ONE person’s rubbish is another man’s treasure – as proved by the Guernsey Press’s highly popular Ecycle scheme. Since July 2006, more than 3,200 items bound for landfill have found a new home because of the free service that allows people to ‘gift away’ their unwanted goods.

These include anything from household furniture of all descriptions to foam offcuts and clothing.

One gentleman even got his hands on a free 22ft boat, which he has since restored.

Guernsey Press advertising director Anthony Brun said everybody has a responsibility to reduce landfill waste and Ecycle was an excellent way of achieving it.

‘This is our way of responding to the need to look after our small island more,’ he said.

‘We live in a society where everything is disposable. Why not let someone else get use out of something we no longer want?

‘There is a full page devoted to Ecycle every Tuesday and Saturday, but the website is the best place to look for a fully comprehensive listing of all the items available.’

Readers can advertise almost anything through Ecycle, with the obvious exception of animals and firearms.

The service does a lot to divert some of the 2,000 waste items a month that would otherwise end up in the Mont Cuet landfill.

People can submit an advert of no more than 20 words, or put one forward online at www.thisisguernsey/ecycle.

Once accepted for publication, each item appears free of charge in the newspaper for three listings.

But it remains on the website until the advertiser contacts the Guernsey Press by email or by calling 240277 to request deletion.