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| Posted 03.02.07 |
New Freecycle List Allows Wesleyan Community to Exchange, Reuse Unwanted
Items
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A new Wesleyan program will facilitate the
opportunity for one person’s trash to become another person’s treasure.
This month, the Wesleyan freecycle program is launching its own electronic
mailing list. Staff, faculty and students are eligible to join the freecycle
program.
Launched last May by the Wesleyan Recycling Committee with the appearance of
the “PODS”, the Wesleyan freecycle program, encourages students, staff and
faculty to exchange unwanted items, rather than throwing them away.
Wesleyan’s program is part of the national freecycle movement where people
give away things that they don't need, or ask for items they do need.
“Anyone who joins the freecycle program will have the opportunity to
exchange items that are still usable,” says William Nelligan, associate
director of environmental health and safety and the Wesleyan recycling
coordinator. “These items will be free and recycled, hence the name
freecycle. If a student has a working TV in her dorm room that she no longer
wants, she can post it on the list. Everyone on the list will get this
posting, and if someone is interested, they can contact the student and make
arrangements to pick it up. The best part is that the TV is going to be
reused and not thrown away.”
Leslie Starr, assistant director and marketing manager at Wesleyan
University Press, has previously donated unused reams of large-size paper
from the Press’s office to another department that used them. She’s also
asked for plastic filing tabs and within a week, two departments with extras
donated them to her. This email list will make exchanges like this easier.
“It would be wonderful if everyone on the campus joined the new Wesleyan
freecycle list, to exchange excess or needed office supplies, furniture and
other work-related stuff,” Starr says. “We all have office supplies in the
back of our closets that we’re not using. Why not see if another department
can use them?”
Personal items can also be exchanged, including clothes, art supplies,
cameras, text books, gardening supplies, kitchenware, curtains, even pets.
All of them are eligible to be placed on the freecycle list.
“We all come together to the same place everyday, so it would be easy to
exchange items,” Nelligan says. “Freecycle can be a nice community builder.”
To join the Wesleyan Freecycle list, e-mail
lyris@lyris.wesleyan.edu with
a blank subject and one line in the body: join freecycle. Lyris will reply
back with a confirmation e-mail link needed to confirm the membership. Once
confirmed, users can send messages through freecycle@wesleyan.edu and will
receive all messages sent to that list.
“Basically, you can't play Wesleyan Freecycle if you don't sign up for the
list,” Starr says. “And the list will work much better if lots of folks sign
up!”
| By Olivia
Bartlett, The Wesleyan Connection Editor |
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