UK branches of Freecycle are breaking away from US founders after a dispute over management of their local web pages

Freecycle is for giving away things you don't need through the web so they don't go to landfill. Now the UK arm of the scheme is about to be trashed by the very people who run it because of a rift with the US founders.

It's expected that tomorrow, hundreds of local Freecycle branches across the UK will declare an orchestrated independence from their American parents.

The acrimonious split follows unsatisfactory negotiations which could have given Freecycle's UK moderators the ability to localise their web pages and allow them to serve the community better. For example, a moderator for one local branch was not allowed to ask a moderator from a neighbouring locality to act as locum while they go on holiday. Ideas on the ground, such as a Freecycle bay at the local tip, were ruled out.

The UK is probably the most enthusiastic Freecycling country in the world, hosting just 10% of all the branches but handling 27% of all Freecycling activities.

Anyone can join a local group for free and post a notice offering to give something away. Branch moderators screen every notice. Established members can also post requests for stuff they want. No money changes hands and goods that might otherwise end up at the tip get a new life.

I've used it to find loving homes for an MP3 player, seven pairs of roof-racks and an ugly little table. Like the best jumble sales, I've also come away with a few things that seemed like a good idea at the time, including a box of pickling jars.

There were 510 Freecycle branches across Britain moderated by local UK residents, but in the last two weeks control has been removed from a few dissenters at a time by the Freecycle Network "hub" in the US. This process takes a few days, so there have been four or five branches offline at a time until new moderators - not always based in the UK - are installed.

The moderators of the Brighton branch, which had more than 17,000 members, were among the first to jump ship and start up on their own. In emails to all members, they announced they were setting up their own service and inviting everyone to join it.

Called GreenCycleSussex, it uses the free web service offered by Yahoo Groups. Their decision leaves Freecycle Brighton without a local moderator to supervise the publishing of messages.

The departing Brighton moderators explained their reasons thus:

Earlier this summer four leading members of the National UK Freecycle team resigned, including the director, in protest at the lack of change. Moderators around the country then formed an Independent Association of Moderators and again tried talking with The Freecycle Network [in the US]. Hoping to negotiate and find a positive way to continue under the banner of Freecycle. This has not been possible.

We acknowledge that what Freecycle does in the community is great. We just don't agree that we should be dictated to from across the Atlantic and adopt inappropriate policies. We think the members and moderators make Freecycle great. There has [sic] now been multiple summary expulsions of moderators who have asked for change from Freecycle. All UK moderators have lost their freedom of speech within the organisation. So here in Brighton we have decided to go our own way along with the majority of other Freecycle UK groups.



Nan Bixby, hub coordinator for the Freecycle Network in the US, told the Guardian by email that she was not aware of any plans for UK groups to break away. "Sadly, there are times when groups feel they can better serve their local community in other ways. When this happens we wish them well and continue in our efforts to save local landfills. We always look for moderators who are local to the community even if that means temporarily, such as in the case with the Brighton group, we may have interim moderators not local until a local moderator can be found," Bixby said.

In some ways, the fragmentation of Freecycle in the UK could be seen as a natural next step – it is an idea to promote giving, so maybe it is not surprising that some have chosen to take it.