Efficient Council

We have a council cleanup day every six months- where you can put out white goods, old carpets, junk, whatever.

I could not believe how efficient the council was.

In the process of floor polishing and furnishing the flock of bats, I had a lot of items surplus to requirements. I put them out well before the collection date.

The microwave was collected within 20 minutes- on a Sunday.

The bar fridge and twin tub (neither working) was collected that afternoon.

And today, half of the old carpet, two chairs with paint spilt over, and some half empty cans of paint have alos been collected.

I was worried that I had put out too much, but I've put out a lot more tonight as a result.

It will be interesting to see how efficient they are with that.

mmm ... I think you'll find it's not the council who is collecting that stuff.

We have a similar thing around where we live - there are lots of highrise (and lowrise) apartment blocks around, and lots of people who don't have much space, so tend to ditch a lot of stuff rather than hoard it like many people in houses would.

Piles of old furniture, broken electonic goods, an replaced kitchen sink, just about anything gets dumped on the sidewalk ... the amazing thing is that it is usually gone within a day or so - sometimes in a matter of hours.

I put out my old 19" monitor that had given up the ghost (although I have no doubt that someone handy with a soldering iron might have got a bit more life out of it - I didn't care to try and repair it - was getting to old and blurred and was too large - I replaced it with a flat screen monitor). It disappeared within about 15-20 mins I think.

I've seen people (not from the council) driving around with utes and trailers collecting stuff - they don't take it all, only what they think would be useful (able to be resold ?) ... but even so most of the stuff left out tends to be collected pretty quickly, especially on weekends.

Sim said:

mmm ... I think you'll find it's not the council who is collecting that stuff.

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I must have been too subtle

The first collectors were there while I was still putting stuff out, and asking me questions.

Not very well off people- we're doing each other a favour.

In our small town, the minute the note appears in the mailbox that the council is doing a cleanup in two weeks time, people start putting out stuff immediately. By the time the council arrives, there is only the barebones of rubbish left as lots of other people have taken away any handy bits first.

Here it's every month, so most times there's stuff on the street.

I'm in a short street with lots of renters in 1960s flats. A fair number would be overseas students. For a street less than 1km long, it chucks out a lot. And as I walk most of it 4 times a day, I see most of it.

I have a loungeroom that was furnished and equipped entirely from kerbside stuff.

Just last week I upgraded the TV courtesy of the kerb. The old one (itself a kerbside find less than 6 months ago) was working but had colour blotches on the screen's edges and didn't receive SBS well. The new one worked first time, so now I have something good with which to watch Backyard Blitz!

In these activities, like investing, there are certain moral principles that could usefully be applied.

Eg, don't be greedy, only take what you need and leave something for the other person.

Hence the mirror and computer scanner was left and the old TV put out. The environmental aspects, and the fact that not everyone participates fully in the throwaway society is another.

VCRs are rarer than TVs, probably because they are smaller. I grieve for the number that have been chucked into wheelie bins. Notwithstanding this, there's a high probability that DVD players will hit the kerbs within the next couple of years.

Regards, Peter

Not everyone wantonly participates in being all throwaway.
For example: I recently had a tree removed from an ip's garden. Cost to me was $220. My clever neighbour, did a deal with the tree removalist and paid him $100 for all the timber and woodchip.

geoffw said:

We have a council cleanup day every six months- where you can put out white goods, old carpets, junk, whatever.

I could not believe how efficient the council was.

In the process of floor polishing and furnishing the flock of bats, I had a lot of items surplus to requirements. I put them out well before the collection date.

The microwave was collected within 20 minutes- on a Sunday.

The bar fridge and twin tub (neither working) was collected that afternoon.

And today, half of the old carpet, two chairs with paint spilt over, and some half empty cans of paint have alos been collected.

I was worried that I had put out too much, but I've put out a lot more tonight as a result.

It will be interesting to see how efficient they are with that.

Click to expand...

Same experience here... We see quite a few people driving around with vans, looking for things to pick up as part of the council clean up. Last time, we managed to get rid of much more than we would be allowed according to council rules, simply because others had collected it beforehand.

Around here, the rubbish collectors are getting rude. I put out a pram with a broken wheel. Someone came along, while I was outside, picked the pram up and put it in their truck, then saw the broken wheel. They turned around, brought it back and said "the wheels broken!" in an angry voice, as if I was ripping them off!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that's why it was being thrown away!

They have such high standards these days for rubbish!

Pen

I'm all for recycling, but I think it looks disgusting seeing everyone's junk out on the street for a few days.

Why don't people just get in their cars and take their unwanted items to the Salvos/charities or in some cases the Tip (they also salvage).

Last think I want is some undesirable rummaging around my house.

Bundy

BUNDY said:

Why don't people just get in their cars and take their unwanted items to the Salvos/charities or in some cases the Tip (they also salvage).

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Because it took me two hours to get my stuff out onto the footpath in the first place. (It's no fun moving a front loading washing machine and 10 rolls of carpet uphill).

I would have had 20 trips to the tip in the car alone (at a minimum cost per trip). Or I could have hired a ute or a truck- but I would not have been able to lift that front loader up there. Or I could have bought a towbar and rented a trailer.

Or I can leave them on the road...

I pay over $5000 pa in rates for the flock of bats. Then why should I not take advantage of their "free" service?

I moved to Perth after blowing all my $ overseas and pretty much furnished a whole 3 bedroom villa with free items. The Quokka (trading post) has columns with free items listed. We hired a ute $70 for the day it came out and on the morning drove around and obtained pretty much everything we needed. If friends offered us something better we put the old stuff that was useable on the footpath. I didnt even get a futon off our ute one day, before someone saw me as they were walking past. Thye were stoked especially as I was able to drive around the corner and deleiver it. Socialism at its best!

I think the collectors in our council ward are private enterprises, and as such people are not allowed to remove hard rubbish from nature strips. I guess the contractors want first dibs at anything of value.

Doesnt stop people though.