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Am Bratach No. 190
Don’t just recycle, learn to Freecycle! When you break a pot and are left with the lid, you can guarantee that someone, somewhere has that lidless pot. But how do you find them? An internet scheme called “freecycling” is the answer, and it has just arrived in North West Sutherland. Freecycle is basically an email list, the members of which can tell each other when they have something to give away like a cot that has been grown out of, a rabbit hutch whose occupant has passed on or tomato plants that won’t fit in the greenhouse. Members advertise by sending an email message with a title starting “OFFER”. Alternatively, participants post “WANTED” messages for things they need, like a stair gate, spares for a car or a rabbit. Members send “TAKEN” messages when an object has gone or “RECEIVED” messages when their need is met. The rules are simple: you can’t ask for money, you can’t offer people or work and the receiver should collect the goods. Otherwise anything goes, literally, from a tractor, a fridge freezer, a double bed or a hi-fi system, down to a copy of National Geographic or an old ring binder. Across the UK there are now more than 750,000 freecyclers. There has been a Highland-wide Freecycle group for two years with more than two thousand members, but the vast bulk of them are based in and around Inverness or on the east coast and it’s hardly feasible to go all the way there to pick up a pizza pan. So Richard Rowe, gardener at the House of Tongue, has set up the local group. He said: “I think it could be a useful resource for the scattered communities of North West Sutherland. There are so many times when clearing the shed or garage or house that we come across items that we’ve kept just because they are too good or potentially useful to throw them away, and this site may find a person who is looking for just such an item, and thereby keep it out of landfill.” To sign onto the freecycle list go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclenorthwestsutherland. Meanwhile another local recycling initiative is underway, inspired by a talk given in Lochinver by David Bryan, the Highlands development officer for Community Recycling Network Scotland. The Assynt Economic Development Group is forming a working group to pursue community composting and investigate other options such as cardboard and plastic bottle collection and biodiesel from waste oil. |