B-Rant

- submitted by Linda Keenan on 02/11/2008

Who Needs Recycling When There's Freecycling

By Linda Keenan

Recently The New York Times gave prime real estate, a massive footprint, if you will, to the idea that suburban-living is a massive drain on the environment. The front page article in the Sunday Style Section hit directly on an issue I've thought a lot about: that the things that make suburbia appealing to most are the things that hurt the environment the most: the lush lawns, the bigger houses, and the like. The Times mentioned a lot of things suburbanites can do to take make their carbon footprint smaller, but not the one I enjoy the most, and that's Freecycling.

If you've never heard of Freecycle, here's a quick primer. You go to freecycle.org, find your local group, and sign up. Once you're approved, you either post items you want, under "Wanted", or respond to items offered by your neighbors that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Then you arrange to pick them up.

I'll dispense quickly with the practical joys of Freecycle to get on to the fun stuff. We furnished our entire finished basement thanks to neighboring Freecyclers, acquired fireplace tools, and a massive amount of gardening equipment for our first home. We probably saved $3,000 on that alone and god knows how much of the environment.

We've met two Ivy League professors, a saintly (truly) foster mom, a trained biomedical engineer whose true passion is her Celtic band, an apparent shut-in who wanted to give us his microwave and, it seemed, have a little company for a few minutes. I belong to a few groups and it allowed me to really get to know the towns before we settled on a house.

Now we are pretty much done outfitting our house with our neighbors' junk and my husband and I just sit back and enjoy reading the completely bizarre things people both want and offer. My husband set up his email so that he gets live alerts all day from about 7 Freecycling groups and when he sits there and starts laughing hilariously I know it's something good. Here are my favs...

Offer: Gynocologist examining chair from maybe the 1940's. Your grandma might have been examined in this! [Nope, not making that line up. This guy really said this.]

Offer: Extra progesterone vaginal suppositories for hormone replacement. [I daresay this may be illegal.]

Wanted: Friend of mine is having a quick wedding coming up! No...she is not with child. Looking for a Wedding Dress?? Size 12. White Xmas kights [presumably she means "lights"], white candles. And for all you creative folks out there...anything white related that you think would be helpful ie Linens, etc. etc. Ahhhh the job of the illustrious Maid of Honor.... [to which I say Ahhhhh to be able to attend THAT wedding....]

Then, not long after that "wedding" email, came this offer. I still have these two emails and the response info doesn't quite match, so I can't be sure, but I like to believe that this is the same woman who threw the impromptu wedding as the illustrious Maid of Honor. The syntax and the punctuation are very similar.

Offer: I had a pig slaughtered and I have all the organ and such, I thought some one may want them for pet food, or maybe to eat..lol....it's up to the individual. We have the kidneys, tounge, feet (ham hocks), heart. They are in the freezer, and very very fresh. Maybe the brain too. First to pick up gets it. Just have to thaw em!

I passed on the frozen pig heart but there is one Freecycle offer that means more to me than any other. My husband, without telling me, went through considerable hassle to acquire this for his slightly dotty, magazine-obsessed wife...

Offer: Complete set of New Yorker magazines from 1990-2007.
That was enough to thaw this girl's heart for sure.