Freecycle

The temptation to buy, buy, buy is hard to resist. A new outfit, a gadget, an item of furniture – someone is buying one right now. Now, guilty shoppers who are keen to get rid of a no-longer-needed purchase have a radical new option – simply giving it away.

Second-hand technology is notoriously difficult to offload. So, I never thought that my sluggish, ageing computer would generate much interest when I put it up for offer online. I was wrong. (1) On a conventional auction site, such as eBay, I doubt there would be any takers. But I’m advertising on its philanthropic cousin, freecycle.org. As the name suggests, everything advertised on Freecycle must be free – whether it’s an old sofa, unwanted CDs or even a few hours’ help in the garden. Anyone who is interested simply replies by email: deal done.

Freecycle is one of a number of websites that aim to reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites by encouraging one of the most efficient forms of recycling – simply giving things to people who want them.

(2) Today, Freecycle has 1.2 million members and is a cross between an Internet auction house and a global chain of charity shops. Mr Beal says his chief aim is to cut waste and help the environment. He recently told reporters, ‘I live in the Sonora Desert in Arizona. It’s a place where the landscape is absolutely stunning.’ (3).

On the London site, interest in my decrepit computer is led by Tung, who wants to get his sixty-seven-year-old mum on the net. Then there’s Kate, whose son wants it for his schoolwork. There’s also John, who wants it for his daughter, a nurse on a low wage. (4) My inclination is to give it to someone in need, but I have to make a difficult choice between several ‘bidders’. Some people may suggest that dishonest individuals could make up heart-tugging stories in order to get freebies, of even to make a profit by selling them on. But my requests seem genuine. (5)

Freecycle embodies some of that old charitable Internet spirit by asking that before members accept a freebie, they put something up for offer. And it’s by no means all junk; there are nearly-new toys, furniture, electrical goods, even bikes and cars. (6) She says it reflects the fact people are buying more than ever, but don’t want to simply throw things away when they replace them. ‘People want to feel a bit better about consuming, and so they’re happy to give things away,’ she says. Clive Brown, who won my auction, agrees: ‘I was given a bed and didn’t need the brand-new mattress, so I put it on the site and it was gone in minutes. I was delighted someone wanted it.’

Freecycle has grown rapidly around the world it countries as diverse as Mexico, Nepal, France and Romania and it seems to be on the cusp of breaking through into the mainstream. (7) Mr Beal says he needs the funds to help spread the ethos even further. In the end, it would be better if people simply stopped buying so much. But realistically, until people change their ways, green groups, guilty consumers and those with an eye for the ultimate bargain seem more than happy to make the most of Freecycle.

3. Seven sentences have been removed from the article. Read the article again and choose from sentences A-H the one that fits each gap 1-7. There is one extra sentence which you do not need.

A That such high-quality goods are on offer does Georgina Bloomfield.

B And right in the middle of this desert, you’ve got this hideous landfill half of which is full of perfectly good reusable stuff.

C The site is the creation of Deron Beal, an environmentalist from the US, who started it in mil 2003 as an automated email list.

D Money isn’t involved, but a kind of auction is taking place to see whose situation most deserves a free PC.

E Controversially, perhaps, it has recently signed up a corporate sponsor.

F Elsewhere on the site, someone is trying to shift a manual for a 1980s Ford Escort, and another has two bags of party clothes.

G I eventually choose Clive Brown, a project worker, who wants it for a client with learning disabilities.

H A bidding war quickly begins for the five-year-old machine, which is ‘past its best’ and a printer, which only ‘probably works’.

4. Discuss these questions.

• What are the three main reasons for Freecycle’s success?

• Does Freecycle’s success surprise you? Why/Why not?

• How would you feel about using this website? Why?

Grammar exercises

Multi-word verbs

There are many examples of multi-word verbs.

She needed a nanny to look after us.

I told my parents what I was going to give it up

I wanted to be a nanny when I grew up.