When it comes to being green recycling is always a top priority. So when it comes to shopping for clothing, baby items, and other necessary (and some not so necessary) household items you must figure out ways to shop while maintaining your green status.

So today we are having a face-off between Freecycle.org against garagesalestracker.com.

In the right hand corner standing 6’2 with a reach of 50 states plus the UK we have Freecycle.org is a nonprofit organization that organizes a worldwide network of “gifting” groups, aiming to divert reusable goods from landfills. It provides a worldwide online registry, and coordinates the creation of local groups and forums for individuals and non-profits to offer and receive free items for reuse or recycling, promoting gift economics as a motivating cultural outlook. With the tagline “Changing the world one gift at a time”.

In the left hand corner standing 6’0 with a reach of 50 states and a stretch into Canada Garage Sales Tracker is a website and upcoming iPhone application where the visitors can find and list their garage sales, consignment/re-sale shops, and flea markets. Whose motto is “Find, Post, Sell”

Pre round commentary- Advantage Freecycle.org due to hopping over the pond but with some might flea markets and garage sales are big in Australia so Garage Sales may not be lagging that far behind.

Round 1- Ease of Use

With the Freecycle network set-up with Yahoo! Mailing lists and having to wait to be accepted before you can start bartering and making deals for swapping items can be rather frustrating, while Garage Sales Tracker lets you dig right in on local sales and if you want to post your own item all you have to do is sign up without a delay or confirmation email.

Advantage – Garage Sales

Round 2 – Green Factor

Garage Sales are a great way to sell your unused items instead of throwing them out having them go to the landfill only to be saved by a Freecycler. On the other hand you can walk out your door on any given weekend and go to any local yard sale without having to drive and burn fossil fuels, whereas Freecyclers may have to drive their Hybrid to swap.

Advantage – Freecycle.org. Since Freecyclers are probably driving fuel efficient cars and after a garage sale it is likely to drive to goodwill or the Salvation Army they will ultimately pollute more.

Round 3 – Participants

As of July 2008, Freecylce.org membership stands at 5,531,000 across 4,556 communities. All of them volunteers. Garage sales however are a $3 billion dollar a year industry and over 155,000 sales were listed online in July 2008 in well over 4,556 communities.

Advantage – Garage Sale Tracker

Round 4 – Deals

While you can always buy items for pennies on the dollar at a garage sale and purchase items cheap enough where it would be possible to re-sell for a profit on eBay or craigslist there is nothing like a donation to those who need it more than you do.

Advantage – Freecyclers

Final Bout Decision – Split, because it ultimately depends on your taste and style, whether you like to donate, swap items, or bargain for a great deal, the important thing is that you are practicing being green and saving the environment because it takes more than one person to make a difference and we can all do our part one day at a time.

Article by Richart Ruddie