5 great all-consuming websites

When you were young, remember being told that sharing is important? Even when sharing meant giving some of your treats to the other kids you were playing with. Well, sharing still is important but for a host of other reasons, like saving the planet, for example. To kick start an All-Consuming Summer, here are 5 fabulous places to lend, borrow and share.

1. Thingloop

Instead of owning so many useless things, like DVD's you watch once, or that lawnmower that gets used a total of 4 time each summer, why not share or borrow from your friends. You can invite people to join and create groups around your family, friends, workplace, chess club- anything!

2. Freecycle

The Freecycle network is one of the oldest running stuff sharing website (c.2003), with over one million members and 494 groups in the UK alone. Globally they've got over seven million members. That's a lot of people, and therefore, a lot of stuff to share. People can join the freecycle network in their locality and they can browse items others no longer want or need.

3. vSkip

It's like dumpster diving, but online. You can upload items into the skip, declaring them as trash to you but offering them to a new home. Others can take a look into the skip and claim unwanted items. Now, dumpster diving isn't limited to the skips near your house, you can do it virtually.

4. Ecomodo

Ecomodo not only lets you lend and borrow items, you can lend spaces and skills too! Users can create circles in their workplaces, neighbourhoods, schools and more and start swapping pretty much anything.

5. Ecobees

Ecobees is built on the idea as freecycle but has some added features, like maps and distance from a person to the item they're after. The name comes from the definition of 'bee' : an insect; a community social gathering in order to perform some task, engage in a contest, etc.: a sewing bee; a spelling bee; a husking bee.

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