Wow - don't see this in the better neighborhoods out here - there are rules against it (well, supposed to be anyway). The neighborhoods that do do this kind of thing? Are the low income housing neighborhoods.
This is the stuff that was supposed to get picked up because of the hurricane/tropical depression that came through? Or was blown around because of it?
It's bulk rubbish collection week. Basically the council picks up all your unwanted rubbish for free, provided you stack it by the boundaries denoted. Bulk rubbish happens twice a year.
There's also bulk garden rubbish where you can stack all prunings / tree stumps / roots / wood and so on and they collect that and mulch it up.
Basically, it's a paid for service that stops people from needing to go to the tip.
That said, we're a low income housing neighbourhood. But bulk rubbish is available everywhere (eta: it just looks messy in the days leading up to the pick up - a lot of people go trawling for second-hand furniture though. And in the richer suburbs you can pick up working TVs and radios that people don't want anymore because they've upgraded).
One of the people I know through dancing has to be argued out of picking stuff up every time he goes past a hard rubbish collection suburb. It's where he got most of his trellising, but not everything is that useful. He has been late to parties because he was trolling neighbourhoods looking for interesting stuff. He and his partner are slowly clearing out his shed and spare rooms of years of accumulated Stuff (with his active and willing participation).
I've actually never picked up anything from bulk rubbish, but a friend of mine practically furnished her house by waiting for higher income suburbs to have bulk rubbish and from there, got coffee tables / bookshelves / a lounge suite and some other things that were pretty awesome.
But she's not a hoarder, so she didn't just collect stuff and store it. :(
There's a reason they call it the student shopping network. ;)
Matt and I have grabbed a few items from kerbside collections - clothes airer, bookshelves, coffee table.
It just makes me really sad and angry that affluent suburbs throw out things are that are perfectly functional. They should all be forced to use Freecycle.
It certainly is a fridge! People will put dryers, freezers, washing machines, fridges, entire lounge suites (sometimes in good condition too) - basically anything they don't want. We didn't have much to put out this year. A broken pedestal fan, a really really old chipboard/pinboard/corkboard, and a broken frame.
That kinda reminds me of this show called The Oblongs where there's garbage day for the rich people on the hill, so all the people in the valley go rummaging through their stuff to get new things. :3
It's really interesting you guys have that kind of thing. I haven't experienced anything like that since living in the States. But we also have a lot of Goodwills and whatnot for people who want to donate their belongings.
The only "similar" thing I experienced in the US was when they come around and collect all the garden excess - like trimmed branches, leaves, etc. that you'd collected from pruning and so on. That was like once a year from memory, just after Fall because everyone just raked their leaves to the side of the road and piled them up.
That being said, I vaguely remember hard rubbish collection once a year in Wisconsin...
Oh yeah - I've seen that too. In Seattle, there have three types of bins: garbage, recycling and land trimmings. I guess every day someone comes by and collects the different items. It's interesting - I haven't really seen that before.
I have seen people just throw out couches and fridges and stuff for the garbage man to get, but it wasn't a neighborhood collection type of deal. Just people throwing their stuff away.
*nods* Except, generally, bulk rubbish here is for everyone - I don't know if it's done in the much smaller rural suburbs, but for everyone in the main suburbs it's available. That said we pay for it - the cost is included in our land rates in June.
Our land rates are some of the most expensive in Perth; over $1000 a year.
We don't live in a really rural area so much as... we're surrounded by a lot of bushland and nothingness. Ellenbrook is aiming to be a 'satellite' city', kind of an urban environment that's self-sufficient, with nothing around it. So far it's failing pretty miserably!
hehehehe It's that time of year again! It's called Hard Rubbish over here, but same difference. I think our Hard Rubbish collection is early March, must check into that, I have a bunch of things to put out (like an old wardrobe that's falling apart!)
It is that time of year again! Big quandary in the suburb this year, because we literally were expected to put our rubbish out two days before the cyclone. Not smart! Glen and I put our stuff out late as a result.
I don't quite know why this picture makes me happy because I hate thinking of all the waste people make, but it does. When we had the bulk garbage week in Fargo, I guess it was either good for cleaning out your place or looking for treasures in other people's garbage.
People throw out the strangest things. Kinda makes me realize how much stuff we really do have.
Thanks for sharing this different bit of everyday life.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 04:22 pm (UTC)This is the stuff that was supposed to get picked up because of the hurricane/tropical depression that came through? Or was blown around because of it?
no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 04:31 pm (UTC)There's also bulk garden rubbish where you can stack all prunings / tree stumps / roots / wood and so on and they collect that and mulch it up.
Basically, it's a paid for service that stops people from needing to go to the tip.
That said, we're a low income housing neighbourhood. But bulk rubbish is available everywhere (eta: it just looks messy in the days leading up to the pick up - a lot of people go trawling for second-hand furniture though. And in the richer suburbs you can pick up working TVs and radios that people don't want anymore because they've upgraded).
no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 12:04 am (UTC)But she's not a hoarder, so she didn't just collect stuff and store it. :(
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 12:59 am (UTC)Matt and I have grabbed a few items from kerbside collections - clothes airer, bookshelves, coffee table.
It just makes me really sad and angry that affluent suburbs throw out things are that are perfectly functional. They should all be forced to use Freecycle.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 11:33 pm (UTC)It's really interesting you guys have that kind of thing. I haven't experienced anything like that since living in the States. But we also have a lot of Goodwills and whatnot for people who want to donate their belongings.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 11:39 pm (UTC)That being said, I vaguely remember hard rubbish collection once a year in Wisconsin...
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 02:55 am (UTC)I have seen people just throw out couches and fridges and stuff for the garbage man to get, but it wasn't a neighborhood collection type of deal. Just people throwing their stuff away.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 02:57 am (UTC)Are the land rates expensive?
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 02:58 am (UTC)We don't live in a really rural area so much as... we're surrounded by a lot of bushland and nothingness. Ellenbrook is aiming to be a 'satellite' city', kind of an urban environment that's self-sufficient, with nothing around it. So far it's failing pretty miserably!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 09:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 09:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 09:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 02:44 am (UTC)People throw out the strangest things. Kinda makes me realize how much stuff we really do have.
Thanks for sharing this different bit of everyday life.