. And they will even pick the items up. You can clean out your garage and basement without leaving the house!

You can even list items that are broken as long as you disclose the information. There are handy people out there who will pick up your junk and repair it.

Freecycle is also a good place to score old electronics, including cell phones, chargers for phones, laptops, and toys. You can also give away — or get — clothes, toys, furniture, and appliances.