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What
is JumbleTown?
JumbleTown is a virtual Market Place for anyone looking to give away and/or acquire literally thousands of useful items.
Like most “places”, JumbleTown is made up of a diverse community of individuals, businesses, schools, and organisations, all of whom are known as Givers and/or Takers :
- Givers are people who wish to free up space in their home/business. They wish to give away domestic and/or work-related items that are unwanted but generally still useful.
- Takers are people who wish to acquire good quality second-hand goods for free.
Put simply, JumbleTown brings Givers and Takers together.
Apart from helping you to free up space in your home/business and/or acquire useful items, JumbleTown helps you do your bit to protect Ireland’s environment. This is because your Giving and Taking is, in fact, life-cycling , which is all about ensuring that the life-cycle or usefulness of an item is completed before it is recycled or discarded. Life-cycling effectively postpones an item’s entry into the recycling or disposal chain, which is good for the environment and the community.
So, JumbleTown helps you GIVE, TAKE, and PROTECT.
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How
does it work?
Two main groups of people use JumbleTown: Givers
and Takers.
A Giver: A person who Gives an item
away.
A Taker:
A person who Takes or collects an item from a Giver.
JumbleTown in Ireland operates on a local, county and national basis. Givers list unwanted items by category and Takers may sort and view items by:
- county (e.g. Co Dublin, Co Galway etc.)
- province/region (e.g. Leinster, Munster etc.)
- status (i.e., whether the item is Available or Taken, each of which is indicated by a colour-code: green for Available, and red for Taken).
Givers are free to pass on an item to the first, second or even tenth respondent. Most Givers pass on an item to the first respondent, but this may not always be the case. The Giver alone makes a value judgement and JumbleTown Admin does not influence their choice.
N.B. Givers and Takers should contact each other 1 hour before the agreed collection-time to ensure that this time is still mutually convenient.
N.B. Givers and Takers must register before they can Give or Take an item online at JumbleTown (see below). _______________________________________________________________________________
Is it free?
Yes, it is free.
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Do I have to register?
You must register before you can Give Away an item online at JumbleTown.
If you choose to post a mobile phone number on the public forum for people to contact you, then obviously a Taker may not have to register to Take an Item off your hands. If you choose to use the forum’s PM (Private Message) system, then a Taker would need to register to send you a PM about your item.
User Name Guidelines
There are a number of restrictions in relation to the User Name a JumbleTown Member may choose when registering:
1. A Member may not choose a User Name that has an overtly sexual meaning.
2. A Member may not choose a User Name likely to cause offense.
3. A Member may not use the word "Admin" in their User Name.
4. A Member may not use the name of any JumbleTown Administrator within their User Name.
5. A Member may not choose a User Name that has commercial overtones or tries to by-pass our non-commercial status.
6 A commerical enterprise may not use their business name as a User Name on JumbleTown.
The following is a guideline list of User Names that are not allowed on JumbleTown:
IdriveAVan
VanManAvailable
TransitMan
IwillDeliverYourFurniture
ManwithVan
Computers4U
7. No commercial email addresses may be posted on the Public Forum
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Can
I sell an item on JumbleTown?
No, if you wish to sell an item please do so through the usual selling channels.
The purpose of JumbleTown is to help people pass on items they no longer want. We believe every home and business has items of value that are nonetheless deemed by their owners to be taking up space and which they would be only too happy to part with; these are the items that should be listed on JumbleTown.
JumbleTown is solely for the Giving and Taking of free items.
The following transactions are BANNED:
selling, buying, auctioning, swapping, borrowing and lending.
JumbleTown is NOT a charity site.
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Privacy and Security: Play it Safe!
JumbleTown's PM (Private Message) service means that Givers do not need to list their contact details on the public forum if they so wish. In other words, JumbleTown offers more privacy than listing in the classified section of a newspaper.
Advice for Givers When Handing Over an Item to a Taker:
(a) JumbleTown Admin strongly recommends that Givers and Takers exchange mobile phone numbers. Givers and Takers should agree a time for the collection of the item in question.
N.B. Givers and Takers should contact each other 1 hour before the agreed collection-time to ensure that this time is still mutually convenient.
(b) Givers should try to have someone with them in their home/business when a Taker calls.
(c) If, for whatever reason, a Giver does not want a Taker to enter their home/business, the item should be left at the front door of the premises or at some other convenient location.
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Prohibited Items on JumbleTown.
There are certain items that may not be given away on JumbleTown. The following list is a guideline and JumbleTown reserves the right to remove any item without prior notice.
