Christine Chan Chi-yan welcomes Joey Che to her Tai Po home as if she's an old friend. But despite their outstretched arms and excited chatter, they only contacted each other through an online group a few weeks ago.
The pair are meeting about a fridge. Chan acquired an extra appliance when she moved house. Che sought one for an organic vegetable shop that she plans to open in Sai Kung. After a few e-mails and telephone calls, Che has found a fridge for free and Chan now has more space in her kitchen.
The women are members of the Freecycle Network, an international online group that began in Tucson, Arizona, and brings givers and seekers together on the premise that one person's trash is another's treasure. And all its transactions are for free.
The network's Hong Kong group came online in 2004, gained popularity last year and now posts about 40 messages a month from its 1,103 local and expatriate members. While expatriate websites have long hosted trading forums, their items are usually offered for sale. An unrelated Chinese-language forum (eco-diy.com) also facilitates the free exchange of second-hand items,
but the concept of giving away used goods has yet to catch on here as it has in the west, says Hong Kong Freecycle Network's founder and moderator, Kostas Tsakiridis.
'The first factor is space. In the US, for example, the majority of people have garages to store old and bulky items so they have a lot of things to give out,' says the software designer.