What do you do with those old board games you no longer play or that coffee pot you just don’t love? Depending on who you ask, the answer is usually “take it to a consignment store” or “throw it away.” But there are some great eco-friendly, community-based solutions to your spring cleaning woes. The “Buy Nothing” Project.
Social Media Groups and BuyNothing AppAt , over 13,000 volunteers foster a local gift economy that benefits millions of participants around the world. Group members can give any gift that complies with national and local laws, whether it be a physical item or a gift of services to others (such as gardening or repair work). Members are also free to solicit these gifts from others.
The beginning of the Buy Nothing project
The Buy Nothing Project was started in 2013 by Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesel Clarkin on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The two friends were inspired by Himalayan villagers who rely on a unique gift economy to care for one another.
They launched an experimental hyperlocal gift economy in their community, in the form of a Facebook group called “Buy Nothing.” Within two months, Buy Nothing had become a social movement with 16 groups and over 4,000 members across the U.S. By the end of the year, the group had grown to 80.
By April 2022, the Buy Nothing Project will have more than 5.3 million participants across 44 countries around the world, and its founders hope for further growth.
How to use
Participating in the Buy Nothing project is easy. An app that doesn’t cost anything Get started. Within minutes, you can post what you want to give, lend, receive, or borrow and watch messages roll in from your neighbors.
Let’s say you have some leftover paint or art supplies from a DIY project and you want to get rid of them. Post a “donation” in your local Buy Nothing group and see who responds. Maybe a neighbor will accept them for their own project. Maybe a local teacher or daycare owner will get in touch and ask for some art supplies to add to their collection.
You can also ask for something in a Buy Nothing group. For example, if you need boxes for moving, post a request. Maybe a few people have extra boxes ready, and you just have to go and get them.
“The rules of the Buy Nothing Project are simple: Post anything you’d like to give, lend, or share with your neighbors. Ask for anything you’d like to receive or borrow for free. Keep it legal. No hate speech. No buying, selling, trading, or bartering. We are committed to a gift economy.” —Buy Nothing Project
Buy Nothing projects are environmentally friendly
Not only does the Buy Nothing Project help participants save money and trips to the store, it also diverts materials from ending up in landfills, significantly reducing waste.
By enabling neighbours to share their unwanted or unwanted possessions with each other, this project creates a gift economy that benefits everyone, including the environment. Neighbours can donate items that would otherwise end up in the trash, and recipients can reuse or repurpose them to suit their own needs.
For example, say your neighbor is renovating their house and is ripping out the carpet and painting it a new color, instead of throwing out the old materials that could be harmful to the environment if sent to a landfill, they can take photos of the leftover materials and post them to a local Buy Nothing group, from where your neighbors can pick up these items and reuse them for their own projects.
The group also contributes to reducing food waste. If participants have leftover bread or a brand of canned food they bought that their family doesn’t like, they can post the item to the Buy Nothing group. A neighbor who receives the food will then save it from going to waste. Food waste can be recycled. Accounting for 6% Reducing 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, these gifts are also environmentally friendly.
“Ask” is another eco-friendly feature of Buy Nothing. Asking for things like a yoga mat or an extra curtain rod can save you money and a trip to the store. Plus, reusing your neighbors’ items keeps them out of landfills and conserves the resources needed to make new products.
How to get involved in the Buy Nothing project
For more information, please visit the Buy Nothing website. How to use,confirm Community Guidelinesand Download the appWithin minutes, you can give, ask, and share your gratitude with your neighbors. If you would like to join a Facebook BN group, go to Facebook, search “The Buy Nothing Project” to find the group in your community, and request to join. From there, you can post your offer or request. Please follow the rules outlined in each group’s description.
If there aren’t any local groups in your community, you can start one yourself. Instructions Fill out the form to start building your community and get ready to reap the benefits of your local gift economy.
Notes from practical experience, Fall 2024
A member of the Earth911 team recently moved house and got rid of a lot of household items, including furniture, office furniture, and dress forms. After joining a local Buy Nothing group on Facebook, we didn’t have much success donating the items we put up for sale. Many people responded to the offer, but only 1 in 7 people came to pick up the items. Strangely, the same items went on sale on Facebook Marketplace and were picked up by a buyer. In contrast, another member of our network was successful in donating dozens of items using Buy Nothing in the same area around the same time, just before Thanksgiving.
We reached out to people who missed their Buy Nothing pickup appointments and found two reasons: First, some people’s schedules overlapped with the appointment times. This led us to believe it would be best to offer a longer time frame, such as a full day, to allow people some flexibility around their schedules. The other reason was interesting: despite seeing photos of what we offered, people couldn’t believe the items were free (a view supported by the items being sold for cash at the time they were offered), so after several messages back and forth, they didn’t show up at the promised time.
Editor’s note: This article was first published on May 18, 2021 and updated in June 2024.