The following may not be given away or requested on JumbleTown:
1 Any pet or live animal
2 Medicines, pills, drugs, inhalers, medical test-kits etc.
3 Lotions/Cosmetics: Any type of lotion/cosmetic that may be applied externally.
4 Soiled clothing
5. Faulty toasters, leaking irons
6 Food & drink
7 Cot mattresses
8
Asbestos-based products / Used insulation material
9 Fireworks
10 Firearms or offensive weapons (including knives)
11 Items or materials that promote hatred, violence, or racial intolerance
12 Pesticides
13 Pornographic Material
14 Secondhand Motor Cycling Helmets
15 Money
16 Votes for competitions etc.
17 Any item whatsoever that is illegal in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
In addition, the following types of ads are not permitted:
(a) Offering any type of digital download, i.e., software, PDF documents, e-books etc.
(b) Promoting a business by offering a "freebie."
(c) Offering an item on condition that a potential Taker offers a review, completes a questionnaire etc.
(d) Ads promoting events, fundraisers etc.
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JumbleTown and Ireland’s Environment
In March 2006, an OECD report stated that the Republic of Ireland produces more waste per capita than any other developed country in the world, i.e., 760kg (approx. 120 stone) of waste per year by every man, woman and child resident in the State. (Americans produce 740kg; the OECD average is 570kg per year [see the OECD factbook, 2006]). In June 2006, a Benchmark Report on Waste drawn up by Forfas (an advisory board to the Irish Government) showed that the “waste picture” in Ireland is even worse than the one painted in the OECD report: the figure from Forfas was 777kg per capita.
The findings of the OECD and Forfas reports have repercussions for communities in both the Republic and Northern Ireland. In the Republic, many existing landfill sites are filling up at an alarming rate, and proposals for new landfill schemes (and incinerators) are facing fierce opposition from local communities and some politicians. This has led to some instances of illegal dumping on an industrial scale in the counties around Dublin. Furthermore, in recent months, reports of cross-border dumping (from the Republic into Northern Ireland) have also featured in the media. Over-production of waste, comparatively low recycling levels, and exorbitant recycling costs are common to both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland.
The "Race Against Waste" campaign in the Republic and the "Wake Up to Waste" campaign in Northern Ireland both use the motto "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle." It calls upon all of us to reduce the amount of waste we produce, to re-use or “life-cycle” items, to maximize the amount we recycle, and to minimize the amount of landfill we produce.
Undoubtedly, a significant proportion of the waste-material we produce is not "waste" per se; much of it consists of still useful/serviceable items (such as "white" and "brown" goods) that are merely unwanted by their owners but are disposed of because they are taking up valuable space. Some items listed on JumbleTown may only be suitable for recycling, but most will be suitable for life-cycling, i.e., they can continue to be used for their intended function. By advocating life-cycling, JumbleTown aims to ensure that an item (be it an unwanted cooker or bookcase) completes the span of its usefulness. This effectively postpones an item’s entry into the recycling or disposal chain, thereby relieving pressure on costly and over-burdened waste-management systems. By encouraging life-cycling, JumbleTown focuses on the second part of the "Race"/"Wake" campaigns' motto: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." JumbleTown aims to complement existing eco-strategies that are working to improve the waste problem in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
JumbleTown is also in the spirit of the "green" initiatives extolled by town, city and county councils throughout Ireland. For example, Strategic Objective 7.3 of the Dublin City Development Board’s "Green Dublin Initiative," stresses the need to "build upon existing plans and objectives to develop a targeted, innovative and hard-hitting City-wide Green Dublin Initiative that requires collective action and makes a real difference to the City’s environment" (See Chapter 7: "A Greener City in Dublin: A City of Possibilities: Economic, Social & Cultural Strategy", 2002-2012, p.5). Furthermore, "collaborative responsibility and action is required which would involve citizens, communities, businesses, public agencies and schools pulling together" ("A Greener City", p. 4). JumbleTown not only encourages but makes possible the collaborative action that is so badly needed.
Resources dedicated to life-cycling and recycling throughout the island of Ireland are constrained by the limited budgets of Local Authorities. The "Green Bin" collection, bottle-banks, clothes-banks etc. provide citizens with eco-friendly options, but the number of inclusive bring-centres that take bulky household items are few in number. The citizens of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are amenable to environmental initiatives (e.g. the plastic-bag levy, the smoking ban, and the success of the WEEE directive in the Republic), but very often, the burden of having to transport bulky items to Bring-centres discourages citizens from life-cycling and/or recycling. Of equal significance is the fact that some Local Authorities rarely organise the collection of unwanted bulky household items because of the costs involved. (Local Authorities that do collect bulky items often charge a collection fee.) So, in a way, JumbleTown aims to shift the responsibility of life-cycling and recycling away from the civic authorities and towards the citizens. JumbleTown facilitates life-cycling and recycling practices by bringing Givers and Takers together.
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