July 2008 Hall of Fame
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!! MessFree.com
Everyday, massive amount of things are being thrown away and new things are purchased. Study shows that 95% of the things we bought go into the trash can within 6 months! We want to build a web site where we can reuse these things by giving them away for free to other people who need them.
Q1: What would motivate you to organize and give away unwanted reusable items?
Idea Description
Do you have a garage, basement, closet, or storage that's full of stuff? Things that you don't use any more or things you think you would need but never did? Yeah we all do! Now you can make those "junk" useful by giving them to people who can use them now. A lot of times we buy something that we get to use maybe once, twice, or just a few times. Why not get it for free from someone who has it but doesn't need it anymore? And, after you use it, pass it on to another person who needs it? Let's all try to practice the art of reduce, reuse and recycle to keep this planet healthy for generations to come!!
What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?
We will develop a user friendly web site where people can post items to be given away. When available, a post can be accompanied by pictures, videos, and location map along with descriptions. Users will be able to create groups of contacts so that families or close friends can be informed before an item is made available to the public. On the receiving end, users can search available items and/or subscribe to watch list notification. A reward/point system will also be in place to reward users who are actively involved in giving items or participating in discussions, etc.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, MessFree.com
I saw your project and thought about some work I did for a client, Charity: Water. i completely agree with your approach here, though the CraigsList comment is interesting. The problem with CL is the volume of information, so a more targeted site makes sense.
I saw your project and thought about some work I did for a client, Charity: Water. i completely agree with your approach here, though the CraigsList comment is interesting. The problem with CL is the volume of information, so a more targeted site makes sense.
Craigslist "free" listings already does this too, though not as organized.
You can also post to Craigslist.org in the FREE STUFF section for your local community.
I use Freecycle for this-- it doesn't sound that different.
I love this idea. I love it more because I already do this in my community. Please see FREECYCLE.ORG. I am happy to see that other people are starting to catch on and I hope this becomes a global trend some day.
improve on freecycle, and you will have something good. I would check it out, I tried to use freecycle, but it is very difficult for me. I hope you can move forward with this. I am always on the look out for gently used material/fabric! It would be great if your site had a way to search by item, or if you had an account you could have a category "looking for" or something like that for those of us who are bargain hunters!
Hi...this is great...I would love to be in at helping on this. I have two desk...for example that I just want someone to pick up...they are not the best but very usable. There are just so many things that people toss that can be helpful for those less fortunate. Please keep me update...
good luck !
Sign me up ! Lotta unused valuables in the basement !
Good Luck! Now let's get this idea off the ground!
great idea! good luck!! elena
Check out a site called www.curbsidebooty.com there are doing something simular. When you register with them you get passes to advanced film screenings too!
I use freecycle, too. I liked what they do to help reduce waste. But it's annoying to get all the notifications indiscriminately. And you need to sift through tons of messages to find the thing you need. A more user-friendly version would prompt more people to participate.
FreeCycle. com already does this
Thanks for the reponse.
I have used freecycle based on yahoo groups in the past. It's a good concept but yahoo group is generic and is limited in functionality which made it hard to use for me. There's no category, everything just lumped together. Let's say you are looking for a desk, you basically have to look through all the listings instead of just clicking on a category called furniture/desk and see if there's anything. And there's no telling if an item is unavailable unless you "connect" the messages together mentally which gave me a headache. I stopped using it soon after. A better system would definitely help!
I love the idea, it's true sometimes you have things you might like or use anymore but it could be very useful for others. Thanks for doing this~
Be sure to check out freecycling! It almost the same concept and you can do through Yahoo! groups
How is this different from freecycle? How would you make it better?
How would you market? I think picking a specific region first may be the best idea.
Is this different from Stay Vocal, the May winner? It doesn't have to be (I like it). Just curious.
It would be a great service for people like me because I have a lot of "treasure" in my garage that I can give away!
Hey funpeas8, you can probably collaborate with related ideas. Here are a few: http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/116-Create-a-website-to-allow-peopl http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/2460-Nonprofit-Wishlist http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/2575-Used-pet-supply-resale http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/2316-Make-Your-World-Green-One-Recyc http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/2083--STAY-VOCAL-ReUse-Because-y
Wow what a great act of kindess. We need this. Many people will be able to benefit from it