A Dublin woman has cleaned up after becoming the 20,000th person to use dublinwaste.ie’s FREE Trade service.

Liz Henson, from Rathfarmham, is a member of the innovative website that is being swamped with visitors since the start of 2009, with the number of items being traded growing by over 22 per cent in the past 12 months.

She gave away a beanbag for free and is receiving a gift from Dublin City Council to mark the milestone of 20,000 quality goods being saved from landfill and put to good use by new owners.

 “The FREE Trade service on dublinwaste.ie is a fantastic idea. I have used it to pass on items I no longer needed on several occasions in the past few years. Every recipient I've dealt with has been very grateful for the items they received. So many people have things in their homes no longer of use to them which could be put to good use by others,” Liz said.

Since its launch in 2006 by the four Dublin councils, there have been over three million visits to dublinwaste.ie’s FREE Trade service, helping Dubliners obtain and pass on goods rather than dumping them. Everything from furniture to mobile homes, and toys to top soil are up for grabs on the site. The FREE Trade website allows people to advertise items for free, advises on how to make contact with prospective owners and also lets visitors place adverts for items they are looking for.

Hugh Coughlan, Dublin City Council, said: “We’re seeing a huge increase in the numbers of people using the FREE Trade service, with over 155,000 unique visitors since January 2009. Everyone’s pockets are a little lighter these days and it makes sense to look for quality goods that other people are giving away for free.
“We find FREE Trade is popular across the board and would encourage everybody in Dublin who is looking for household goods to check it out before rushing out to spend money because everything on the site is in good condition and is absolutely free. It’s not only visitors that benefit from the free trade service. We estimate that by reusing goods in this way over 1,500 tonnes of waste have been diverted from landfill, this has also helped save members of FREE trade hundreds of Euros in disposal costs.”

There are over 20 categories of household items on the site.  There is also advice for users on the precautions to take when making arrangements to collect or hand-over goods.

The website and FREE Trade service ( www.dublinwaste.ie/free_trade.php ) can also be contacted by phone on 01-6676880 or by emailing info@dublinwaste.ie

ENDS