There just has to be a better way. In student-oriented Lawrence, rental leases most often run from Aug. 1 to July 31. That means that the last weekend of July has developed into a red letter weekend for trash – those who throw it out and those who haul it away. And then there are the middle men or women who wander the alleys and parking lots digging through Dumpsters and rescuing items that can be used or resold.

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, as the saying goes, but Lawrence’s annual festival of “Dumpster diving” is wasteful, unsightly and potentially dangerous. It’s even technically illegal, although local law enforcement chooses not to enforce the ordinance that prohibits digging stuff out of the trash.

It’s troubling to see so many people throwing away so many items that could be put to continued use, but it’s also a little unseemly for people to be combing the alleys and digging through trash like they were in a Third World country.

As we said, there must be a better way.

A project undertaken by Kansas University fraternities and sororities may offer an example to build on. For the last two years, the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association have staged a garage sale at the end of the school year. Items that sorority and fraternity members don’t want to take with them are sold, and the proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity.

The July moving weekend seems like a golden opportunity for one or more local social service agencies to stage a similar fundraiser. Volunteers could set up collection points or simply drive pickup trucks through areas where people are moving and offer to take any salvageable items off their hands. Those items could either be passed along to agency clients who could use them or sold at a summer garage sale that would benefit the agencies involved. Considering how much it could save by not having to haul so much trash to the landfill, perhaps the city even would be willing to help with pickups.

Such a system probably would involve a learning curve for the first year or so, but after apartment occupants get the hang of what is salvageable and what really is just trash, it could be a profitable event for the organizers.

Many of those doing the moving would be delighted to see their castoffs put to use, but in the hurry of trying to evacuate a rental property, they just don’t have the time or energy to sell or donate items.

That pattern of behavior isn’t likely to change, but with a little organization and effort, the community truly could turn all that “trash” into at least a little bit of treasure that could benefit local agencies and individuals.