Keep Your Old Items Out of Landfills

From the San Angelo Standard-Times.

"We all know what they say about one man's trash. Dumpster diving, after all, exists only because sometimes people throw away good stuff. And no, not everyone has done it, or even considered doing it, but there is definitely a thrill involved in getting something for free.

Fortunately, there are ways to get that high, plus the added bonus of good-deed points for stewarding resources, without going deep in the Dumpster.

I write this rodeo week in honor of wide open spaces and keeping usable items out of Texas landfills.

Beyond making donations to secondhand stores and resale shops, there are several good options in San Angelo for connecting our unwanted items with people who might have a use for them.

For one, there is the "Trash to Treasure" drop-off point at the recycling center. Here you can leave useful items that might catch the eye of another recycler who can then, for a donation, take them home and give them new life.

As a general guideline, Trash to Treasure items should be those that can withstand exposure to the weather and eventually be broken down into recyclable materials, so that nothing has to be thrown away. In other words, the fluffy sofa and bag of old clothes would be better off at thrift stores or charity sales. But bring your lawn furniture, glassware, garden tools etc. Be sure to check with an employee for the suggested donation price for various Trash to Treasure items before walking away with them.

Online sites such as Freecycle and Craigslist also are great options for passing along unwanted items.

Made up of nearly 5,000 local groups around the world, the Freecycle Network promotes reuse and keeping usable items out of landfills. San Angelo has one of these groups. Participation is easy, and the free membership gives you access to online posts made by community members who are giving away and requesting items. The catch is everything must be free.

I got some feedback from a few local Freecyclers for this column. Here are some of their comments on the wide range of Freecycle use:

From a recently retired man: "The thing I've found most useful is being able to find homes for items that I wouldn't or couldn't give to Goodwill. It's nice when you can fulfill someone's need while de-cluttering your house and keeping something out of the landfill. That's a win for everyone."

From a stay-at-home mom: "About a week before a friend's daughter was going skiing with the church I got a new ski bib (on Freecycle.) She was able to use it. Another time I received a like new futon mattress. I have been able to give old college books, kids clothes, a bed, sheets, etc. to people who can really use them."

From a woman who hates throwing anything away: "I was introduced to Freecycle by a friend when I needed an item and wasn't looking forward to the expense of buying it. I posted and was pleasantly surprised when I got the item right away, for free!"

Craigslist also is a worldwide site with a local San Angelo page for placing free classified ads. There is a heading devoted to listing items you're willing to give away for free in the "For Sale" section. Recently listed items include: Dishes, a golf stroller, kitchen chairs, a laptop computer and a CD collection, to name a few.

Giving our unwanted items a second chance (at someone else's house) is a good way to be proactive about stewarding our resources and respecting the fact that once our junk passes from our hands it doesn't magically disappear into the depths of the garbage truck, never to be seen by anyone again.

Local resources such as the ones mentioned here make connecting with the people who have a vision for your unwanted possessions and soliciting for people's throwaway items easy. Let's use what we have and do what we can to give our junk a second chance and keep it out of our landfills here in West Texas."

A town east of Corpus Christi yielded me a second income: trash-to-treasure. All I had to do was take the truck out on the day before Trash Day, drive up and down neighborhood streets, and load up from the piles of curbside finds. Some people would even come out and help me load up!

I'd get it all back to the house, then go to work sanding, painting or staining, replacing missing knobs and/or damaged legs, and get it all ready for a yard sale--those people LOVED yard sales with furniture in them.

I would refurbish, and Hubby would be haggler-in-chief. We made hundreds of dollars in an afternoon or two.

My biggest yard sale coup was taking a mismatched group of furniture (totally random pieces), and staining them all to match, with matching hardware, so they looked like a set. A lady came by looking for dorm room furniture for her daughter, and bought the entire "suite" that consisted of a bed (w/bedding), a dresser, a nightstand and lamp, and a small bookshelf for about $250. I only spent about $50 at most getting it display-ready. All the furniture was free and real (no particleboard)--all I had to buy was stain, some matching knobs (I didn't have enough myself), a cheap new twin mattress and pillows, and some thrift store bedding that all matched.