Difference between revisions of "MEDIA RELEASE 2012.09.03"

September 3, 2012, Tucson, Arizona - The Freecycle Network is proudly fanning the flames of the grassroots wildfire across the globe as the largest environmental web community on the planet as it raced past the 8 million member mark, with growth in more than 110 countries. This translates into over 32,000 items a day, which is over a thousand tons a day kept out of landfills via gifting and re-use. Our members are currently gifting used items in over 5,000 local communities.

No one could have imagined that what began as a small circle of friends on May 1, 2003, would have evolved into the Freecycle of today. It was then that Deron Beal had a bed that he wished to recycle but discovered that the local thrift shops did not accept beds. In an effort to protect our planet and recycle a perfectly useable bed, he started a network of friends online and offered the bed. What began as only 30 members in 2003 has now developed into many millions of members worldwide.

Now there are about 7,000 volunteers who devote their time and energy to this worthy cause. TFN thanks all their wonderful members and volunteers who, they cite, are the reason for their overwhelming success. TFN says if people weren’t basically good and giving, Freecycle would not work. But it does indeed on a massive, and globally local, scale. Freecycle creates a circle of giving in each of its local communities around the world. Working together, we can keep it green.

The Network is currently growing at the rate of over thousands of new members weekly. This nonprofit gifting movement enables individuals to gift items in their local communities rather than to throw them away, thus keeping one thousand tons out of landfills daily. Freecycle was ranked by Yahoo as the third most searched environmental term on the planet following only “global warming” and “recycling.”

Lending credence to their motto of “changing the world one gift at time,” the amount of items gifted in the past year is the equivalent of over thirteen times the height of Mt. Everest when stacked in garbage trucks – that’s over 700 million pounds of used items.

Freecycle is globally local -- Each city has volunteer moderators and a unique email group. Anyone living in that city is then welcome to post items to be given away or to seek items which they might be able to use. Whether it is an old door, a pile of dirt or a computer, it’s probably being given away on one of the local groups already up and running as you read this article.

The Freecycle Network is a private, nonprofit organization based out of Tucson, Arizona, and stewarded by a volunteer near you. Visit www.freecycle.org to find the Freecycle community in your area.

Liberate a basement near you and keep usable items out of the landfill in the process!

Here is how to contact us if you wish to arrange a photo opportunity or interview with your local moderator..