Website appeals to all sorts of people AMATEUR inventor Duane Phillips discovered the Freecycle network six weeks ago and now uses it to find parts for his creations. The father-of-two is currently coverting his house to renewable energy and has built a solar panel that will be attached to the extension at the back of the building. Duane, 38, says: "I have always dabbled in knowing how things work. "Even as a small child my parents used to come home and find I'd taken the TV apart. "Freecycle has been very useful for getting bits for my solar panel project, like rechargeable batteries and an insulated hot water cylinder. "I think it's a marvellous idea. I just go fishing for bits I can use. "It means I can experiment without incurring costs. If I blow something apart, I haven't wasted a lot of money." Duane is a member of several different groups, including Liverpool, Wigan, Warrington and Manchester. He has found that each one has its own quirks. "The Manchester site seems to be quite strict but the Liverpool one is quite relaxed. "People have put on things like dogs which they're not meant to and have offered to swap things when they are supposed to give them away," he says.. Duane believes Freecycling is successful because it is so easy to do. "I used to look for things on Ebay but to put something on there it takes about half an hour and most people can't be bothered. "I gave a computer away on the site that I could have quite easily sold for quite a decent sum but it was easier to give it away," says Duane,, who lives in Formby and works in Halsall as the IT Manager for a firm of financial advisers. "I think Freecycling appeals to all sorts of people. "I went to collect some bits from someone last week and someone else came round there at the same time. "She looked quite well to do and drove a Chrysler Voyager. "She was from Huddersfield and had driven all that way to pick up a bag of cloth because she was into making quilts." Although most Freecyclers agree with the concept that you should place items on the site as well as taking them off, Duane says there are some members who take advantage of the system. "There are people on there who abuse it and never give anything back but they sometimes get told off by the other people on the site," he says. "It's amazing what people will take. "I had an ad on for about 300 CD cases because I'd transfered all of the disks into a folder. Someone came and picked them up last night." It's a nice way to give things away to other people >> | 
