What Happened to Freecycle?

[Muel]

My computer has been down for over a week while I moved and got things put together again. I find that Freecycle seems to have disappeared--Yahoo informed me there was no such group. Did it suffer the fate of the old WACCO? Or does it exist still in a new incarnation? Anyone know what's up with it?

Barbara

[Abracadabra]

Ingo,

Thank you for your ongoing support of this great group. Allong with Wacco, these are the finest folks in Sonoma County as far as I am concerned.Recycle Sonoma County is thriving without Trademark or corporate issues clouding our purpose.-- Waste Reduction and hopefull someday Elemination/Zero Waste.
Stay tuned for cool new changes. I hear now you can even announce your Garage Sale if you have a Free Section and/or a time when all items are offered for free.
Happy Recycling--Free as always... Ann

[Brent Eubanks]

Apparently there is some major dissention in Freecycle ranks. This article discusses it, and includes some links to other perspectives, as well as a great deal of commentary from both sides of the rift.

As far as I can tell, the furball centers around two main issues: The founder of the FreeCycle Network accepted a big grant from Waste Management because he wanted to get paid for his time, and is in the process of trademarking the FreeCycle name. And all of this was done with very little discussion or feedback from the group moderators and members.

I haven't made an in-depth investigation of this issue, but as far as I can tell, the Waste Management grant did not come with odious strings attached. (If you have evidence to the contrary, please speak up.) I can understand people's concerns about the association between FreeCycle and Waste Management, which is one of the more evil companies out there. But I also understand the desire (and ultimately, the need) to get paid for one's efforts on behalf of the community. If it was possible to do so by taking money from a big company, without compromising the central FreeCycle mission, then I really don't see what the problem is. I just think that it's unfortunate that a brilliant concept like FreeCycle seems to have been torpedoed by its own creators just as it was starting to reach the tipping point of public awareness, simply because people can't work out their differences in reasoned discussion.

[Karen]

I agree with your comments, Brent. WM has an interest in keeping landfills operational and diverting reusables. That's not the exclusive concern of informed citizens and environmentalists. I think it's cool they are supporting Freecycle.

Freecycle still exists in Sonoma County. There's a freecycle group in every town now. You can find Sebastopol's at:

https://groups.yahoo.com/group/sebastopolfreecycle

U can substitute Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Petaluma and Rohnert Park in the address where it says Sebastopol and find the group that is forming in that town. I heard there may be a river group starting, too.

It's actually pretty nice to look at a list of items in your town only. In a county with half a million people, there is a need for all of these groups and it will only become more important as time goes by. Freecycle/Reecycle, it won't matter to future generations which group we belonged to, as long as we recycle and stop buying so much new stuff.

I read once that our economy is based on turning natural resources into garbage as fast as possible. Seems true enough.

Karen

Apparently there is some major dissention in Freecycle ranks. This article discusses it, and includes some links to other perspectives, as well as a great deal of commentary from both sides of the rift.

As far as I can tell, the furball centers around two main issues: The founder of the FreeCycle Network accepted a big grant from Waste Management because he wanted to get paid for his time, and is in the process of trademarking the FreeCycle name. And all of this was done with very little discussion or feedback from the group moderators and members.

I haven't made an in-depth investigation of this issue, but as far as I can tell, the Waste Management grant did not come with odious strings attached. (If you have evidence to the contrary, please speak up.) I can understand people's concerns about the association between FreeCycle and Waste Management, which is one of the more evil companies out there. But I also understand the desire (and ultimately, the need) to get paid for one's efforts on behalf of the community. If it was possible to do so by taking money from a big company, without compromising the central FreeCycle mission, then I really don't see what the problem is. I just think that it's unfortunate that a brilliant concept like FreeCycle seems to have been torpedoed by its own creators just as it was starting to reach the tipping point of public awareness, simply because people can't work out their differences in reasoned discussion.