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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

I think this situation also demonstrates how it isn't so simple as just getting it to people who might need / use this stuff.

I did a big remodel recently, I had a bunch of perfectly good hardware, an entire kitchen of appliances, cabinets, etc, and such items.

People told me all about "oh someone might use that", and I'd ask if they would use it, everyone said "no, not me". The local re-use non profits all had big lists of things they don't want, because nobody actually wants them.

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You might be interested in Renovation Angel [0] and the Habitat ReStore’s [1] efforts in this space. It certainly takes a nonprofit equipped to handle this kind of donation, but they’re around in some places.

[0] https://renovationangel.com/ [1] https://www.habitat.org/restores/find-donate-building-materi...

Habitat ReStore turned me away multiple times with brand new light fixtures and other new materials after a remodel. Both times they were at capacity. At some point my need to be rid of the excess thing exceeds my desire to do the right thing and warehouse it until they decide they’re ready for it. Into the landfill they went.

My wife has found a local “Buy Nothing” Facebook group that she posts all sorts of stuff like that on. Most of the time someone is happy to jump in and take things like that off our hands.

Buy Nothing is excellent. In Seattle I can always find a new home for even the most random of things.

List on Facebook Marketplace for free, usually spoken for within the hour (in my experience with surplus or unneeded building materials, fixtures, etc).

Habitat ReStore is awesome.

Hehe that's what Craigslist is for. I've taken stuff like old formica counters and sinks for reuse. I've also sold things like old toilets. If there are people buying old used toilets, there are people who will take anything that is functional.

Ironically I've been trying to sell a few brand new items that I don't need, like a keyboard and mouse, but nobody wants those.

This is a human organization problem that could be mostly solved by technical means. For example, a way to notify big nonprofits that give things to the homeless and ask them to come to a specific location at a certain time to get whatever they want.

I think the re-use people were likely honest when they said nobody wanted that stuff. I don't think there's a magic technical solution.

I suspect too that the needy and poor are really the last people with the room and time to stash away a bunch of things they're not using but maybe one day someone will show up and install them... and hopefully they still work.

I don't know. It's probably a problem of effort -- if you need a sink, do you buy a new one, or spend tons of time perusing various used-stuff markets looking for something suitable? There may be an opening there for technology to solve it.

Sinks generally don't just break. If you're buying a new sink, it's likely to replace a perfectly good used one. So having an ability to easily find even more used sinks wouldn't really change much. Never mind if you're going to spend the effort/money on the work of swapping a sink, you might as well pay a little more for a new sink.

ReStore has their niches, but overall there's a large feel good hopecycling dynamic as well. So many used furniture sets just sitting around indefinitely.

Exceptions of used things people seek out basically prove the rule - things that you can't get any more (solidly built, repairable appliances, wide lumber, etc), or vintage styles coming back around into fashion.

I think we just identified the problem: people who are homeless would really benefit from being able to make food, but they can't plug in a stove no matter the cost.

I listed my old kitchen stuff on Facebook. People paid something for the microwave, an old gas hob, an extractor hood, and a few other bits.

Then most of the cabinets were taken away for free by a guy who was setting up his garage to brew beer, and some builders who were putting together a staff kitchen for a (presumably pretty penny-pinching) local business owner.

> I did a big remodel recently, I had a bunch of perfectly good hardware, an entire kitchen of appliances, cabinets, etc, and such items.

Put them outside by the curb. If it's usable, it'll get picked up. Certainly working (and non-working) appliances would.

Fortunately / unfortunately I'm in a isolated little development, if my neighbors don't want it that's kinda the end of the story as they're also the only folks who will see it on the curb ;)

Facebook marketplace. For all the shit this site throws at Facebook, marketplace is an amazing place to recycle items for actual human use.

even craigslist free still sees tremendous traffic

Put it out by the curb with a $10 sign on it. Someone will steal it within the hour. Easiest way to get rid of stuff. Worst case scenario someone gives you 10 bucks for it. No one wants free stuff but if it has any value associated people will want it.

Local reuse non profit sounds like a rich yuppie thing. Us poors use Facebook marketplace to get our used appliances.

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