On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:56:00 -0600, Gloria P >
wrote:

>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?"
>
As a parent who could have been in the position of paying for some of
that stuff when it was new, I have to agree... but furniture recycling
goes on near colleges and big cities. My SIL in Manhattan says people
there do it as a matter of course when moving apartments and calls
picking up items she likes "sidewalk shopping".

I've discovered a certain mindset in my part of town. If I put choice
objects on the sidewalk with a "free" sign, they can stay for days.
Take the sign off - and they're completely gone in hours. It would
make an interesting study for a sociology student.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.