Swap, Trade, Recycle: Making it go round

There’s nothing like a little reuse to makes the planet breathe a sigh of relief. Often we tire of a product before it wears out like books, movies and DVDs. Or our life changes, like moving from a house to a condominium, and we find that we own a lot of things that we just don’t need.

In recognition of Buy Nothing Day and in the spirit of freeing yourself from too much stuff and making it go round a little longer, here are some great reuse resources to find a new home for the things you don’t want and where to find the things you do want.

Swaptree: is a place where you can trade books, music, dvds and video games. You list items you no longer want, Swaptree finds a new owner and you mail it. Then you can choose items offered for free, Swaptree finds the current owner and they mail it to you. Swaptree creates trades by matching items that you have with other people who want those items, and vice-versa. And it’s free (except postage & mailing)! How great is that?

Freecycle: The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,153 groups with over 4 million members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& 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 and membership is free!