Swopping instead of shopping

Freecycling Gothenburg, one of the Swedish freecycling networks. 

I think we all have a desire for new things. Not necessarily new in the “coming directly from the factory”-sense, but things that are new to us. Walking through a city centre on a Saturday afternoon, seeing people crowding with millions of plastic bags in their hands it is obvious that people don’t shop solely out of pure needs. We are looking for confirmation, maybe hoping to make up for some of our own failings through another personal belonging. Or – we are just looking for some renewal.

Environmental consequences

This urge has, as we all know, severe consequences for the environment, though. On a global scale, we are already using the natural resources much faster than they can be reproduced.
One way to alleviate this is to turn from shopping to swopping. Lately several varieties of swap markets have emerged. One of them is the phenomenon freecycling, which has been around for some years but seems to have an upswing with the sustainability debate.

Givning and receiving

Within the freecycle networks people give away things they don’t need anymore and can receive other things that they do need.
In Sweden there are freecycle networks in around eight cities. The Gothenburg network for example has about a thousand members. On their web pages people put up adverts for what they want to give away or what they are looking for, and once in a while get-togethers are arranged to exchange clothes and other things that could be difficult to give away over the Internet. That is also an excellent opportunity for people to meet and discuss how our consumption affects the environment.

No more regrets 

Where I live we have our very own version of freecycling. In the space where we leave our bulky refuse, an area is dedicated to a “swap table”. There people can leave things that they do not use anymore, but that someone else might find useful. Here you can find everything from books to chandeliers, chairs or bookshelves.
And the best of all – if you change your mind you can just replace the things at the “swap table”. No more regrets after impulse purchases.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

February 11, 2010

• consumption