They don't want my trash!!!

[Miss Chicken]

Tomorrow is my city's annual Day-a-Garbo Day which the council describes as

Dial-a-Garbo is a chance to put out large items of rubbish which cannot normally be collected through Council's wheelie bin service. If you wish to use this service, you must phone the booking line or submit a completed on-line booking form during the month prior to the Dial-a-Garbo collection and make a booking. This Council service is free and is intended for the collection of large items such as:

• furniture,
• household appliances,
• junk,
• limited amounts of building material.

People usually start putting their rubbish out the day before and that brings the scavengers out. So far three different men in utes (pickup trucks) have stopped outside my house and looked to see what I have thrown out and haven't seen anything they want though one of them did take a chair from my neighbour's lot. I can see this as I have a perfect view of my rubbish from my computer desk.

Should I feel bad that my trash is so trashy that even the scavengers don't want it?

 

[trekkiedane]

No, you should feel proud that when you throw something away it actually is trash -not just something you don't want any more

 

[propita]

Yeah, feel good.

We have that at least once a year, but people often put things out as much as a WEEK early. What a mess.

We put out a mattress, perfectly good, but we were being given a better one. So we used heavy duty plastic to protect it and leaned it against a phone pole. Gone in a half hour. We also put out our old water heater--the first scavenger pounded off the brass controller/whatever; the next took the whole thing for scrap. We tend to donate anything usable to Amvets or the Salvation Army (just got rid of an old working stereo, a fake xmas tree, decent clothes, 3 comforters, etc.), and break down the trash to fit in the cans.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My son just came back from visiting a friend two suburbs away. He said that the scavengers are everywhere.

I must admit last year my son did scavenge a small computer desk off our neighbours two doors away. However he did ask the neighbour if it would be OK to take it. My son fixed the desk and now uses it in his bedroom.

 

[SVD]

What kind of stuff you tryin' to throw away?

 

[Miss Chicken]

Lets see

A computer screen
A broken DVD player
An old microwave oven
A cat tower (which could be easily fixed but my cats won't use it at all)
A folding chair
A printer/scanner (its rollers are broken)
A hand mower

I think about 8 people have viewed my trash so far and not taken a single thing.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

We have that once a month. Sometimes people take my stuff, sometimes they don't. It's weird, the stuff people will take.

 

[Finn]

^like what? I've seen perfectly good things being thrown away.

 

[B.J.]

^^^ Most of that stuff would be gone in less than an hour in my neighborhood. It's a pretty nice area, but scavengers (probably from other areas) come through quite often. Last week, I put out an aluminum snare drum shell that was missing heads and several lugs, and the snare mechanism was busted, but it was gone by the next day.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I love when the scavengers come and take stuff i've put out. I prefer knowing someone can use it (or sell it) over it going to the landfill. The smaller things i usually take to the thrift store to donate. I really hate putting more than true garbage in the landfill.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Scavenging is huge where I am (northern New Jersey.) I see guys in pickup trucks driving around all the time picking up things people have put out by the curb.

 

[B.J.]

It's funny when they take stuff that should really *stay* in the trash, though. A couple years ago we had put an 10' area rug out to the curb because our dog had gotten ahold of something that didn't agree with her system, and made the nastiest liquid poo ever on that rug. I could get most of the stain out, but I couldn't get rid of the smell. That smell could knock over a platoon! Even so, the rug was gone the next day!

Now that I think about it, the flip side of that could have been a lot like this Volkswagen commercial:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_s5-R_JE4c[/yt]

 

[Finn]

When I lived in Cincinnati, I once saw a beautiful 55ish gallon tank in fair shape. If I had a truck, I would have grabbed it.

 

[Holdfast]

We don't have one of these days; you have to arrange a special collection for bulky/weird bits of trash. I think there's a charge for this service, but even if not, it's a bit of a hassle. Fortunately, there are plenty of scavengers around. A friend of mine needed to get rid of some stuff that wouldn't go in the normal bins - a mattress, a half-broken chair and some wooden pallets (the kind used in transportation). He just left them out on his front lawn with "please take" written on a bit of cardboard, as a sign.

When he came back home from dinner a few hours later, everything was gone. Including the sign. No joke.

 

[milo bloom]

I intentionally put out somewhat usable things on the curb the day before trash day so the scavengers can get it. We've even grabbed a few things for ourselves. I once picked up an entire box of solar powered malibu lights from the curbside.

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm lucky enough that the city will pick up anything, any time.

 

[Flashover]

I found the best way to get rid of something is to put a sign on it "$100 or B.O."

Someone will come by and steal it before the hour is up. Works like a charm.

I put a fire-damaged dishwasher outside with the sign on it. Sure enough someone came by and took the machine... Two hours later they tried to return it but a cop happened to be passing by and stopped... No idea what was said but they ended up driving off with the machine in the back of the truck.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ OMG! That's a riot!!!!

You know, i can see that happening. When we have a yard sale, we usually have a box that's marked "anything in here is free". No one EVER picks stuff out of there. And i'm not talking complete crap or junk. It's like people think there is no value to something if it's free. But if something is marked with a price, any price (ten cents even) someone will buy it.

 

[SVD]

^^ seconded!

^ I'd be picking through that box of free stuff

 

[Lookingglassman]

My neighbors down the street put out an exercise bike and some busted out furniture and put a "free" sign on them and at the end of the day the perfectly good exercise bike was still there and the broken up furniture was gone.