Not spending a penny! The Northern Ireland people getting stuff for free and decluttering with Zero Waste Freecycle NI

Julie is giving away a lovely mahogany dining table and four chairs, Sarah has a collection of romance novels she no longer wants or needs, John has spider plants he’s looking rid of, whilst Tom is in search of a leaf blower someone might have lying unused in their garden shed...welcome to the world of Zero Waste Freecycle NI, an online community where that old cliché that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure is fully in evidence.

The site was established two years about by Rebekah McCabe, 42, who lives in Belfast.

The new mum, who had previously used Freecycle sites, was on maternity leave when she decided to set up a local group, which would have more of a community feel.

“I had a mountain of stuff that within a few months my baby didn’t need anymore and a mountain of stuff that I was going to need but I didn’t have. I was also interested in connecting with people. Maternity leave is an isolating time, so I wanted to have a sense of community.”

Rebekah launched the Zero Waste Freecycle NI page with 30 members from another NI group she had been involved with, Journey to Zero Waste, and has seen it take off dramatically, with some 12,700 people across the Province now registered as members.

“It just grew exponentially and particularly from lockdown. We did pause in the first six months of the pandemic for safety reasons, but we saw a massive spike in membership at that point. And I don’t think it’s peaked, it’s still growing by hundreds of new members a week.”

The Freecycle concept

The original Freecycle concept was the brainchild of Deron Beal, an environmentalist from Arizona, who started it in 2003. The concept is straightforward and is as easy as it is radical. Members can ask the other people for an item. If someone has it, they can tell the person who wants it, or a person can give away an item. Sometimes many people want the item, and the donator has to choose just one person. It’s free to join and individuals, families and many charities are the better for it. It is estimated there are some 7 million Freecyclers around the world.

With climate change very much in focus at the moment with Cop26, and more and more of us becoming cognisant of sustainability and not discarding perfectly usable household items at the local tip, online recycling groups, such as Zero Waste Freecycle NI, offer an antidote to our throw-away culture. But, aside from the worthy element, who among us can resist those five tempting words ‘Free to a good home’?

Helping others in need

“There’s people on the group who will be very eco-conscious and that’s why they are there because they have an ethical conviction around not buying new or not buying from certain retailers. But there’s also people there who just love a bargain and people who just love to pick up weird stuff if they can,” said Rebekah.

“There are also people who are there supporting others. There was one woman who has been informally helping out refugees during the pandemic when a lot of services were under an awful lot of pressure. She asked for household items.

“There was a person whose elderly neighbour had lost everything in a house fire and she put up a post and within a couple of days the Freecycle community had furnished the man’s house. People just rally round causes like that.”

She added: “The interest in this (freecycling) for me was having a young baby - and there’s so much waste. You can’t do without these items, but you only really need them for a few months and they are good quality.

“I’m not someone who wants to keep stuff stuck in their attic if someone else can make use of it. And weddings are like that as well. It’s stuff for one day. There was a woman who was getting married and her budget was really tight, so almost her entire wedding was freecycled, people gave her signs, lights, place settings.

“Another woman was doing a self-build house on a budget and she was getting lots of building materials that people, whether through renovations or whatever, had spare. She gathered up lots of stuff.”

Members don’t have to be eco-conscious

Rebekah said there is no obligation for members to be eco-conscious, some people just use the site out of good old-fashioned thrift.

“We are not indoctrinating anyone. You can be there for whatever reason, like you might just want to get rid of your clutter, and you are still part of the community. Some eco communities online can be a bit sanctimonious or they can be competitive about who is greener, but no one cares about that on Freecycle, you are either offering or you are looking for something and if somebody can help you out, then they will.”

Of course, the site does have guidelines, which members must adhere to.

“People are not allowed to be unkind to each other. Any meanness will be removed. People are not allowed to buy or sell.

“We don’t allow people to recommend where things can be bought. We aren’t anti-consumerist, but it’s a Freecycle page, it’s for people to exchange goods for free, so that’s why we don’t allow it. If someone is asking for something, they might be asking because they have an ethical position where they don’t want to buy it, or they might not have the money to buy it. It’s not nice to keep getting recommendations of where to buy an item, they might know perfectly well where to buy it, but they don’t want to, or they can’t afford to.

“We don’t allow off-topic stuff. There’s no borrowing or lending because that’s just a minefield. And we don’t allow things that do harm and obviously things that are illegal.

“We have a really good community and if they see a post where someone is being unkind or trying to sell something they’ll flag it very quickly.”

With some 12.7k members and hundreds of items being exchanged each day, Rebekah admits she has had plenty of giggles at some of the weirder items people put up.

“Somebody gave away an entire conservatory. There is one user who seems to have an endless supply of costumes that she gives away. They are almost all in that onesie style.

“There are some people who are just hilarious. They are giving away their children’s toys and will talk about how they are being tormented by the sound of the thing.

“Another person, who either had the lid, or the teapot, was looking for its mate. It was an old, very specific type of ceramic item. It was a shot in the dark, but somebody did have it and they were able to re-unite them. Or what happens fairly regularly is that a child has lost a beloved toy that they can’t sleep without and someone gives them a replacement. When stuff like that happens it’s just a bit magical.”

Blogger Helen McClements on why she loves Zero Waste Freecycle NI

“During the Halloween holidays, three strangers came to my door. Between them they relieved me of two Diplodocus cuddly toys and dolls, all of had which missing hands or/and feet, thanks to my greyhound mistaking them for chew toys.

“Who the heck would want amputee dolls, you may be thinking? Someone with a Beetlejuice themed party, that’s who.

“I will think kindly of these individuals in the future, when the children’s toy boxes aren’t overflowing and I’m not tripping them as they lie abandoned on the floor.

“Likewise, I feel indebted to the man who collected an old cot which was languishing under our eaves and made hunting for anything within such a chore.

“I had agonised over getting rid of it; clinging to the notion my children may have wanted it in the future. Of course, they wouldn’t, especially given that screws were long gone.

“Instead, I happily donated to be used as a barricade to stop the man’s rescue dog absconding from his garden.

“I also think fondly of the girl who gave me a set of four mugs emblazoned with camper vans.

It’s a s close as I’ll ever get to one, but it’s nice to dream of a road trip while I sip my coffee.

“I’ve furnished my hall with a small sideboard and a large rattan chest for boots and shoes.

“My child sleeps on a bed donated by a kind couple in Holywood.

“ A fine selection of children’s books from one lovely lady sits atop a table a family nearby was giving away. ‘Hold that item!’ said I, before someone else claimed it.

In short, this site has helped to both purge and save money on essentials I need.

“The most costly items I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on are three leather bar stools in a vibrant shade of purple.

“I reckon those alone saved me £300.

“Yes, they may be a little scuffed, but given the abuse they’ll take in my house, that was inevitable anyway.

“One person’s junk is truly another’s treasure, and this site certainly proves that.”

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