Dust off that unused television. Haul out the patio chairs no one sits on. And unearth the books you'll never read again.

Saturday is Curb Day.

The brainchild of a New York teacher, Curb Day is a chance for people across the country to put their still-useful castoffs on the curb for strangers to take home. The idea is simple: Some people clear out their clutter. Others get useful stuff free. And the nation's landfills take a breather.

"This is something that everyone can participate in and benefit from," said Mike Morone, who lives in suburban Rochester, N.Y., and is promoting the unofficial event on his own, mostly on the Internet. "I'm going to try to make it part of the country's culture to do something like this twice a year."

But because this is the first Curb Day, it remains to be seen how many people will participate - and whether they'll leave behind a well-meaning mess.

Evelyn Hughes, a moderator for Orlando, Fla., Freecycle, an 8,700-person group whose members exchange free items through an online community, said she hadn't heard of it yet but liked the concept.

"Actually, it's kind of a neat idea," said Hughes, whose group is part of the national Freecycle Network. But she worried that if word doesn't get around, many curbs will be left bare. She said that if people tell her they are participating, she'll share their street name with other members.

SCAVENGING GOES MAINSTREAM

Curb Day and Freecycle are part of a growing movement to keep goods in use and out of garbage dumps. As the economy has worsened and the green movement has blossomed, "scavenging" has become more mainstream, said Anneli Rufus, who co-wrote "The Scavengers' Manifesto."

But she cautioned that although Curb Day may sound good in theory, it could lead to problems if people don't follow the "scavenging code of ethics." People could cause litter problems by sloppily going through boxes of stuff, or they could put unusable things on their curbs and let them fester when no one takes them, she said.

In Orlando, Hughes said, her Freecycle group has grown by more than 3,000 members since she joined about a year ago. Members post furniture, clothing and other items for the low, low price of simply hauling it off their property.

Although some communities have regular days for disposing of bulky items, Morone said, he figured that a national event would just make good ecological and economic sense. He's promoting it with a Web site, curbday.com, and is hoping that word of mouth and some media attention do the job.

He opted not to contact individual cities and counties, fearing lots of red tape. For the most part, local governments in Central Florida were not aware of the event, though Sanford, Fla., is now promoting it on its Web site.

POTENTIAL EYESORE

Jim Becker, Orange County, Fla.'s solid-waste manager, said he had some concerns.
"Homeowners associations often have rules of what you can have out in front of your homes. It could run afoul of those types of things," he said. "If people are having a Saturday wedding or some kind of a special event, they don't want their street to look like people have just been evicted from their homes."

He also pointed out that people already keep a close eye on the county's curbs. "When you put material out on the curb, a lot of time it's gone before the garbage man even gets there."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Curbday.com

(c) 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.