From: Janesville Messenger Sunday, March 08, 2009
By MARGARET PLEVAK FOR THE MESSENGER JANESVILLE – It’s foam peanuts and cardboard boxes that catch Mike Ude’s eye. Ude, owner of House of Treasure, a Janesville consignment shop, looks for packing supplies on one of two Janesville Freecycle Web sites, where members offer items they no longer need or want to anyone who can use them – all at no cost: For Ude, Freecycle not only keeps the peanuts out of the landfills, but helps his business’ bottom line’. “Thanks in part to Freecycle, I have shipping supplies for several months without having to purchase these expensive items,” he said. Ude is one of more than 6 million members who use a Freecycle group in more than 85 countries worldwide. According to the Freecycle Networks Web site, the concept was born in 2003 from an employee of an Arizona nonprofit organization who saw too many perfectly goad items being thrown away. Like Ude, many see Freecycle as an antidote to a throw-away society…… see full article.