A witness to the mid-August time of lease termination may conclude Madisonians are wasteful, throwing furniture and other goods on curbs, but year-round, residents find ways to keep these goods out of landfills and put them to good use.
Margaret Rentmeesters, 82, has been volunteering her time to this cause for years. Her knack for resourcefulness began in the 1970s with her plans to crochet plastic bags into beds that were used to serve the homeless community of Madison.
“The idea is taking a plastic bag and all you have to do is give a lady a crochet hook and scissors,” Rentmeesters said. “And maybe a cup of tea.”
As a member of the St. Vincent de Paul society, Rentmeesters spends much of her time collecting clothing, furniture and food items to donate to St. Vincent’s store and food pantry.
St. Vincent de Paul, as well as other organizations such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, take donations from Madison and resell them to raise funds for their charities.
Rentmeesters began her volunteering one year when she lived on North Caroll Street and saw all the items residents discarded while moving in and out in the area. She parked a trailer in the Holy Redeemer parking lot, and went down five blocks from the church, asking neighbors to donate items they no longer needed.
“Kids are not that irresponsible,” Rentmeesters said. “They look at it and think, ‘Hey somebody can use this.’ We filled multiple trucks, floor to ceiling.”
During the week of “Hippie Christmas,” St. Vincent de Paul and Goodwill work with University of Wisconsin organizations to collect items students want to donate.
George Dreckmann, Madison’s recycling coordinator, said the ‘Donate and Take’ sites, put on by UW’s We Conserve and Office of Sustainability in coordination with charities, allow for an exchange of goods that prevents problematic dumpster diving.
Still, the “hippies” of Hippie Christmas who are determined to dig through dumpsters will find the occasional treasure. Luke Van den Langenberg, recycling coordinator for We Conserve, said he found a Macbook he was able to use after replacing the hard drive. We Conserve recycling intern Martin Brubaker said he found an Xbox 360 someone had tossed.
“We reduce our food bills, furniture, we get electronics, stuff we can sell,” Brubaker said. “Things that are just slightly broken get thrown away, and they can be repaired and reused.”
Dreckmann said items on curbs that are not donated or repurposed will end up in landfills when the city takes them. However, the city recycles large metal items, a conflict that comes with scrap metal hunters.
“The price of steel is $200 a ton, so it is profitable for people to come by and take it,” Dreckmann said. “It ends up costing the city over $100,000 a year in revenue.”
He said there are also problems when people take items such as refrigerators or air conditioners off curbs to take out the metals.
These items contain CFC refrigerants that cause damage to the environment if they are not removed properly, Dreckmann said.
“This is a problem not just during move out time,” Dreckmann said. “It’s a year round issue.”
