Buy Nothing Wollongong combines sustainability and community in a group for neighbourhood gifting

According to Towradgi local Samantha Waterhouse, it's all the way down to someone's dirty fish tank water.

Ms Waterhouse is marrying community and sustainability through her new Facebook group 'Buy Nothing Wollongong', a platform where locals can gift unwanted items to each other or put a call out for things they need.

"I just love the ethos - obviously keeping things from going to landfill, but also just the community aspect of it," Ms Waterhouse said.

The group is part of the global 'Buy Nothing' movement, which offers an antidote to both global waste and loneliness.

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The project, which already has 7000 groups around the world, aims to build a 'gift economy', bringing communities together to gift items they don't need and make connections with their neighbours in the process.

Before moving to Wollongong last year, Ms Waterhouse was part of a thriving Buy Nothing group in New York.

Her Brooklyn community would offer up everything from clothing and furniture to dirty fish tank water, she said.

"One of the members would claim their fish tank periodically and offer the dirty fish water," she said.

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"First of all, I thought, 'What? What is this about?', but it turned out to be a really great fertiliser for plants!

"She would put a massive bucket of it outside her apartment, and people would just come by with their own containers and scoop it up and take it home for their plants."

She even saw someone ask for dryer lint to make a bed for a hamster.

"I loved being part of it, and when I moved here I found similar things, but nothing quite the same," she said.

Ms Waterhouse launched the Wollongong Facebook group only last week, and has had more than 400 locals join the online community.

She's already gifted a few things through the page, including a weighted blanket, which found its way to someone who needed it more than she did.

"The person that ended up receiving that was getting it for their seven-year-old who has anxiety issues," she said.

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The group operates in an endless series of 'gifts', 'asks', and 'gratitudes'.

Members can put up a 'gift', post an 'ask', or express a 'gratitude' for something they've received from another member.

It's not first come first serve, either. The gift usually goes to the person who needs it the most.

As the page grows, Ms Waterhouse hopes people will use the platform to connect with their community and find as much joy in the process as she does.

"If you really pay attention, you start to get to know who had a baby, or who really loves plants, or who just moved to the area, or who had their garage flooded," she said.

"It's really hyper-personal."

For those interested, take a walk through your house, Ms Waterhouse says, and you're sure to find something to gift in the first room you check!