Give a gift to avoid the tip

10:51am Saturday 15th December 2007

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CHRISTMAS is a time for giving - and giving is at the heart of a recycling scheme being championed by green-thinking people like Alan Phillips.

Freecycle was started in the USA in spring 2003, and the principle behind the site is simple - to enable people to recycle their unused belongings by giving them away as free gifts to others who can make use of them, and in the process save items which are still in working order from going into landfill sites.

The Basingstoke Freecycle Group was formed in August 2005, and since then more than 4,400 local people have signed up and given away items, from cookers to clothes, to local people who can make use of them.

Freecycle also allows people to post online messages requesting things in the hope that users of the site might have just what they are looking for hidden away in the back of a cupboard.

The Basingstoke group is looked after by five local volunteer moderators who check the 30-or-so new messages that appear on the site every day.

Mr Phillips, of Western Way, has been a moderator for around six months. He said: "I think Freecycle is a fantastic idea. It is superb that it stops decent things from going into landfill sites.

"The group is almost like a family as people really try to help each other out. The other week we had a woman post a message requesting help for her daughter who had moved house and had no furniture at all.

"We have since had an e-mail back from her saying how amazed she was with the response from the group and that her daughter has managed to get some things together.

"It is nice to feel that you are bringing together people who want to give their stuff away with those who need it."

Mr Phillips, 49, said that the most common items on the site are white goods, tables, chairs, bikes and beds.

"Sometimes we get unrealistic requests, for example people wanting the latest computers, but I have been surprised with the things that have been exchanged," he said. "We even had someone offer an old car once, but that was by far the biggest thing!"

As well as individuals, the Basingstoke Freecycle Group also welcomes local charities and schools to post requests for items.

Mr Phillips, said: "If anyone is thinking about signing up, I'd say go for it'. It is strange what weird and wonderful things can be matched up with new homes."

For more information about Freecycle, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BasingstokeFreecycle/