Photo courtesy of Eric Z. Grey

This sign for Free Grinds at Murky Coffee ^[1] in Clarendon got me thinking: recycling is really catching on, and not just recycling for substances like glass and metal.

You can recycle your old junk now too, with Freecycle ^[2]. Rather than chucking your stuff in a landfill (or just outside the apartment like lazy puppy-yuppies do at Melrose Place-Arlington where I live), give it to someone who wants it.

And believe me, someone wants it. If you’ve got to get rid of that old VCR, bed frame, or old Baby-Sitters Club ^[3] paperbacks, someone will take it off your hands.

I’ve personally disposed of a bed, frame and box spring on Freecycle when I couldn’t get a homeless shelter to pick it up. It felt a lot better than chucking it in a landfill to rot. And I’ve received stuff on Freecycle too.

Freecycle ^[2] groups are popping up everywhere, like DC ^[4], Arlington ^[5], Bethesda ^[6], Alexandria ^[7], Silver Spring ^[8] and Annandale/Falls Church ^[9] among others. You’re town/hamlet/soulless subdivision probably already has one.

Check ‘em out. I’ve found there is this strange karmic circle with Freecycle. Every time I give something away, rather than throw it away, I receive a check in the mail or something similar.

I’m serious about the karmic circle. I give away my old queen size bed to some Army NCO, and *BAM* I get a check in the mail for some refund. I seriously think that if you waste not, you will want not, and every time some pampered puppy-yuppy at Melrose Place throws out an old shelf or worse yet, working electronic appliances, I feel sick to my stomach. Time was, people would save things, repair them, and count their blessings. Now we’re a disposable society. Disposable utensils, disposable clothes. Don’t get me wrong, some things are just meant to be thrown away. But haven’t we gone overboard?