CADE Abrahams stood at his kitchen window high up in the centre of Southampton.

It was a beautiful day and as he looked out at all the homes stretched out beneath him, he knew: 'someone out there has a screwdriver, and I want to borrow it'.

It was in this moment, around a year ago, that the idea for Neighbr, an app which allows people to borrow items from their neighbours, was created.

Cade hopes that as well as having a positive effect on the environment by allowing people to borrow things they need rather than buying more new items, with the carbon footprint and waste that this creates, the app will also help to bring neighbours in touch with each other, helping to form better communities.

"I was in university halls at the time and I needed a screwdriver," says the 19-year-old who now lives in Portswood, Southampton.

"I went from door to door of my neighbours in my halls to see if anyone had one, but no one did. I was living in Mayflower Halls in the centre of the city and found myself in the kitchen, which was at the top of the building, looking out of the window across Southampton. It was a beautiful day and I remember thinking 'someone must have a screwdriver that I can borrow!'"

Cade launched his app, Neighbr, two months ago. Since then more than 150 people have signed up, and around 200 items have been loaned.

The app is designed to be hyper-local, with items being loaned within 15-minutes walking distance.

Those who sign up can opt either to have all requests for items sent to them, and then choose which they respond to, or can filter so they only receive requests for the sorts of things that they have.

Those lending an item can either lend it for free or for a small fee, which Neighbr then takes a small percentage of. Lenders and borrowers can arrange to meet or can request for the item to be delivered for free by Cade, who does so on his bicycle.

He admits that there have been some issues in encouraging people to sign up, the chief of which is concern about items being damaged or stolen. He has set up a resolution centre and encourages people to include personal information and a photo oh their profiles, so that people have a sense of borrowing from and loaning to real people, and hopefully act appropriately.

So far there haven't been any issues and Cade says that some great connections have been made, particularly between students and locals, with items being loaned in both directions.

"Lots of people have stuff sitting around that they don't use, which is illogical," says Cade.

"This helps to reduce consumption, which is a really important aspect of the model.

"There are also so many benefits to getting people interacting with their neighbours – fostering communication is really important."

Cade says that with concern about global warming growing, which has been put centre stage recently by the ongoing protests by environmental group Extinction Rebellion, this is one way that people can do something to help reduce their own carbon footprint and waste.

"This is one way that people can help to reduce their personal impact," he says.

"I saw a problem and a simple solution and it took me a year to figure out how to solve it.

"This is a great first step that people can take."

For more information, visit: https://www.neighbr.co