Peace House, a nonprofit focused on enacting social change locally, is encouraging neighbors to give their stuff away and take the stuff that others leave behind.

The group is not alone in trying to create free item exchanges — formally known as “gift economies” — in the Washington area.

There are neighborhood “Buy Nothing” Facebook groups, online marketplaces where users offer up unwanted goods, in NoMa, Silver Spring, Annapolis and nationwide. A newlywed recently set up a group in the Columbia Pike corridor after becoming overwhelmed by the amount of stuff she had to get rid of while moving in with her groom. Free items have also been known to crop up in bulk on the streets of Arlington and Shaw, and legend has it that a “free tree” in Alexandria once accommodated castoffs beneath its boughs.

When discards are given a second chance, a lot can happen. A lot of stuff.

Read more on the “buy nothing” movement here…

Read the article “Buy Nothing, Share With Your Neighbors” on washingtonpost.com.