Freecycle Applied to Community Tourism: An Approach

Planet Earth is undergoing severe climatic changes due to human activities. The carbon footprint increases every year, and the amount of waste produced is reaching alarming values. In a society of consumerism, so many products are disposed in a relatively good condition, being replaced by new ones. The situation is unsustainable. To help facing this scenario, some concepts have evolved over the years, like Freecycle. It is an environmental concept with the mission of “building a worldwide gift-giving movement” that reduces waste, saves precious resources, and eases the burden on landfills, exploring the growing interest in practices that reduce the ecological footprint, allowing members to benefit from the strength of a larger community. However, the current implementations don’t fulfill the fundamental essence of Freecycle. This concept can also be applied to community tourism. This paper describes an mobile application’ proposal that enables the implementation of the Freecycle concept, allowing people to help others while practicing community tourism and, at the same time, contributing the reduction of the amount of waste produce daily, saving the planet.