The expression “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure” was never more evident to me than this past weekend in my hometown of Plymouth, MI. Once a year, city residents are granted, in essence, a trash freedom day. On our regular trash collection day in mid-May, most rules for curbside trash are lifted and we can put out nearly anything for pickup. Normally, we have a weekly pickup where we can put out any recyclables for free, and pay $1 per thirty-gallon container of trash. Large items and building materials can’t be left for curbside pickup, except on this trash freedom day—otherwise you have to pay extra for a special pickup.

As you can imagine, with those kinds of restraints, spring cleanup takes on a whole new character. In our constant quest to organize our household, my husband and I have spent months building our too-big-to-throw-away pile behind our garage, anticipating our 15 May collection date. So by this past Saturday, we were anxious to start putting our junk in front of the house.

I was out of town for last year’s trash freedom day, so I didn’t experience this Plymouth cultural phenomenon firsthand. Was I in for a treat! We carted several furniture items to the curb late Saturday afternoon. On a return trip with another load of stuff, we noticed that a lady had jumped out of a van stopped in front of the house; she grabbed two end tables we had put out for the public free-for-all. On the next return trip, with some excess building materials, we were shocked to discover that the three old dressers from the previous trips had already vanished without a trace of the vehicle that took them away. That’s also about the time we noticed that cars and vans were slowing down in front of our house to check out our offerings. We hadn’t noticed this before because we were actually the trendsetters in the neighborhood—no one else on our block had yet put out their formerly prized possessions.

We continued to put out our stuff, and people continued to stop by and pick through the piles and cart away their new finds. It became quite comical to watch. At one point, my husband had brought out a box of stuff that contained the bases to two lamps. A man stopped in front of the house and, among other things, took the two lamp bases. About five minutes later, my husband returned with another box that contained the rest of the lamps. Too bad the man didn’t wait five more minutes! But alas, someone else found a use for the lamp tops, because they disappeared shortly afterward.

This is normally a pretty quiet little city, and our street may normally see only one or two cars an hour. By Sunday, the caravans of vehicles parading up and down the Plymouth streets had become a bit overwhelming. We live close to family members whom we were visiting with on Mother’s Day. But in order to drive the short distance to our destination, we had to dodge cars with rug remnants tied on top, SUVs, and vans towing trailers laden with other people’s discards. We even had to pass two vehicles on a side street that were only going three miles an hour, scoping out the curbside treasures! One man commented that this was the “ultimate in recycling.”

I’m told that some of the treasure hunters sell their finds at yard sales or flea markets. People do get tired of possessions and discard them even if they’re in good shape. We’ve all heard stories of valuable antique collectibles that were purchased for a song at yard sales. Maybe some of them were on the streets of Plymouth this past weekend. Maybe some of the items we put out will help furnish the homes of people who couldn’t otherwise afford these items. From my perspective, the trash freedom day serves two useful objectives. First, spring cleanups at Plymouth homes are encouraged and assisted by allowing nearly all throwaway items to be placed curbside. Second, the landfills don’t become overly clogged with large items because others who may be able to better utilize the items are allowed to carry them away for free.

I had a cultural awakening this past weekend. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CGRS, is the managing editor of Genealogical Computing, editor of the Board for Certification of Genealogists’ newsletter OnBoard, the creator of Clooz—the electronic filing cabinet for genealogical records, and a frequent contributor to Ancestry Magazine. She can be reached via e-mail at liz@ancestordetective.com.