A new ‘freecycling’ trend has arrived in The Netherlands. ‘Freemi’ is a social-sustainable lifestyle app from Denmark providing a new circular freeconomy experience.
“We are on a mission to put an end to the throw-away-culture and create awareness on how we can easily circulate things and help each other while saving the environment and avoid CO2 emissions”, Rasmus Thude, CEO and co-founder at Freemi.
Freemi is making it more convenient to give away used belongings than to throw stuff out and everything has to be 100% free. Freemi has more than 150.000 users and in just 8 weeks, 10.000 people have joined the new freeconomy in The Netherlands.
Founded in Copenhagen in 2016 by (from the right) Rasmus Thude, Jamie Neubert Pedersen and Mikkel Mørch, Freemi has now expanded its freeconomy to The Netherlands, in particular, the major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague where hundreds of free items are available on Freemi.
The power of free
At Freemi everything is free. This means, that all users share a common ground, where economic earnings are not of importance, but making a difference for each other and the climate is. When you give away your used belongings for free, you make other people happy, you save the environment by extending the product life cycle of any product, and you get your things picked up at your doorstep when it fits you. Easy, convenient, sustainable and of course free.
“We see this as a significant factor enabling Freemis circular economy to evolve so independently. This is one of the many beautiful things about a freeconomy. Freemi is not just another service, it is more of an impact movement than a business”, Rasmus Thude, CEO and co-founder at Freemi.
Live your life more free with Freemi
With Freemi installed on your phone, you are one step away from living a zero-waste lifestyle in your home. Whether you pick-up 100% free second-hand items nearby or give away your used belongings for free, you participate in an ecosystem which circulates and saves valuable resources every day.
Freemi has successfully enabled peer-to-peer circularity by making ‘free stuff’ more easy, transparent and meaningful. Better structure, e.g. the automated queuing system, ensures that a donator is never overwhelmed with interest and always has a great experience when giving away.
In the UK alone, 22 million small items of furniture are disposed every year (source: North London Waste Authority). In contrast, Freemi’s freeconomy successfully recirculates 4 out of 5 items proving that things cannot be labelled ‘trash’ before given the chance of a new life in a new home. “You would be surprised, how desirable your used belongings can be to other people”, Jamie Neubert, CTO and co-founder at Freemi.
See how many kilos of CO2 emission one can avoid
Every free transaction on Freemi extends a product lifecycle and fulfils another person’s need for this particular product. When reusing a product one avoids contributing to CO2 emissions associated with the production of a new and similar product and the disposal of a used. Take a sofa: The CO2 emission avoided by reusing a sofa is 90 kilos on average (source: Spanish environmental organisation, Aeress). Fun fact: Two sofas are recirculated and recycled each day through Freemi.
A CO2 impact feature shows just how much CO2 emission one can avoid when giving a specific item a new life at a new home.
10.000 users in just 8 weeks (NL)
Freemi has now expanded beyond Denmark to become the brand new freeconomy of the Netherlands. It makes us so happy, that in just 8 weeks, we have gained over 10.000 Dutch users. In Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, 500 things have already been freecycled through Freemi. Also, we are very thrilled to discover, that Dutch people generally give away larger and more attractive items compared to the Danes – high five!
Freemi is a growing movement
The new circular freeconomy concept has proven to be quite successful. This is of course due to the power of ‘free’, but the success is also derived from the fact that Freemi is at the forefront of a green and sustainable macro trend emerging on a global scale. Climate changes are no longer invisible to us. This causes people to want a more sustainable lifestyle and consume less. Freemi is an easy and convenient way to do so.
Download Freemi here: Google Play, App store
Guest blog by Freemi.
Sources:
- https://resource.co/article/22m-pieces-furniture-thrown-out-every-year-uk-12892
- http://reutilizayevitaco2.aeress.org/en/
