The ‘swap shops’ at many Maine dumps and transfer stations offer a constant source of recycled ‘treasures’ and some high-quality socializing in the process.

When David Berry bought the old chicken barn on Bowdoinham’s Post Road a few decades ago, he had no idea that one day he’d be looking back on a long-standing career as the exalted manager of the institution known as the Bowdoinham Recycling Barn, considered to be the social hub of this small town on Merrymeeting Bay.

“If you want to know what’s going on, go to the recycling barn” is pretty much everyone’s mantra in this neck of the woods. This is the place for not only dealing with recycling, but with meeting up, catching up, checking out the bulletin board, getting advice on everything from raising kids to raising dahlias, and if you’re really lucky, coming away with anything from a mahogany dining table to a stack of mint-condition vinyl records.

This mammoth building, also known as “The Barn of Opportunity,” is where Kate Cutko, the town’s librarian and a notable crafter, finds an amazing array of . . . stuff. Similar to the fairy tale where straw is spun into gold, Cutko takes her penchant for upcycling to the limit, courtesy of the recycling barn’s Gift Shop. She even has been known to blog about it.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Cutko, whose favorite Gift Shop find of all time is a Foley food mill, said about the stash that fills her home workshop, waiting to be reborn. “I try to bring in as much as I leave with, but everything is a potential craft supply. I have a hard time walking away.”

Every tidbit has the promise of becoming part of her kingdom, from world globes and blender pitchers that she intends to wire and make into lamps, to masses of minute plastic toys she hot-glues onto Styrofoam circles. “Every parent knows these (plastic toys) reproduce in the bottom of the toy box in the dark,” she said affectionately as she showed off her whimsical wreaths.

Taking her upcycling up a notch, Cutko, whose inspiration is often jump-started by Pinterest, is making a “toothbrush rug” from a man’s shirt. She made the “needle” from the handle of an old toothbrush.

Cutko could very well have a recycling competition going with another Bowdoinham townie, Sarah Stapler. The DIY spirit is alive and well throughout this artist’s home and perennial business. Her adorable garden shed is made mostly from materials she hauled home from the recycling barn and a demolition site next door.

The recycling barn has also provided her with such prizes as wrought-iron outdoor furniture, garden tools, a chaise lounge, two wingback chairs (and the fabric to reupholster them), a microwave, Macintosh computer monitor and a KitchenAid mixer that needed only a small repair. “I’ve gotten all my lamps, half my furniture and hundreds of flower pots there. The list goes on. Everyone in this town has stories and treasures from the recycling barn.”

And so it goes — not just in this town, but in many small towns in Maine. Whether it’s called the recycling barn or the transfer station or just “the dump,” many towns in Maine provide an area near their waste facility or drop-off where people can leave things they think may have more life in someone else’s hands.

And often, those places not only provide items both practical and artistic for browsers, but offer a town gathering spot to socialize and catch up on the area’s news.

Like Stapler and Cutko, Waterford resident Vince Meisner is one of those people who drives to the transfer station in his town every week, if not more often. “I love coming here. There’s always something I can fix, but there’s also lots of stuff that works perfectly fine as is!”

About 175 to 225 people drop off their recycling weekly, then chat it up while searching for hidden treasures amid their neighbors’ cast-offs. Some regulars even show up two to three times a day to see what freebies they can unearth. Often, perfectly good furniture, electronics, kitchenware, clothes and books are up for grabs.

Meisner is just one of the transfer station’s patrons who can attest to the array of various and sundry items one might find. He uses each of his articles consistently, proudly proclaiming that he found them all at “the dump.” His discoveries include assorted door knobs, a valve positioner used to fortify his home’s heating system, a coffee grinder, a cabinet vent fan, a food processor and even pretty china plates. It’s akin to shopping at Walmart or Marden’s, but you don’t have to take out your wallet.

Farmington’s transfer station and recycling facility on the aptly named Dump Road is another spot where you might discover the perfect thing. The swap shop has been dubbed Trash and Treasures. As with other recycling facility caches, there’s a plethora of items here that still have life left in them.

Eric and Donna Hinkley are one couple who faithfully check out Trash and Treasures, poking though dishes and small appliances. The memory of nabbing a working VCR player is still fresh enough to mention, but the biggest draw for them are the shelves of books.

And like many people, the Hinkleys don’t just shop at the facility, they sometimes add to the coffers. On a recent visit, they brought in a couple colorful chairs that were no longer wanted, but too good to just throw out. “It’s a great exchange of items here,” Eric said.

In Wilton, the Share Shack at the town’s Transfer and Recycling Station on Munson Road is the busiest part of the transfer station. Hollis Tyler, Wilton’s transfer station manager, first conceived of the Shack when users couldn’t help from climbing into trash bins to retrieve goodies other people had thrown away.

He wanted to corral all the potentially reusable items into one place. Resident Rachel Jackson Hodsdon worked with the town’s recycling committee to get a grant from the Maine Community Foundation for the materials needed for Tyler himself to build the 10-by-20-foot building.

“A lot of people come in and leave items or take them. This is also about taking usable items — such as wood or metal furniture, housewares, unused building supplies and kids’ toys, games and puzzles — out of the waste stream,” Tyler said.

Like similar facilities, the Share Shack is cleaned out once a week so it doesn’t become unmanageable. Some towns even post a list of both acceptable and unacceptable donations on their websites.

Buckfield also received a grant to create a building for reusable cast-offs at its transfer station, according to resident Linda Glass. Since 2009, she and her husband, Bill, have been lending a helping hand and taking charge of organizing volunteers at the town transfer station’s Swap Shop, started by resident Mary Standard two years prior to their involvement.

“When the Swap Shop started, it was just two trailers with the back doors open to the public,” Linda said. “It’s grown a lot over the last seven years that I’ve been involved.”

Bill Glass added, “Now we have a building that provides space for us to sort the stuff that people drop off. . . . We have a large selection of books, dishware, puzzles and games. We get a lot of clothes that come in with original tags and board games in their original wrapping.”

Bill suspects this growth can be attributed to word of mouth, and figures about 200 people come through on a Saturday.

“Every year, we get more and more, because people know they can come in and take whatever (they) want,” he said. “We have a donation box, with ‘a penny a pound’ suggestion, but really, you don’t have to put anything in.”

As in many towns, the Swap Shop at the Buckfield/Sumner Transfer Station also provides a fun place to socialize and catch up on gossip, while giving residents another way to stretch their home budget.

Just as importantly, such swap shops save taxpayers money. For example, Buckfield realizes a savings of $3,400 a year in cost avoidance by not having to pay to landfill an estimated 40 to 45 tons of material a year.

“Both Buckfield and Sumner pay proportionally to the operation of the transfer station,” Bill Glass explained. “If we didn’t have the Swap Shop, the towns would have to come up with a portion of that money.”

Karen Schneider is the editor of Northern Journeys, a quarterly publication that supports the arts. She is also an editor and writer who has contributed to the Sun Journal for 20 years. She can be contacted at iwrite33@comcast.net.