An alternative to donating to your local thrift store is Freecycle.
What is Freecycle?
“It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free.” (quote is from Freecycle.org)
If you have still-useable stuff that you no longer need, try offering it on Freecycle.org.
Deron Beal of Tucson, AZ created freecycle.org while working for a non-profit organization similar to the Defenders. He was bombarded with questions from businesses on where to take used items. He was afraid that the businesses would just throw them out if he didn’t find a place for them, so he created Freecycle to list the items online. People search the web-based forum in their particular area for items they need. When they come across an item they were looking for, they email the person who has listed the items to arrange pickups. Thus, items are reused, and are kept out of the landfills. Freecycle has spread to over 27 nations and has over 400,000 users.
There is a Freecycle group for almost every community in McHenry County. Check out www.freecycle.org and join your local group today to do your part to reduce, reuse and recycle!
