Every year hundreds of tons of material is sent to the landfill that could easily be reused.
Below are some of the options available to you to prevent usable material from the landfill.
Resale stores & donation opportunities
Call these organizations or check their websites before loading your vehicles. Not all of them accept every item you have to donate.
Many offer free pick up, too.
- Agrace Thrift Store:
- Madison East: 608-327-7200
- Madison West: 608-833-4556
- Boomerangs:
- 608-268-079
- Dane County Humane Society Thrift Store
- 608-827-8997
- Goodwill Industries:
- Madison East: 608-246-1990
- Madison West: 608-271-0048
- Habitat For Humanity Restore
- Madison East: 608-661-2813
- Madison West: 608-442-9919
- Schedule a home collection: 608-663-1191
- Porchlight:
- 608-257-2534, extension 20
- Open Doors for Refugees
- Contact required before donation to confirm the items are needed.
- The River Food Pantry:
- 608-442-8815
- The Road Home
- Must follow contact rules below to organize pickup:
- Email to Reynolds Transfer with your name, address, description of items, and photos of items.
- Must follow contact rules below to organize pickup:
- St. Vincent DePaul ,
- Madison East: 608-257-0673
- Madison West: 608-278-6370
- Schedule a home collection: 608-278-2920, extension 1
- St. Vincent has many locations just outside of Madison as well like in Sun Prairie, Stoughton, Waunakee, and Verona.
- WayForward Resources:
- 608-836-733
Other Donation / Resale Options
There are other specialty consignment and resale shops, from used bookstores to video games to vintage toys & electronics to higher fashion clothes to eclectic treasure and antique shops.
Places like the Ronald McDonald House or Gilda's Club accepts new items.
Certain tools may be donated to The Bodgery.
Buttons, zippers, and yarn may be donated to the Textile Arts Center of Madison or sewing supplies can go to The Sewing Machine Project.
And on and on...
Our community has so many opportunities - you just need to do a little bit of typing.
Simple internet searching search for "resale shops" or "thrift stores" or "donate" plus the item you would like to give away (for example, "donate toys") should reveal additional local resources.
The Local Share Economy
Social media channels like Facebook and Nextdoor are a great tool to share usable goods in the neighborhood. A simple post specifically to your neighborhood group that says what you have to give away will usually result in interest quickly.
And there are many local groups that help connect people to free items.
On social media sites, searching for "Buy Nothing Madison" or "Zero Waste Madison" should return local options. There's also Freecycle, Trash Nothing, and probably others.
Online Exchanges
There are a great many ways online to perform person-to-person exchanges.
Options include Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and eBay and relatively newer private companies like LetGo, DeCluttr, 5Miles, and likely many more.
Remember to be safe when making the payment and when exchanging the goods.
Garage Sales
It's a time-honored tradition of selling the items you no longer need yet still have use & value. Call it a yard sale, garage sale, rummage sale or whatever you'd like to call it is a good way to transform what you would trash into cash.
Donate Building Material, Too
Unneeded or used building materials can find a new home through two reuse facilities in Madison. If you have material that might be useful you can donate it to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, (608) 661-2813.