Kidlington & Woodstock Freecycling Group allows you to freecycle your unwanted items and declutter your home. The main rule of the group is keep it free, legal and suitable for all ages. This group is for people in and around Kidlington & Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. This includes Cassington, Yarnton, Begbroke, Bletchindon, Kirtlington, Hampton Poyle, Hampton Gay, Long Hanborough, Shipton-on-Cherwell, Weston-on-the-Green, Islip etc - and even Oxford!

Monday 19 November 2007

Nag, nag, nag, nag...

Actually in this case NAG stands for Neighbourhood Action Group is is an opportunity for people interested in supporting their community actively. Anyway we here in Kidlington have the proud title of being group 6! Wow. If you want to get involved then check our the relevant page on the Cherwell District website.

What happens to freecycle items when no-one wants them anymore?

I remember many years ago taking an extremely well used though now old and battered suitcase to a dump and before we knew what was happening some needy looking person picked it up and said that was exactly what they were looking for. In essence freecycling extends to life of an item, preventing it reaching the dump before its due date. When an item is not good for one person it goes to the next person. This person may either be adept at fixing issues with the item or able to reuse the item in a new way, or simply what were issues to you are not so to them. But right now there is a huge problem facing the world. That if digital TV, HDTV to be precise. We are all being told to "go digital", and in that same breath there is a complete hush around what happens to our old obsolete TV. An initiative is now gaining momentum to force manufacturers to be part of the recycling process. Visit TakeBackMyTV and see if this is where you want your old TV to end up. This scheme is focusing on the US but perhaps the same issues are relevant here in the UK. Right now Sony has signed the pledge to take old TVs back, so if you have a defunct Sony TV make sure they honour that pledge. Whatever the truth, I feel that all freecyclers should be aware of the full life-cycle implications and think about what happens to items when there are no takers.

What neither goes up, nor down?

Well if you're narrowboat is located in Kidlington then that's what. At least that is the case according to this blogger.

Weekly or fortnightly, that is the question

Close the the centre of Oxford residents have continually been up in arms about the change from weekly to fortnightly collections (or to be more precise alternate weekly). Whether people are recycling efficiently enough or whether such a thing will save them from rats is not an issue when you have sufficient land to store a range of wheelie bins, but in some parts of Oxford space is at a premium. Anyway a year on from the change residents are still battling for solutions as demonstrated by this thread on the Oxford Mail website - recycling one year on. In fact another entry starts by implying all is good, when in fact the opposite seems to be still the case for at least some. Much as I for one love the new system, I feel that more needs to be done for those in confined neighbourhoods.

Remembrance Sunday Remembered

A local blogger looks back at her day remembering...