Giving and Getting Is an Answer

by Brittany Mclean, HNN student intern

All around Holliston on trash day, there are many large items out on the curb that are barely used, and sometimes still look like new. Of course there are also many things, mainly unused, cluttering the houses of people everywhere: that's what attics are for, right?

In this day and age, people do want to recycle items that they no longer use, but it can be hard to find out how to. So many things need special permits that sometimes people get discouraged. However, there is a website that has created a system of recycling that allows people to put their clutter to good use.

Freecycle.org is a website that allows people in the community to share their unwanted items with others, and everything is completely free. The FreeCycle Network has spread from Tucson, Arizona to over seventy-five countries world wide, and it is still growing. Thousands of local groups have helped keep about three hundred tons of waste out of landfills every day. With members joining all the time, the founders of the FreeCycle Network hope that the landfills in the country continue to shrink.

For the Holliston/Hopkinton community, Linda Carrabba is the moderator, and she knows all about the website. Three years ago, Linda was looking for an easier, faster way to recycle bigger items she had in her house. After browsing the internet, she found the Freecycle Network.

When she realized that Holliston did not have a local site, she created a group and signed up to be the moderator. Now, there are over nine hundred members on the Holliston/Hopkinton site. Even the official Town of Holliston website recommends freecycle, and Linda has her work cut out for her. In an interview, she explained that her job is to make sure that all the rules and regulations are being followed on the site when items or comments are posted, and to approve all new members.

In addition to her involvement in freecycle.org, Carraba lives in town with her husband and her two teenage daughters, and works for BrickHouse Realty as a real estate sales agent. According to Maria Salomao-Schmidt, owner of the agency, “Linda has a deep sense of community involvement. She deeply believes in the deep-rooted dream of owing your own home, especially for people who think it’s not a possibility. Not many people know that she is the founder of Freecycle and another popular local site, Metrowest MA Café. Both of these sites have built community in our area.”

To join the Freecycle Network, all you need is a yahoo ID, which is free, and a reason to join the group. Once you have been approved, everyone can start giving and getting from the community at large

Many different items can be found on the website. Some of the most common items are baby things, like clothes and play pens, since babies often grow out of their clothes and toys quite fast. The basic guideline for the website is that anything posted must be free and appropriate for people of all ages, meaning no weapons or medications, etc.

The idea of the founders of the Freecycle Network was to bring communities together through generosity and sharing. The creators of Freecycle have a mission “to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.”