I’ve spoken about rubbish many times before on this blog. Today I’m going to talk about rubbish again. Well, not exactly rubbish, let’s just call it unwanted stuff.
First, let’s remind ourselves of all the rubbish posts I have made so far:
- In May 2009 I wrote Talking Rubbish
- Later that same month I followed up with Any Old Iron! Any Old Iron!
- Then in June 2009 I wrote “Go Ahead, Make My Day” – More on Rubbish
I think it’s fair to say that May/June 2009 can be regarded as my “rubbish period”.
Today though, as I say, I’m really talking about unwanted stuff. You know the sort of thing I mean, an old bookcase; the armchair you never sit on; the little bike with stabilisers your kid has grown out of; the dining table and chairs you’ve replaced at great cost after being nagged into submission; yes, that sort of thing.
It’s stuff you don’t want, but maybe somebody else does. One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure, as they say.
So what can you do with this stuff?
Here, in Australia, we put it out the front.
Yes, most councils offer a yearly or bi-yearly kerbside collection service, I briefly mentioned that in the above linked any old iron post. But I’ve noticed many people don’t wait the year or two to put these sort of things out, they just put them out the front anyway.
Driving along the road, I’ve seen that bookcase, that armchair, that little bike and that dining room table, all just sitting on the side, waiting.
Waiting for somebody to claim them and take them home to call them their own. So I decided to give it a try with a child’s car seat support that Elizabeth has grown out of, an old plastic outdoor table, two chairs and an umbrella…
A couple days later…
Gone!
Yes, it worked. Saves driving all the way to the tip.
It’s just a thing that we do here in Australia and I’m sure it didn’t happen in the UK. Does it happen where you live? Anyway, everybody here understands that if you put your unwanted stuff out the front of your house, on what’s known as the nature strip, you no longer want it, so it’s up for grabs.
Anyone can feel free to take it.
Or can they?
This very idea was thrown into complete confusion last year when a man in Melbourne was, well, it’s all explained in today’s video…
Everyone should be responsible for it. If you’ll not keep your home or society clean then you can’t think about to make your city beautiful.
Sorry, no! 🙂 But even the ardent riflers and removers didn’t want it. She looked about 19 and very pretty but her clothes were fascinatingly hideous!
I can’t believe that, Kylie, she’s a national icon! Those clothes she was wearing must’ve been truly ridiculous.
We recently bought a house that had all manner of things left behind – a fridge, humidifier, a huge framed poster of Kylie, garden tools, bits of pipe and wood – even a piano. Being newbies to Oz we were told of the council’s kerbside collection and were delighted to discover it happening in a few days in our area. So we started putting the things we didn’t want out on the front. A number of people stopped by to rifle through the items and removed at least three quarters of the stuff days before the council collection! A couple of weeks later we decided we had a surplus of cupboards and drawer units also left by the previous owner. We popped them outside the house on the grass and even before we’d finished a neighbour came over to claim the lot! Recylcing at its very best!
Yes, works like a treat doesn’t it? You did keep hold of that Kylie picture though, didn’t you?