With environmental concerns at an all time high, the economy continuing to plummet, the interest in classifieds that enable individuals to give away their own unwanted items and receive other people’s unwanted items, is soaring.  Unless, you're recycling a car or other  mega items --in which case you outta check out my article on auto recycling story:-) there's a veritable goldmine of resources available to you online.

Founded in 2003 by Deron Beal’s Freecycle, Freecycle.org was the first of its kind. Beal was ultimately able to establish a mission based organization to nurture communities while keeping stuff out of landfills. Now, with sponsorships from Waste Management, Cal Max and King and Spaulding as well as with revenue generated from private donations and the sales of everything from t-shirt to bumper stickers Freecycle.org is able to cover its modest operating costs and maintain it’s 4,629 volunteer communities with full transparency (www.freecycle.org/about/funds) Warning to those with a small mailbox capacity, once you’ve joined your local freecycle group, facilitated by Yahoo, expect to be flooded. If you don’t have an extra spam or overflow account, chances are that Freecycle.org will make you want to get one.

Although it is neither non-profit nor mission based, Cragislist.org is also pulling its weight in the free recycling movement. Craigslist.org’s more than 20 billion page views per month offers ubiquitous exposure to a concept that could otherwise go unnoticed by such a massive demographic of classified users expecting to pay. Cragislist users who happen across the “free” option listed along with the myriad of revenue generating categories sometimes end up pleasantly surprised when discovering that the item they initially expected to have to pay money for is available at no cost.

Coded like a dream, Craigs’ simple user friendly design is insanely easy to navigate. No need to flood the inbox since you’re only responding or receiving what is relevant to whatever it is you’re giving or getting rid of. Given the size users with daily access, Craigslist.org is almost always guaranteed to connect to someone giving away cardboard moving boxes, dirt and river rocks at almost any point in time. On the downside, this behemoth of an engine does not nurture community conscientiousness the way that Freecycle does. This often results in the freshly dumped ‘come and get it’ mentality which more often than not, will end up in a landfill anyway. Additionally, Craigslist’s monitors have bigger fish to fry than the facilitation of environmentally conscientious guidelines for such a small segment of their users so it doesn’t have the quality control of the smaller, mission based sites.

Freenapkin.com, like Freecycle.org is another environmentally driven product stewardship site with an honor code. It offers a unique spin on the set-up, in that items can be sent by mail, at the receivers cost and it restricts its users to two requests a week. Although its code is a little choppy and graphic image overlaps make it difficult to navigate, the items offered tend to be surprisingly high end. Antique desks, ovens, refrigerators and even an occasional car and trailer home are made available there.

Whether users gravitate towards this unique community to save the hassle of having to carry their old sofa down to the street or whether it is because they are looking to lessen their own carbon footprint, a growing number of Americans are becoming increasingly proactive about minimizing waste and promoting product stewardship.

With environmental concerns at an all time high, the economy continuing to plummet, the interest in classifieds that enable individuals to give away their own unwanted items and receive other people’s unwanted items, is soaring.

Founded in 2003 by Deron Beal’s Freecycle, Freecycle.org was the first of its kind. Beal was ultimately able to establish a mission based organization to nurture communities while keeping stuff out of landfills. Now, with sponsorships from Waste Management, Cal Max and King and Spaulding as well as with revenue generated from private donations and the sales of everything from t-shirt to bumper stickers Freecycle.org is able to cover its modest operating costs and maintain it’s 4,629 volunteer communities with full transparency (www.freecycle.org/about/funds) Warning to those with a small mailbox capacity, once you’ve joined your local freecycle group, facilitated by Yahoo, expect to be flooded. If you don’t have an extra spam or overflow account, chances are that Freecycle.org will make you want to get one.

Although it is neither non-profit nor mission based, Cragislist.org is also pulling its weight in the free recycling movement. Craigslist.org’s more than 20 billion page views per month offers ubiquitous exposure to a concept that could otherwise go unnoticed by such a massive demographic of classified users expecting to pay. Cragislist users who happen across the “free” option listed along with the myriad of revenue generating categories sometimes end up pleasantly surprised when discovering that the item they initially expected to have to pay money for is available at no cost.

Coded like a dream, Craigs’ simple user friendly design is insanely easy to navigate. No need to flood the inbox since you’re only responding or receiving what is relevant to whatever it is you’re giving or getting rid of. Given the size users with daily access, Craigslist.org is almost always guaranteed to connect to someone giving away cardboard moving boxes, dirt and river rocks at almost any point in time. On the downside, this behemoth of an engine does not nurture community conscientiousness the way that Freecycle does. This often results in the freshly dumped ‘come and get it’ mentality which more often than not, will end up in a landfill anyway. Additionally, Craigslist’s monitors have bigger fish to fry than the facilitation of environmentally conscientious guidelines for such a small segment of their users so it doesn’t have the quality control of the smaller, mission based sites.

Freenapkin.com, like Freecycle.org is another environmentally driven product stewardship site with an honor code. It offers a unique spin on the set-up, in that items can be sent by mail, at the receivers cost and it restricts its users to two requests a week. Although its code is a little choppy and graphic image overlaps make it difficult to navigate, the items offered tend to be surprisingly high end. Antique desks, ovens, refrigerators and even an occasional car and trailer home are made available there.

Whether users gravitate towards this unique community to save the hassle of having to carry their old sofa down to the street or whether it is because they are looking to lessen their own carbon footprint, a growing number of Americans are becoming increasingly proactive about minimizing waste and promoting product stewardship.