Just launched in our area is Lancaster Morecambe Freegle, part of the national online re-use network Freegle, formed in the UK as a friendly local alternative to the US-based Freecycle Network.
In less than three weeks since Freegle was formed, 193 local groups like the new local group – 37% of former Freecycle groups and representing 892,000 members (43% cent of the total UK Freecycle membership) – have moved to the new co-operative umbrella organisation, and many more groups are expected to follow.
The people behind Freegle, which means Free Giving, Locally, Easily, say the new network offers greater freedom for people in the UK to organise the way we work to suit local needs, without the rigid management hierarchy imposed by The Freecycle Network.
Freegle’s sole objective is to enable individuals to ‘do their bit’ by keeping household goods out of landfill by giving away things they don’t want, to people who can use them. This will be a truly grassroots co-operative run by and for local people.
Freegle was formed by UK volunteers asked to leave The Freecycle Network after requesting greater autonomy for more than two million members in this country. Freecycle had around 1400 volunteers who ran local groups and of these 450 of them have been lobbying the US management for changes to the organisation structure and way of working over the past few months. It is not possible for disenfranchised local groups to continue with their existing name: breakaway groups in the past have faced legal action from The Freecyle Network, which vigorously defends ownership of its trademark. (For more on this, there are reports here in Recyling and Waste Management News, The Ecologist and the Daily Telegraph.
“The UK has been a big player in Freecycle’s global network, accounting for approximately one quarter of all re-used household items saved from landfill, and with more members per head of population than any other country,” a spokesperson for Freegle said. “There are already millions of people in the UK who offer unwanted household items for reuse by others, rather than dumping them.”
“The creation of Freegle was inevitable when dedicated Freecycle volunteers who simply asked for greater autonomy in the UK were asked to leave and their groups closed,” explained Louise Belcher, the Lancaster Morecambe Freegle group owner/moderator, echoing the views of the former UK director of Freecycle, Neil Morris. “This left us with no alternative but to set up an alternative for our members in the UK. In the end it has been the best possible outcome.
• Find Lancaster Morecambe Freegle at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lancaster-Morecambe-Freegle
• The new Freegle site is open to everyone who wants to do their bit for the planet – just visit www.iloveFreegle.org
I do not pretend to understand the reasons why any of this has happened or indeed why such a complicated arrangement is needed for a "give it away" email list.
Why on earth do I *need* to give my postcode when joining? Surely that is an invasion of privacy – especially if I have no intention of giving people my home address.
You give your postcode so it's clear to the mods that you're joining the correct group, if you're out of area then they may recommend a more local group or ask why you want to join this group.
Also it's help them if you forget to give your generally location when posting a message on the group, avoids them having to automatically reject your message, they can fill in the missing bit and give you a friendly reminder to include it next time.