Garbage. It’s a matter of opinion.
What one man tosses out, another man considers as valuable as gold. I’ve seen folks throw stuff out and I’ve seen folks make sure that it doesn’t get to the dump. Every year in Moncton there’s a spring clean up, when city crews go around on a specific day picking up everyone’s spring cleaning junk for free. Well, it turns into a free for all. There’s a parade of pick-up trucks, cars, trailers, wagons, you name it, going around looking for valuables sitting on the curb. Old barbecues don’t last long; at least the aluminum sections. Bicycles, dressers, exercise equipment, shelves, etc, all never making it to the dump, just changing hands.
My neighbour makes it a regular practice to go around on garbage day looking for grass clippings for his garden. I’ve seen people sift through garbage looking for recyclables. I’ve rescued collectibles from the dump; flags, foreign beer cans, old coke bottles. My uncle threw out an old plywood pool table that was gone before he could make a second trip to the curb with the cues and balls.
What treasures have you discovered in someone else’s junk pile? What have you considered valuable that others were willing to throw away?
Pender
October 2, 2006 at 10:16 am
We picked up a water cooler last year, in the hopes that it worked but nfortunately the refrigeration unit didn’t. However the hot water heater worked fine. We sold it for $5 at our moving sale.
We always look for headboards/baseboards for the bed (we still got nothing, so the bed looks naked) and random good furniture we can use.
I picked up a small black dresser outside the apartment in halifax this summer. Some parts of the wood for the drawers were no longer attached, which is why I guess they were tossing it. I brought it indoors, used some wood glue and put it back together, and cleaned it a bit. It’s now in the spare room and looks really good.
We also stop at most yard sales, or at least drive by real slow. If there’s something that catches my eye I never hesitate to stop.