The communal Madaket Mall cleans up its act
COVER STORY
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
The always popular Take It or Leave It at the landfill has come a long way since it began about 15 years ago as an open, bare ground lot behind the DPW garage where people dropped bags of clothes, books, records and toys, ironing boards, mattresses, furniture, bikes, cooking pans and just about anything else you can think of.

MICHAEL GALVIN/The Independent One person's treasure dept. The take it or leave it shed continues to be a source of surprising finds. You never know what fortunes will be left behind at the "Madaket Mall."

All that stuff, in good or bad condition, was left within a split rail fence for the pickings and subject to whatever weather came along, at times making for

messy forages. Still, it was a social meeting spot and colorful place where some residents arrived early, especially on weekends, and grabbed a discarded chair to sit in while waiting for arrivals with more discards they might consider treasures to cart home,

clean up and make their own. It became affectionately known as the Madaket Mall.

From the start, the idea behind the Take It or Leave It was to offer still usable items to people before they became landfilled trash, the underlying principle of today's more modern operation that seeks to prevent unnecessary waste and costs. After the recycling facility opened in 1997, the town built a shack next to it to house the Take It or Leave It. While that was an improvement over the previous open air trading post, it was still a bit uncontrolled, with people dropping off hazardous waste materials and other banned items like computers and televisions that have high lead content. Inventory inside the building was often cast about, despite tables meant for specifics such as clothing and dry goods.

Part of the problem was that, though it made efforts to monitor the TILI, landfill operator Waste Options was not set up with enough employees to both watch over the recycling facility and keep up with what was going on at "the Mall." Residents began complaining about loitering and people rushing vehicles when items were being dropped off, trying to claim whatever it was before it made it inside the building. A classic example of a good idea run amok came from a tradesman who pulled up to see what was in the shack one day and returned outside just in time to see someone about to take his tools from the back of his truck.

Last July 1, the town resumed oversight of the TILI, hiring part-time employees to monitor behavior, building a shed to protect them from bad weather while on duty, and installing a mesh fence to contain debris on windy days. Bedding and stuffed furniture are banned for health reasons and no one is allowed to

hang out for indefinite periods of time. I