The first PreCycle Day in Worthington was in April 2010.  Since it went so well, it returned on Wed & Thurs, April 20 & 21, 2011.

And,....Ta-Da !!!!!

On May 17, 2011, PreCycle Day was awarded SWACO's Good Neighbor Emerald!!!

Congratulations to all those Worthingtonians who created the PreCycle Day event, to all those who set stuff out at their curbs and to all those who shopped responsibly at curbside.

SWACO's award is testament to the Worthington community's commitment to sustainability.

Visit the PreCycle Day Facebook page

PreCycle Day is a Worthington-wide, curbside, free exchange of re-usable items.

• How to participate
• Why participate
• Who can set stuff out for PreCycle
• Spreading the word about PreCycle Day
• At the end of PreCycle Day...
• Goals and planning elements of PreCycle Day
• How the 1st Worthington PreCycle Day was started
• How to start a PreCycle Event
• Previous PreCycle Days in Worthington
• More information

How to participate

Join Worthington residents in a city-wide free exchange of reusable, no-longer-needed items, at curbside in front of your homes. It's easy! Here's how:

• Set out re-usable items (not trash) and then check out other offerings in your neighborhood.
• Residents within the City of Worthington are eligible to set out re-usable items for PreCycle Day - some exceptions apply; so, see details in the "Eligibility" section below.
• Please keep items neat and orderly.
• All treasures that you claim are in an "as is" condition. No perishable items permitted.
• PreCycle Day is not a garage sale. Everything is free and is located curbside or in driveways or front lawns along the sidewalks.
• To help neighbors recognize your PreCycle items, consider downloading, printing and posting this FREE PreCycle sign beside your PreCycle items.

Remember, PreCycle Day is not a garage sale. If you wish to conduct a garage sale on PreCycle Day, please remember that you must obtain a garage sale permit ($2 in 2010) at City Hall, and that all garage sale items must be kept separate from PreCycle items.

If you set out items for PreCycle Day, consider minimizing confusion between PreCycle items and trash for pickup on Friday, by delaying setting out your trash for Friday pickup until after you end your participation in the PreCycle event. If you posted any PreCycle signs, please remove them.

We strongly recommend that you retrieve your "leftover" reusable items from the roadside (instead of packaging the leftovers for trash pickup). Please contact these organizations or your favorite charity to get your re-usable leftovers into the hands of people who will put them to good use.

If you live in an apartment or condominium within Worthington, please check with your property manager before setting out reusable items for PreCycle Day.

Why participate in PreCycle Day?

You will:

• keep re-usable items from the landfill and recycle stream (including items too small for the weekly "junk-pickers" to notice);
• save the energy required to process trash and recycled items;
• unclutter that garage, back bedroom, closet and basement;
• save yourself and your neighbors from spending money to buy those items in a store;
• save energy and resources that won't be spent to manufacture new instances of the items you retrieve;
• connect with your neighbors;
• make Worthington a better place to live;
• celebrate Earth Day!

Eligibility - Who can set stuff out for PreCycle

Question: Does where you live determine whether you are eligible to set out stuff on PreCycle Day?

Answer: If you live within the City of Worthington and your trash is picked up as part of the City's Rumpke trash pickup contracted service, then you are eligible to set out re-usable items to be taken by neighbors on PreCycle Day.

Q: What does Rumpke trash pickup have to do with setting stuff out for PreCycle Day? Is PreCycle Day run by Rumpke? Are you supposed to set stuff out on "trash day"? Are you supposed to leave all of your leftover re-usables (the stuff that is not taken during PreCycle Day) out for Rumpke to take on trash day?

