Freecycle aimed to be a grassroots movement that would keep thousands of tons of materials from reaching a landfill. Since 2003 the network has provided a place for customers to swap used items, which keeps a lot of waste above ground and out of landfills. The site, which is currently active in more than seventy countries, has seen its United Kingdom participants dwindle over the last few weeks, as a rift in philosophy caused UK members to strike out on their own.
There were once over five hundred groups in the United Kingdom dedicated to Freecycle, but over the last few weeks over forty percent have left to join a new group. The independent network that they have formed is called Freegle and although it is very similar to Freecycle in format, the philosophy behind is slightly changed.
Members of Freecycle in the UK cited many reasons for the rift, the main one being the site, which is based in the United States, was dictating too many rules to its UK counterpart that some deemed counterproductive to the movement. The break started when several UK monitors were asked to leave the program after offering suggestions which were counter to the rule of Freecycle. Freegle aims to be more open to suggestions than its American counterpart.
Freecyle acts as a site where users can swap, give away, or take items which are unwanted but still useful. The only rules are the offerings must be free and that you have to give as well as take items from the site. All of this aims to reduce the amount of useful items which are dumped into landfills.
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