maxine wrote:

>>
>> In an earlier post in the thread about homeless people rummaging
>> in recycling bins set out for collection,
>
> The local reason for not allowing people to rummage in the recycling
> bins is that the state makes money from the recyclables, so if it's in
> an official state bin, (or city, or town or whatever) it is gumment
> property and if you take it, you are a thief!
>
> You're also a criminal if you take a deposit bottle from your recycle-
> only state and return it for the nickel in the next state over.
>
> I have never seen them enforcing that law for the trash part of the
> trash. People come by and take lawn mowers, tvs, couches, and whole
> house furnishings in college neighborhoods in May....


A local TV station did a story on college recycling in Boulder after
summer school ended. It showed kids in station wagons pulling up
and retrieving things like expensive skis, TVs, computer monitors,
loads of furniture, etc.

One of the summer school kids said "I had no way to get the stuff home
so I had to just pitch it."

Reminds me of locker cleanout day at our high school when we purged
nominally "empty" lockers of the stuff the kids left behind. It was
nothing to pull out textbooks, library books, $100 graphing calculators,
$200+ down jackets, CD players, Ipods, and (ugh) still wrapped food they
were supposed to deliver from months-before fund raisers or Mom's
Tupperware with green growths inside.

The staff returned the books to the places the kids were too lazy to do,
the clothing went to Goodwill, calculators and pens, pencils, backpacks
went to the counseling dept. to be distributed to our less affluent kids
in the fall.

To paraphrase Mr. Rogers, "Can you say irresponsible, boys and girls?"

gloria p