WINDSOR, CT - May 12, 2008 I know a gal who is cleaning out her mother's house and is ready to throw everything out. I have to physically restrain her from tossing good stuff into the trash! I keep telling her, "Somebody can use that! Try Freecycle!" Windsor Freecycle is a local group of people who keep good stuff out of the landfill! In Windsor, Freecycle has 1034 members and continues to grow. With everyone 'going green" Freecycle fits right in. Members offer up all kinds of items they no longer use and other members email them back and pick them up. Just like that, a good home is found for some thing that was just clutter!

Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator. Paula Pierce started the Windsor group because as a member of the former Central CT group, many of the items and potential recipients were too far away.  Pierce said, "I started the Windsor group to get more Windsor people involved and in a tighter geographical area so as not to waste gas. After all, there are about 29,000 people in Windsor, most with some stuff they don't need and others who have a need for a certain item or other.

The old saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" fits Freecycle so perfectly whether that 'trash' be unused baby monitors, books, tomato cages, scanners, furniture, curtain rods, or almost anything. "The funniest item I've freecycled was a used calendar from 2001 of lighthouses. The freecycler who took it was decorating a room in a nautical theme so she framed all the pictures." Other items Pierce has found new homes for of are Christmas decorations, paperback books, and broken pottery.

"You won't believe some of the items are really being given a way for free." says Pierce, "I've seen entire beautiful dining room sets, refrigerators, TVs, printers, concrete, punch bowl sets, vacuum cleaners, Christmas trees, cars, and all manner of other things up for grabs." These items have outlived their usefulness for their owners and are offered to anyone else who might want them. Charity groups are encouraged to participate.

Pierce is a local business owner who hates waste and is always looking for ways to recycle. For instance, when Pierce receives junk mail she opens it and removes the return envelopes before recycling the white paper. She then uses the return envelopes to make ATM deposits rather than using the bank's new envelopes. "I'm not sure how the bank feels about it, but they haven't complained."

To join Freecycle, you just need a Yahoo ID, which you can get for free online at www.yahoogroups.com. If you have a yahoo email address, you already have a Yahoo ID. For more information go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Windsor-Freecycle/

Once you're a member you can send messages to the list offering or asking for items. Messages are either an OFFER or a WANTED and then a TAKEN or a RECEIVED message.

Paula Pierce is the owner of Hosting Connecticut, LLC, a soup-to-nuts website development company in Windsor and PaulaWalla Imports, an online gift shop. For more information, visit www.HostingCT.com and www.PaulaWalla.com or call 860-683-4201.