Englishman's junk is another's treasure.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

Eugene recycling guru Terry McDonald went to England in November to lecture on mattress reclamation and came back with a bunch of English junk.

The stuff was destined for the dump. The secondhand furniture doyens of Doncaster - a town in central England about the size of Eugene and Springfield combined - couldn't give it away for love or money.

A jaw-dropper, as far as McDonald was concerned. The executive director of St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County - known for its recycling efforts and secondhand stores - knows garbage when he sees it, and in the warehouses of Doncaster Re-Furnish, he saw near antiques, well-worn but still serviceable and attractive.

Art deco armoires, oak sideboards, gate-leg tables, linen storage chests, secretaries - many still had functioning skeleton keys nestled in keyholes.

"He walked through our facility and said, 'This is really nice furniture.' We said: 'This is the junk,' ' said Andy Simpson, a staff member at Doncaster Re-Furnish visiting Eugene this week to pick up some recycling ideas. His nonprofit agency collects furniture from people who no longer want it and distributes it to low-income families who need it, charging a token amount of 5 to 10 pounds, or about $8 to $17.

Many of the pieces - especially the armoires and sideboards - don't fit in the small homes and apartments of low-income families in Doncaster, he said. And people there prefer contemporary styles such as that sold by international Scandinavian-influenced Ikea stores, he said.

McDonald has figured out how to keep really nasty things such as old mattresses and sheet glass out of the landfill, so handsome English furniture seemed like a gimme. He figured he could sell it in Eugene for more than the cost of shipping it and agreed to split the proceeds with the English agency.

"It clearly serves a multiple agenda," McDonald said. "The genesis was simple waste stream diversion, but it's become much deeper, when two nonprofits solve problems in both countries, relying on each other's strengths."

Doncaster Re-furnish avoids dump runs with the furniture it can't move and gets connected with veterans at waste-stream diversion, McDonald said.

"We, on the other hand, have a hunger for the type of product they're throwing away. It allows for an almost perfect symbiosis for the common good," he said.

The first container load of furniture - about 60 pieces sent via ship, train and truck - arrived Tuesday night at St. Vincent de Paul's Seneca store. By Wednesday morning, crews had unloaded it and a couple of antique-loving volunteers were pricing the individual pieces with instructions to keep the range above wholesale but below retail.

Shipping cost St. Vincent $4,500. The agency avoided duty fees because the furniture, which couldn't be given away in England, has no value.

As they went over the chairs, cabinets and bureaus, Kim Williams and Tami Pierson oohed and ahhed at the delicate carved designs on some pieces and the finish on others.

While most of the furniture is too new to be considered antique, much of it qualifies as near-antique or vintage, Williams said.

She and Pierson got excited about two of the newer cabinets, one from the '50s that contained a working short-, medium-, and long-wave radio and turntable; the other a sleek little combo piece with a '60s-era secretary on one side and a bar on the other.

"This is the first piece that's really unique," Williams said of the radio, "and the 1950s era is so popular right now. It's very desirable in today's market."

The secretary/bar combination also caught her eye. "Because of the retro trend, it's worth more," she said.

The Doncaster crew also sent brand new items, loose-weave wool rugs and standing paper-shade lamps, both rescued from Ikea, because they couldn't be sold and were destined for the landfill. The lamps must be rewired for U.S. electrical outlets before being sold, but most of the furniture was out on the sales floor Wednesday, with prices ranging from $25 to $900.

The Doncaster crew was headed home armed with fresh recycling ideas, Simpson said.

While he doubts his agency has the space, money or expertise to build a full-fledged mattress recycling facility, it may be able to rescue the 15,000 or so cheap foam mattresses that Doncaster's four prisons dispose of each year. Rather than going to the landfill, the foam can be reclaimed and sold to foam buyers, he said.

Meanwhile, there's plenty more old furniture that needs a home, and if the current load proves popular with Eugene buyers, more will be sent.

He's issued strict instructions to his employees that customers get first crack at the goods, but McDonald couldn't help but eye the art deco cabinet and radio. "I grew up listening to the other side of the world. It reminds me of my ill-spent youth," he said.

VINTAGE STUFF

Where: St. Vincent de Paul store at 705 S. Seneca, Eugene

Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

CAPTION(S):

Anne Williams of St. Vincent de Paul squeezes between some of the vintage pieces of furniture recently delivered to the agency from Doncaster, England. No one in Doncaster wanted the bulky, outdated items, but the agency is betting on a market in Eugene to offset shipping costs. "It allows for an almost perfect symbiosis for the common good." TERRY MCDONALD ST. VINCENT DE PAUL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR