Freecycle is a worldwide network of local groups dedicated to saving usable items from landfill. Self-organised via the web it’s a community of the eco-minded and thrifty. But it’s always been more than a community of interest as it has always mapped to geographic communities too: if you live in postcode X and have a sofa to give, it links you to a person in postcode X that needs a sofa. As a result it’s been a poster child for making do, for the green movement, the free movement and enthusiasts of web based localism and collective action. So I was pretty surprised to learn that behind the scenes the whole thing has been slowly imploding.

The following email came in overnight from my local Freecycle moderator:

We Recycle with Freegle
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Hi everyone

You’ll notice that our group has changed our name, and this also means that our address has changed too.

It’s now:

Web: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BirminghamFreegle

Email: BirminghamFreegle@yahoogroups.com

What’s changed for you?
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Nothing much. The home page looks a bit different, and the email address is new (and you have seen it at the top of this page) but other than that – all the rules are the same, all your moderators are the same, and our group is still GRASS ROOTS and LOCAL.

We’re still dedicated to keeping things out of land fill, and the same moderation team are still here beavering away in the background helping to keep the group running smoothly.

The main reason for our move is simple. While Freecycle is a GREAT idea, all our UK groups were basically forced to work under a system devised in and for the United States. Leaders of Freecycle in the UK spent more than two years talking with the main Freecycle Network trying to get the freedom to run things in a way more suited to our own country and our own laws. Nothing changed.

In July four leading members of our National UK Freecycle team resigned. Moderators around the country then formed an Independent Association of Freecycle Moderators and again tried talks with The Freecycle Network. But again to no avail.

Since then an increasing number of Group Owners and Moderators have been SUMMARILY DISMISSED from Freecycle including the former UK Director of Freecycle UK.

So we have decided to go our own way.

It seems nothing has changed for me in the big scheme of things as a Freecycle Freegle user, but it hints at a problem of scale: sure Freecycle was great because it was a collective that self-organised over the web, but this affair suggests that flexibility is needed to sustain glocal organisations.

The other thing that I’ve been reflecting on is the name “Freegle”. It doesn’t work as a verb so I guess people who used the service for a while will continue to see they are “going to freecycle the sofa”. It also seems to privilege the act of receiving over the act of giving. Linked to “frugal”, with the added emphasis of “free” this sounds more like a site to grab the ultimate bargain, not a site aimed at reducing landfill. Without the allusion to “recycle” where’s the incentive for the donor in the new freegle future?