A Web site in Honolulu that provides a give-and-take exchange of a wide variety of free stuff has more than tripled its number of members over the past several years and kept lots of things from going in the trash.

Freecycle Honolulu is part of nationwide freecycle.org, with the motto "changing the world one gift at a time!" The national organization describes the workings as: "A place to give or receive what you have and don't need or what you need and don't have — a free cycle of giving which keeps stuff out of landfills."

The rules are simple: items that are given away must be free and legal. But there's also a give-and-take etiquette.

So, if you just repainted your deck and bought too much red paint and want to give it away, you can send that "Offer" in. After it passes through a moderator, the offer appears on the Web site. When people accept, they post a "Taken" notice.

Yesterday, someone offered a bowling ball. Someone posted a "Wanted" note for a wheelchair. If the people who post get what they want, they respond with a "Received" post as a thank-you.

Freecycle Honolulu is run by moderator volunteer Madhu Lundquist. He said the Web site "harnesses the power of e-mail to connect people with things they want to throw away with others who would like to have those things."

Lundquist got the site started shortly after he moved to Hawai'i from Oregon. He's a Web developer who works for ALTRES. There are other groups on the Neighbor Islands and a new group in Central O'ahu.

Yesterday, Kane'ohe Yacht Club posted 92 stacking chairs on Freecycle Honolulu from their dining room. By afternoon, the club said all the chairs had been picked up. The post included this description: They have upholstered seats and backs. They are a little worn and have a little rust but they should support your weight.

Nationally, the whole project started in 2003 in Arizona, when Deron Beal wanted to recycle a bed but discovered that the local thrift shops wouldn't take beds due to health concerns. He started a network of friends online that continues to grow. As of September 2008, the Tucson, Ariz.-based Freecycle Network described itself as the "largest environmental Web community on the planet with over 5.7 million members in more than 85 countries."

In Honolulu, Lundquist said certain items show up more often: baby items, packing materials including boxes and bubble wrap, leftover paint.

This month drew one of the more unusual offers: a free 27-foot sailboat that needs work. The listing says: "Newport Sloop sailboat. Mast has broken off but is still in the water for retrieval. Also we've still got the sails, boom and rigs to give for free with the boat. This is a project boat. First come first serve — need this thing gone ASAP." As of yesterday, it didn't appear to be taken.

For the most part, Lundquist is impressed by the spirit of those who participate, how the number of things being offered balance the number being requested.

Over the years, he's seen broken-down cars come and go, craft supplies, TVs, appliances, futons and recently 700 CD cases.

"Sometimes an hour later, someone's at your door to pick it up," he said.

The Web sites offer guidelines about meeting strangers in safe places but he said people who participate seem to respect the process. "It's a great example of an online community that is very civil," Lundquist said.

It's rare that a posting is rejected for being inappropriate, but it can happen. He recalls declining a giveaway of adult magazines.

Lundquist said the usual reason to deny or pull a post is if someone is trying to hide a cost or payment or link to a scam.

He said his family has given away a lot of things on the site the same way many people do: after moving, cleaning house or having a baby.

He recalls giving away a cordless phone to a mom and her teenage daughter, who took the bus to pick it up. "Her mom was just ecstatic."

And that's what makes it work for the giver as well as the receiver.

"It's much more gratifying giving something away than trying to make money off of it," he said. "They're really genuinely happy."

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.