Announcing the Ottawa Freecycle Network

Based on the old adage that "one person's trash is another person's treasure", the Ottawa Freecycle Network's goal is to slow the flow of trash into our landfills by connecting people who want to get rid of old "stuff" with those frugal people looking for free "stuff".

OTTAWA, ON (PRWEB) April 11, 2004 --The Ottawa Freecycle Network is proud to announce the launch of their new online group and accompanying message board, Ottawafreecycle. Based on the old adage that "one person's trash is another person's treasure", the Ottawa Freecycle Network's goal is to slow the flow of trash into our landfills by connecting people who want to get rid of old "stuff" with those frugal people looking for free "stuff".

Anyone looking to give away or acquire an item is welcome at Ottawa Freecycle, where all items listed are absolutely free! Ottawa Freecycle welcomes charitable organizations to post their needs, giving confidence to a donor that the item is actually needed locally, and is not going to collect dust on a thrift store shelf.

The Ottawa Freecycle Network was established in February, 2004 by Ottawa resident and TD Friends of the Environment (Ottawa Chapter) volunteer board Member, Eric Snyder.

Ottawa Freecycle is hosted on Yahoo!Groups. Signing up is simple. Instructions are available on the Ottawa Freecycle Yahoo! page at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OttawaFreecycle/

Recognizing a good idea when we see one, the Ottawa Freecycle Network was inspired by and is modeled after the Tucson Freecycle Network, founded in March 2003 and profiled in the September 2003 issue of Utne magazine. Created by the non-profit group "Downtown Don't Waste It", the Tucson Freecycle Network has sparked a worldwide "freecycling" revolution of 33,000 people in 253 cities and several countries so far, with more added every day. [...update: April 8, 2004 - 48,070 in 321 cities ]

To see grassroots working at its best, visit the "freecycling" movement
website at: http://www.freecycle.org.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans recycle approximately 28% of its garbage, thus keeping 64 million tons of waste out of landfills across the country. Similar statistics are unfortunately not available for Canada at present. The Ottawa Freecycle Network would like to see Canada's rate of recycling exceed U.S. levels.

Local Ottawa area residents are encouraged to join the Ottawa Freecycle group and "freecycle" their trash rather than just thoughtlessly tossing it away to clog and fill our landfill sites.

Together, we can raise awareness, reduce waste, and build a brighter tomorrow.