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Thursday, June 3, 2010

Trash on the Curb

Old high chairs, broken washing machines, worn-out couches.
All legitimate pieces of trash,
but sometimes trash on the curb is appealing; even lovely.
Last month I saw a huge bean bag being thrown out.

It was plush and spectacular. These trendy bean bags are expensive, but bean bags go along with my pillow philosophy – there are some used items I do NOT want. Still, the bean bag was a cool piece of comfort.
In Mesa it’s rare to see trash on the curb, but in some towns its encouraged to leave trash, any thing you want thrown away, on the curb for the garbage truck to pick up.
I have a friend in Louisiana named Dee Dee (a beautiful blogging friend I’ve never had the chance to meet but hopefully will someday) who sees trash on the curb all the time. After reading MY DEAR TRASH she started looking at trash differently.
This makes me so happy.
Dee Dee realized there was value in many of the items being thrown away.


I love when I receive an email from her because there’s usually a photo of her latest piece of trash.
What does she do with the trash she finds?
She cleans it up, occasionally applies a coat of paint and sales it on Craig’s List. She makes money and helps the environment.
A few nights ago I googled garbage trucks on you tube to watch with Reef. Sometimes we watch fire trucks and bull dozers too, but I was horrified when I clicked on this video clip. Watch what is thrown away. It makes me sick.
Dee Dee, get out there and save our landfills. You are my hero.

22 comments:

  1. AWESOME POST!!! TRUE TO MY HEART! ROAD SIDE TRASH IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!! IT'S NICE TO FIND PEOPLE WHO CAN RELATE;)

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  2. This person has no idea how much money they could have gotten from those baby items.
    I sold all my kids baby items at our neighbor consignment sale and made lots of money, crazy!!

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  3. What is WRONG with these people?!?!

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  4. For some reason, the clip isn't showing, just a big white box.

    However...I am feeling sick today and can so relate. Last night, while doing my daily dumpster dive at the back of the GW store, a friendly cop happened by and told me that I could be cited for diving.

    I have posted some of my great dumpster finds on my blog skywalker8.blogspot.com

    Goodwill throws away perfectly good stuff...with their tags still on them...in an open dumpster...on public property...but will not allow anyone to salvage the goods.

    I am deeply sad. What a wasteful society we are.

    The good side of all this is that I am much more aware of what I throw away.

    But...I'm still sad.

    Thanks for blogging, your story has certainly inspired me. :)

    Becky

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  5. I am also horrified by that video clip of perfectly good baby items being tossed! We have become such a disposable society.

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  6. Wow, that is horrible! If the owner didn't want to take the time to resell these things, she or he could have at least donated them and really made some kid's day. There is no good reason why someone shouldn't be allowed to take and use what someone else is willing to send to the dump. Crazy times, ladies! My grandma still saves all her empty Cool Whip containers. Now that generation knew the meaning of re-use!

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  7. That makes me so sad! We have a bulk pick up day and it makes me happy and sad at the same time. I picked up some fantastic stuff but it is so sad that people won't even donate things. I picked up a turtle sandbox, umm hello that is never going to breakdown. I picked it up just to save it from the dump. I sold it for $10.00. Go check out today's post and you can see one of my chairs that I picked up on bulk pick up day. Together we can save the world one piece of trash at a time.

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  8. I felt physically ill watching that video. Even if they didn't want to take the time to sell, there's freecycle or women's shelters, or thrift stores. Why do so many people throw everything into their trash cans when there are better options (and usually SO easy) out there?

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  9. What made me so sick is that the people were so lazy they couldn't take the time and effort to donate these items, but yet they could take a video of this!

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  10. Grrr, this makes me mad. Come on, have they not heard of something called a garage sale, goodwill, hand me downs??? A tear for the good pieces thrown away, they may have been easily wanted and taken by others. Way to go!

    Thanks for sharing, although I seriously feel mad about this now.

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  11. I was horrified to see all that stuff get crushed in the back of the garbage truck. I would have loved to have had that car for Doodlebug. They could have posted all that on freecycle and it would have been gone in no time and made someone's day.

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  12. That just makes me ill, there are so many people out there that could have used those items.

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  13. I had to stop watching, this almost gave me a panic attack! What treasures are being wasted...

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  14. OH My Gosh, that video is SHOCKING!! Here in New Zealand you are not allowed to leave stuff on the curb unless it is in designated rubbish bags or bins, but that doesn't stop people taking it to the dump themselves. What a huge waste, all that stuff would have been so appreciated by charities or less fortunate families, its sad to see it wasted like that.

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  15. WOW!!! I can't believe what was thrown out!!!
    :(

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  16. Thats just disgusting!!! There are many shelters etc that could really use such things for the kids that arrive with their mums...and then have to set up a new home and have nothing. I contacted our city about haveing these kinds of pickup days and now I think it's not a great idea after all. Sad. Between this and the oil spill...I just want to stay in bed. :-)

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  17. This looks like a revenge video- where maybe one parent lost custody to another and so threw away all the toys of the child- I'm trying to make sense of it somehow- because it is absolutely crazy!

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  18. Wow, that's terrible & I didn't even watch the whole thing. I'm pretty sure you can even call the thrift stores & they will come pick up stuff, esp if you have that much. Such a waste.

    I'm from Louisiana also & always see things on the side of the road. I never seem to be able to get the things I want b/c I have a little car... :[

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  19. i couldn't watch the whole thing. one call to the goodwill, salvation army or another community organization would have saved all those items that some family would have gladly taken.

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  20. My thoughts exactly on curb side 'garbage.' Very, very useful. I wish more people would understand.

    -Land Source Container Service, Inc.

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