#FreebieFriday – A Grassroots Approach to Sustainability in Cultural Heritage

The Lorraine Finch Conservation Partnership (LFCP) is accelerating the cultural heritage sector’s climate and environmental actions through research, knowledge sharing and resource creation. LFCP champions sustainability and is committed to making sustainability accessible and inclusive, and to ensuring that the cultural heritage sector has the tools and skills to take action to make the world a better place.

Project Overview: #FreebieFriday

#FreebieFriday is an online sustainability initiative by LFCP aimed at reducing waste, increasing reuse, saving money, supporting fellow professionals and sparking conversations about sustainability. Every Friday, materials and equipment from its studio are offered for free, encouraging a shift from take, make, waste to reduce, reuse, repurpose and rethink.

The project shows how simple actions can make a difference. Its core message is that sustainability is easy, and everyone can be part of it. By leading with action, #FreebieFriday signals that small changes matter, inspiring others to follow suit. It’s not about stuff—it’s about showing what’s possible when we care and share.

Project Funding

#FreebieFriday is managed through LFCP’s Instagram and Bluesky, meaning that no funding was required. It demonstrates how low cost (or no cost) sustainability projects can be. 

Stakeholders and Beneficiaries

#FreebieFriday benefits everyone focusing on those working in cultural heritage and those starting out, by giving access to resources they might not otherwise be able to afford. It also helps us discover the value of reuse, reducing demand for new products and cutting down on waste.

#FreebieFriday promotes the circular economy within heritage, helping with the much needed culture shift toward sustainability. It’s a practical, inclusive way to show that caring for the planet can be simple, rewarding, and something everyone can be part of. It supports professionals who care for and preserve the past by helping them model a more sustainable future in their everyday work.

Challenges

#FreebieFriday has encountered very few challenges or barriers. This demonstrates how easy sustainability projects often are. The biggest challenge is managing the disappointment caused by unsuccessful requests for the materials and equipment offered. Everything offered is requested very quickly… usually within minutes!

Opportunities

#FreebieFriday opens up a range of opportunities that go beyond simply giving things away. It turns everyday sustainability into something exciting and visible. For example, reusing packaging from previous deliveries shows how easy it is to reduce waste—no need for new materials when the old ones are fine. And, a simple line written on the reused packaging explaining ‘100% reused packaging’ increases the visibility of sustainability action further.

Sharing items creatively, creates a buzz around reuse and sparks interest in repurposing equipment and materials that would otherwise go unused.

The project also serves as a powerful networking tool, connecting people across the archive, conservation, museum and library communities. These interactions lead to new collaborations, ideas, and stronger support for sustainable practices. Each #FreebieFriday becomes a talking point, helping spread awareness and normalise sustainability actions in professional and public spaces.

More importantly, it signals that change is possible, and that it is happening. When we see others taking part, it nudges us to rethink our own habits. Peer influence is key to driving the cultural shift needed for long-term, transformational environmental change. #FreebieFriday is about more than stuff—it’s about showing, week after week, that sustainability is doable, worthwhile, and even fun. It helps move sustainability from theory to practice, one freebie at a time.

Above: some of the #FreebieFriday items

Outcomes

So far, the materials shared on #FreebieFriday include:

• PEL Leather Dressing

• Shoe knives

• Whatman filter paper

• pH strips

• PEL Rubgum eraser

• Plastic erasers

• Foam erasers

• Draft cleaning powder

• Akapad classic sponge

• CxD 100% cotton museum mountboard

• Sheets of Kozo Shi

• PEL tissue

• Bondina

• Sympatex

#FreebieFriday highlights that small, consistent actions have significant environmental and social impacts including:

• Waste Prevention: By redistributing usable items instead of discarding them, #FreebieFriday has diverted a substantial volume of materials from landfill and energy recovery.

• Emissions Prevention: Avoiding the manufacture and transport of new products helps cut associated greenhouse gas emissions. Every reused item represents energy and fuel that didn’t need to be used in production and logistics.

• Water Saving: Manufacturing processes consume vast amounts of water. Reuse significantly reduces this hidden water footprint.

• Reduced Resource Extraction: By reusing materials and equipment, the project lowers demand for raw materials, which are often mined or harvested in environmentally damaging ways.

• Social and Environmental Impacts: Reducing consumption means less pollution, less exploitation of workers in supply chains, and fewer toxic by-products from production processes.

• Money Saving: Recipients have benefited financially, saving money by avoiding buying materials; with emerging professionals and fledgling businesses supported at the start of their journey.

Future Plans

#FreebieFriday will continue to run while LFCP has materials and equipment to share. And there are more. Coming soon are sheets of Silversafe, pHoton paper, Bondina, single wall archival corrugated board and much more. Check out @thecaringconservator and @lfcp.bsky.social every Friday.

Continuing our endeavours to accelerate climate and environmental action in cultural heritage, LFCP will be publishing practical tips for sustainability action, creating and delivering sustainability training for senior managers, launching a Sustainability Assessment Framework, producing a Sustainability Plan template and providing Carbon Literacy training… to name just a few of our sustainability activities this year!

Find Out More

Follow #FreebieFriday here:
Instagram: @thecaringconservator
Bluesky: @lfcp.bsky.social

Contact:
Lorraine Finch
Director, LFCP
📧 lorraine@lfcp.co.uk