A: Rumpke is not involved with the PreCycle Day event. Sustainable Worthington created PreCycle Day as a way to get re-usable items into the hands of people who will use them, because the ensuing re-use of items is more sustainable than the items continuing to remain unused. One of Sustainable Worthington's PreCycle goals is to decrease the amount of re-usable items that go into the landfill. If any of the re-usable items that you set out for PreCycle Day are not taken on PreCycle Day, Sustainable Worthington encourages you to retrieve them from your curb and find a "home" for them (see At the end of PreCycle Day...). Still, Sustainable Worthington realizes that residents have the right to choose to set such leftovers out for trash pickup, following the regulations for such trash pickup as noted elsewhere in this document. Trash pickup day for Worthington residents served by the City's contract with Rumpke occurs the day after the PreCycle event ends. Sustainable Worthington confirmed that the City of Worthington approves of its residents' PreCycle leftovers being properly set out for trash pickup by Rumpke as contracted by the City of Worthington, should such residents choose to set PreCycle leftovers out for trash pickup.

If your trash pickup is not served through the City of Worthington's Rumpke trash pickup contract, but you wish to participate in PreCycle day and you want to set out leftovers for pickup by your trash pickup contract service, please note that, due to lack of sufficient volunteer resources, Sustainable Worthington did not seek confirmation whether such trash pickup services approve of picking up PreCycle leftovers. It is for this reason that Sustainable Worthington only supports the setting out of re-usable items for the PreCycle event by residents served by the City of Worthington's Rumpke trash pickup service.

If you are not served by the City of Worthington's Rumpke trash pickup contract, please determine whether your trash pickup service supports setting out of PreCycle leftovers on your trash day.

Q: Can I set out re-usables for PreCycle Day if I live within the City of Worthington in an apartment or a condominium?

A: In apartments of 4 or more living units, the City's trash pickup contract does not serve such apartment residents. Separately, some condominiums within Worthington may have restrictions that prevent setting re-usable items out for PreCycle Day. If either of these situations applies to you, please check with your property manager or condo association before setting out reusable items for the PreCycle event.

Spreading the word about PreCycle Day

On your own, please spread the word about PreCycle Day to your Worthington neighbors.

Distributing flyers - You can also download, then print and distribute FREE full-page flyers and quarter-page handbills.  Several "fans" of PreCycle Day distribute the quarter-page handbills to all homes on their street or nearby streets - not ringing doorbells; rather, putting the flyer under the corner of the doormat.  Hint - to save money, print the flyer/handbill in black ink (not  color) on brightly colored paper.

If you plan to distribute, let us know which streets you are doing or at what events you do it.  We are keeping a master list, to avoid duplication.

For the 2 weeks before PreCycle Day, Sustainable Worthington plans to place a sign about PreCycle Day on the Village Green.

The Worthington Public Service Department has graciously agreed to place PreCycle signs at entrances to Worthington neighborhoods, similar to signs they place to notify of Fall Leaf Pickup or to notify of an irregular day for weekly trash pickup. Sustainable Worthington gratefully acknowledges advice and support from the Worthington Public Service Department.

If you would like to help "get the word out" about PreCycle Day in other ways, please Contact Us.

At the end of PreCycle Day...

We strongly recommend that you retrieve your "leftover" reusable items from the curbside, instead of packaging the leftovers for trash pickup. Please contact these organizations or your favorite charity to get your re-usable leftovers into the hands of people who will put them to good use.

If you wish any PreCycle leftovers to be picked up during Friday trash pickup, please bundle those leftovers according to the rules for regular trash pickup. Those rules can be found at http://www.conwaygreene.com/worthington.htm including sections 945.01 (Definitions) and 945.08 (Container Requirements). Note that any items set out for trash pickup but do not get picked up by the Rumpke trash service MUST BE REMOVED BY 6pm Saturday.

Goals and Planning Elements of PreCycle

The goals of PreCycle Day are:

• keep re-usable items from the landfill and recycle stream (including items too small for weekly "junk-pickers" to notice);
• save the energy required to process trash and recycled items;
• unclutter that garage, back bedroom, closet and basement;
• save yourself and your neighbors from spending money to buy those items in a store;
• save energy and resources that won't be spent to manufacture new instances of the items you retrieve;
• connect with your neighbors;
• make Worthington a better place to live;
• celebrate Earth Day!

Key planning elements include:

• ensuring no local neighborhood/community rules are being violated by having the event,
• getting enough residents setting out enough re-usables,
• getting enough "shoppers" to show up.

How the 1st Worthington PreCycle Day was started

The idea was first mentioned in a discussion in July 2009 among Sustainable Worthington (SW) members who were chatting via a SW mailing list focusing on recycling - "we should have a freecycle community garage sale. only free items". In September, another SW member emailed about wanting to find a home for some shoes. Then, in October, a few SW members discussed it with a city council person during a Simply Living luncheon. After that, a SW member researched some similar efforts in other US communities. She also spoke with Worthington's City Manager and member of Worthington's Department of Public Service and garnered their strong support for the idea. In December and January, a group of 4 SW members formed the SW PreCycle Planning Group, and met three times to define specific strategies and steps to make PreCycle Day happen. That group met with staff from the Public Service Department to iron out details related to city support.

In February 2010, the Planning Group presented its plan for the event to Worthington City Council along with words and memo of support from city staff. Council unanimously approved a resolution instructing city staff to support preparation for the event. The two local community newspapers reported Council's approval (and later published reminder articles the week before the event).

The planning group expanded to about 8 SW members and preparations proceeded until the day of the event. Preparations included: email announcements, creating and distributing 300 handbills door to door and 300 via free handout kiosk at Old Worthington Library; design, paint and post a 4ftX5ft sign displayed on the Village Green two weeks prior to event. The city of Worthington printed and displayed seven signs along neighborhood gateway streets and posted a notice about PreCycle Day on the gateway page of the City's website.

How to Start a PreCycle Event

We certainly hope that more PreCycle events take root beyond the City of Worthington. Similar events occurred in other places prior to Worthington's first PreCycle Day.

With a bit of research and preparation, a PreCycle event may be possible in your neighborhood/community. Like several successful community events in smaller cities (Worthington's population is about 14,000), PreCycle Day can be launched if a few residents commit to and execute some key organizing. In larger cities, the event might not need to be city wide, but it would need to involve some minimal number of neighborhoods to generate enough stuff and enough "shoppers" to ensure that most items are taken. We do not have a good sense of what those minimal numbers are. We would appreciate learning of other places that have similar events.

What other communities have events like Worthington's PreCycle Day? We did not look extensively. We know that Beaconsfield Quebec (population 19,000 - a west suburb of Montreal) started one in 2007 or 2008. Also, we've been told that a neighborhood in one of the boroughs of New York City has had one for years. Search the internet for "National Curb Day", which (probably) began in 2009. Also, Salt Lake City was an early benchmark - SLC held an annual city-wide clean out day which is a bit different than PreCycle's goals.

We estimate that for the first Worthington PreCycle Day, a total of 150 to 200 volunteer hours of effort was spent. Most of this time came from about six SW members. Also, city staff spent a few hours preparing.

The key thing is a few people (probably residents) taking the lead, possibly along with some support from city staff. The major preparation steps are 1) ensuring the legality of setting stuff at curbside, 2) adequately advertising the event to potential participants and 3) educating participants about how to handle leftovers (after the event ends). In previous Worthington PreCycle Day events, most residents experienced very few leftovers. This website goes into a lot of detail about how SW encouraged residents to not dispose of leftovers as trash, but SW also ensured that the trash pickup service was OK if some people wanted to properly leave leftovers out for trash pickup, which was timed to be the day after the PreCycle event. In Worthington, we have the good fortune to have enough residents eager to participate, good local papers to tell about the event (before and after), and very supporting city staff and leaders.

Previous PreCycle Days in Worthington

Results from the 2010 PreCycle Day, held from 6pm Wed, April 21, until 8pm Thurs, April 22

This first PreCycle Day in Worthington was a great success.  Almost everything that residents set out found new homes.  Over 50% of the items were taken the fisrt (Wednesday) evening.  The weather was rain free and warm during both Wednesday evening and all day Thursday.  Local newspapers published articles reviewing the results of the 2010 PreCycle Day in Worthington.  One review was in This Week in Worthington.  The Columbus Dispatch published a great review, too.

More Information

For questions or more information regarding PreCycle Day, please Contact Us.