Streetbank builds community while helping reduce waste

Share skills and equipment with your neighbours

Do you have something you’d like to give away but don’t want the hassle of transporting it across town or further afield? Or how about a skill or a piece of equipment you’d be willing to lend or would like to borrow?

If so, Streetbank is for you.

Streetbank is a community sharing and giving website, connecting you with neighbours living within a mile of you. It helps reduce waste, save money, free up space – and build community.

BRAG had a visit from Streetbank founder Sam Stephens this week, and we’re on board – its philosophy is very much in line with BRAG’s mission to recycle, reduce and reuse.

Using Streetbank is easy: you register on http://www.streetbank.com and then post what you have to give away or lend. Your offer goes out to people living with a mile of you, and they contact you via the site if they want to take up your offer. And you likewise receive your neighbours’ offers.

Here are some Streetbank figures:

£30: The value of the average item shared
1,500: The number of people meeting through Streetbank every month
60,000: The number of Streebank members (as of November 2014)
£22,000: The amount saved per month
184 tons: The amount saved from landfill in 2014 because of Streetbank
81: The number of countries in which Streetbank is present.

By end-2016, Streetbank expects 150,000 people to meet through the site and save £2.5 million.

Streetbank started out in Hammersmith and Fulham; 70% of its membership is UK based and 30% is based in London. Streetbank is now spreading in Hounslow, so why not sign up: it’s a great chance to meet some neighbours and strengthen your community ties, as well as finding a new home for items you no longer want.

For more information, please see www.streetbank.com.

Streetbank is a not-for-profit organization and is registered as a Community Interest Company. It is funded by the Cabinet Office’s Innovation in Giving Fund. It recently merged with The Freeconomy and The Sharehood, making it the biggest neighbourhood sharing site.

Reproduced with permission from BRAG website.

February 27, 2015