Going to LOO keeps free stuff out of landfills

By Nancy Treder • July 5, 2023 1:30 am

Hundreds of volunteers worked long days to separate, sort and stage thousands of donated items for the 63rd annual Bainbridge Island Rotary Auction & Rummage Sale.

There are dozens of categories of items, but one area that volunteers love to peruse is the LOO, Lawn of Opportunities.

The LOO was started by longtime Rotary volunteer Liesl Clark and her friend Rebecca Rockefeller, who were shocked by how many usable items were going into the dumpster.

In an effort to reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill, Clark, Rockefeller and their children started harvesting the items and putting them into piles on the lawn near the dumpster. Clark said she was inspired by the people of Nepal who have little waste in their society, finding a purpose for everything.

“We started children’s libraries there, so we were collecting books that were being thrown away and any kind of children’s educational toys. We created waste streams around the dumpster,” Clark said.

Volunteers noticed and started adding to the piles. Eventually, the Rotary gave Clark and Rockefeller space for the free items, and the LOO became a permanent part of the rummage sale.

This year, Clark and Deb Rudnick, the Green Team leader, managed the LOO together. “It’s great to repurpose and not throw stuff in the landfill, right? For sustainability reasons, it saves us a lot of money because disposing of stuff with a crusher truck is very expensive,” Rudnick said.

There are many reasons things end up in the LOO. There may be too many artificial trees for the Christmas department, for example. “Right now, they’re getting really full, and then we start to get all their excess. And we get donations to things that maybe are not good enough to sell but could still have a useful life,” Rudnick said.

Rotary works with 40 nonprofit groups around Kitsap County that sign up for pre-sale collection, which means they can shop before or after the sale and get what hasn’t sold.

Volunteers can shop for anything they like in the LOO; it’s a daily treasure hunt because the merchandise turns over quickly. On one of the sorting tables, a collection of odd items included: a driver’s license, old hairspray, a pocket copy of the Constitution and vampire blood. Rudnick said they once found divorce papers in a box of donated items.

The majority of donations get sorted to 45 departments and sold, the rest goes to the LOO. All day long people push carts to the LOO, and volunteers pack up items designated for specific nonprofits. The Arc of the Peninsula, an agency that promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is a major recipient.

Many teachers and families come through to collect school supplies, books and things for their students. Bay Hay & Feed collects Christmas tree stands and gives them to their customers during their holiday tree sales.