Give your C.R.A.P a whole new life with Arundel’s thousands-strong Facebook group

But these items and more were advertised on C.R.A.P. Arundel/Barnham/Yapton/Ford Facebook group in one day in May, and with just over 4,700 members, the group is a busy marketplace for unwanted bits and bobs.

People offer up their forgotten treasures for free, while others post requests for things they need. Whether it’s helping a new mum with a second-hand buggy or rehoming a pair of wellies to plant strawberries in, the group has become a valuable community resource that has averted tons of waste.

‘It makes me happy to save stuff from the tip’

One grateful group member said: “It’s brilliant - just saved loads of stuff from the tip and this makes me happy”, while another added: “I'm so pleased not to add to landfill.”

C.R.A.P. stands for 'Conserving Resources, Associating People' - and the ethos behind it is ‘for the things you don’t need any more and the things we hoard because they are useful... and shouldn't be in a landfill’.

Founder Kelly Lake explained why she started the group in 2021: “I lived in Cornwall for about four years and got very used to the cultural norm there being environmental consciousness and anti-consumerism. The concept of C.R.A.P. was very well established there with lots of local Facebook groups. But when I moved back to Sussex, I was surprised to find there wasn’t anything similar happening here. So I set up a local Facebook group, shamelessly stealing the concept from the Cornish groups, and that was that.

‘It’s grown really quickly’

“It grew really quickly. I never once had to promote it. I invited friends, they invited friends, and now it has nearly 5,000 members.

“I’m always surprised by the serendipity of some quite niche requests and the kind of matchmaking element of it that this one random thing that you have no use for is the exact specific thing someone else wants. I almost prefer the request side of things to the offers for that reason!”

There are often requests from volunteers of local baby banks and women’s refuges looking for items to kit out families in need, as well as callouts from playgroups and nursery workers for toys or things for craft projects.

Michelle Sinclair is a member of the C.R.A.P. Facebook group and runs the Resourceful Community Scrapstore in neighbouring town Bognor, which takes in unwanted items for crafts.

‘People find things they need for low, or no cost’

She recently used the Facebook group to rehome some items leftover from a Scrapstore sale, and said: “We had a few people who came and collected items that we posted this week, which was very handy - one was a knitting machine that we have had hanging around for ages and we were very glad to find a home for as it was quite big! And the person who came to collect it seemed genuinely excited to have it.

“It's always great when something goes to a good home, especially when you have kind of given up on it.

“I think it's great that groups like this and the Scrapstore exist because people really want to do the right thing and not dump stuff into landfill, but they sometimes struggle to find an alternative. We have so many people who are delighted to find us and bring us things they have been holding on to for years because they didn't want to throw them away.

“And from the other side, it's also great for people in this current economic climate to be able to find things they need for no or low cost, it all helps to make life better for everyone.

“I see fairly regular posts on Facebook from people asking for household items because they are in emergency accommodation and it's great to see the community offering to help. It goes some way to balancing out all the negativity and moaning that is so common on some of these local groups.”

Kelly said: “I think that as much as the material reduction in waste matters to me I also like to think that this sort of group normalises asking for and giving help in big or small ways within our communities.”

Make your swaps for Great Big Green Week

This concept of community and helping others is shared by Great Big Green Week, which takes place from June 7-15 and has the theme ‘let’s swap together for good’. The idea of swapping for good is perfectly encapsulated by the ethos of the C.R.A.P. Facebook group.

On advice for others thinking about setting up a similar group in their local area, Kelly said: “Just do it. It’s very low maintenance. A few months in I did ask for a couple of volunteers to join me as admins just to make sure any spam or scams were jumped on quickly as I’m not always online.

“The group rules are really clear and I just delete anything that doesn’t meet them and assume it was a goodwill mistake. We’ve only had a few instances of flurries of spam or bot accounts coming in but removing the ability to post links pretty much resolved that. It’s a lovely self-governing community.”

Join the C.R.A.P. Arundel/Barnham/Yapton/Ford community, here.

To find out more about Great Big Green Week and how to get involved, visit: www.greatbiggreenweek.com