Free Goods At Throwplace.com Help Consumers in Tough Times

Washington, DC: Throwplace users continue to list computers, furniture and all sorts of free merchandise to give away at Throwplace.com - the Internet’s landfill alternative.

At Throwplace.com, charities, businesses and individuals from all over the world can "throw" their excess onto the Internet where others can view and "take" what they need for free. Each "throw" and "take" is recycled and reused, keeping countless goods out of landfills, and helping people and non-profits make ends meet during tough economic times.

Throwplace.com members donate an astonishing array of items, from furniture and appliances to computers and bric-a-brac. The site enables potential “takers” to view items and make requests. “Throwers” then may read the requests in “My Account” at their leisure, selecting a recipient with the click of a button. Then Throwplace.com exchanges the giver and taker’s email addresses so that they may directly make shipping or pick-up arrangements.

Current "takes" include dining and living room furniture, handbags and shoes in New York, plants and crutches in Washington, DC, a brass pendant & chandelier in Illinois, a $250 bed in Florida, as well as computers and electronics for reuse and recycling too. Throwplace.com users are from all over the world.

One Throwplace user named Jeannine, who has recently moved out of a shelter, has found the site useful in helping her obtain some of life’s barest necessities for her new apartment. “I have found items on Throwplace that I desperately need. I have severe back problems and had been sleeping on a hardwood floor each night, until I found a bed on Throwplace.com. It is wonderful to know that Throwplace offers gently used items from private donors and charities to people in need, like me.” A user from the midwest looked to Throwplace.com for help for recent flood victims who have lost everything.

Throwplace is organized into four sections: US Charity, International Charity, Business/Individual and Up-For-Grabs. Representatives of US-based charities like Community Health Connection and Computers for Schools that have 501(c)(3) status can "take" from the US Charity section, and are obliged to return a receipt to the donor. This US Charity section is intended to help non-profits obtain items for special needs families and individuals in their areas. Taking from Up-For-Grabs section is free for everyone. With a nominal fee, businesses and individuals may subscribe to the site, and take from the Business/Individual section. Subscribing businesses receive a directory listing.

In late 1999, Lomangino, the owner of a highly-regarded graphic design firm in Washington, DC, saw that the web needed a marketplace where goods could be exchanged rather than thrown away. She launched Throwplace.com in late March of 2004, having developed, produced, and financed the site herself.

Lomangino hopes that non-profits from coast-to-coast will find items for community members who have been victims of the natural disasters that have occurred across the country, and who have fallen upon hard times during this economic downturn.

Throwplace.com is a Web site where businesses and individuals can post and find items listed for donation to charities and non-profits, businesses and individuals. The goals of Throwplace.com are to encourage reuse rather than disposal; to raise awareness of responsible environmental practices by promoting the free exchange of goods; to help those in need; and to bring the business community, non-profits and the general public together by creating a central repository of donated merchandise available for recycling, reuse, and refurbishing.

Source: Throwplace.com
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Little plastic bags, big environmental impact

As those plastic carrier bags that we put our groceries in at the checkout often appear to be and are light and flimsy, people rarely if at all think about their impact on the environment, but statistics for the UK alone show that each year:

• more than 10 billion carrier bags are produced;
• if laid end-to-end, these would stretch to the moon and back five times; one hell of a distance, is it not.
• 80% of shoppers put everything into free carrier bags at the supermarket; and
• 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags are thrown away – that’s the same weight as 70,000 cars!
N.B. This data is for the United Kingdom alone.

Most bags are used only once for carrying goods between the shops and home, which is such a waste, especially when you consider that the majority of free carriers are made from oil - an increasingly valuable commodity. When dropped, they are an eyesore for us and can pose a danger to wildlife. While trees, decorated, with tinsel and such like, may look OK at Christmas time, when they are “decorated” with carrier bags that have gotten stuck there they do not look nice. In fact they are one of the greatest eyesores imaginable, in my view. While some websites, of the government even, make “claims” that carrier bags decompose though that is takes hundreds of years the fact of the matter is that carrier bags do NOT decompose, and nether do they biodegrade – with the exception of those that are compostable, e.g. made from corn starch or such material. Carrier bags simply break down into smaller and smaller plastic particles, like all plastic, and while doing so they leach harmful substances into the soil.

The good news is, however, that it is rather easy to play your part in reducing carrier bag waste:

• use your shopping bag as many times as possible;
• remember to take bags with you every time you go shopping;
• keep spare bags in your car or at work so you’re never without;
• invest in stronger reusable bags, sometimes known as bags for life; and
• let the check-out staff know you’ve brought your own before they pack for you!
• Don't willy-nilly dispose of them in the countryside, with or without contents. They get blown about by the wind and end up everywhere.
• Dog walkers: when you carry old shopping bags (or the dog mess bags one can buy) please endure that, when you pull one out of your pocket to pick up your dog's “do” and another comes out with it to pick it up. Thousands are left annually in Parks and Open Spaces in this way and add to the carrier bag waste blown in the wind.


Changing habits

Most people say they simply forget to take and reuse their old carriers or reusable bags at the supermarket. As a nation we need to get into better habits, but we also need to find out what works best for our nation's shoppers.

The government is talking about introducing a charge, and it would appear quite a high one, on carrier bags or even a “carrier bag tax” (this again could just be another idea of the UK govt. under Gordon Brown to raise more revenue – yes, I am always the cynic) so, get into the habit of bringing your own bags.

Don't want to invest £5 in a cotton tote bag or five for your groceries? The make your own cloth bags that you can carry with you. I am sure you have an old pair of jeans or whatever around that could be converted.

Remember to take a bag when they leave the house, along with essentials such as their keys, wallet or purse. Instead of picking up a free carrier bag, try and remember to reuse your old carriers, bags for life or a cloth bag or a rucksack.
Whatever you choose, choose to reuse!

© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008

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