There are many ways and places to find free unwanted items, or find a home for things you no longer want.

CRAIGSLIST.COM

The online classifieds site has a category for free items and a place where you can barter your goods and service for someone else's. Newspapers, including The Miami Herald, offer the opportunity to barter items through classified ads.

FOOD NOT BOMBS

This group was started in Massachusetts in 1980 by antinuclear activists. Individual groups recover food that would have otherwise been thrown out and make vegan and vegetarian meals to share in public places. Find a chapter at foodnotbombs.net

FREECYCLE

This grass-roots organization looks to keep items that are one person's trash out of landfills and get them to someone who wants them. Search for groups by city at freecycle.org. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

The EPA has a list of places that have markets for buying and selling reusable and recyclable commodities. Find one at www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/tools/exchange.htm.

Learn ways to reduce food waste here: www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-faq.htm

-- NIRVI SHAH