The best trash

Why is it, that here in the States, people throw out items that just seem not trash worthy. I was living in a college town and rich college kids just throw out some of the greates and still useable stuff. So now I am near a large university but in the Boston area and still I see very useable things getting thrown out. By useable, I mean that I picked up a very nice table, a spice rack, a bookshelf, and a down comforter out of the trash once. Actually the down comforter was intercepted on the way to the trash. So the other day I was walking down to catch the subway when I pass someone throwing out a large wooden desk that was very reminiscent of my own large wooden desk. And otherthan the fact that I could not see the middle drawer, assuming it had a middle drawer, there was nothing wrong with this desk. It could have been sold or given away and yet there it sat on the side of the road destined for some landfill. It was very frustrating to see it there too as I could not just pick it up and even if I ran back for the car, I didn't have the roof rack or space to store it.

Come on people, it is a waste of landfill space. And if the desk was anything like mine, it was likely an old desk that they don't make anymore. What a waste. I know several people who would have liked to have it. This just means that I need to drive around on college move out day and pick up what I need then go shopping for that which I didn't find. I have actually made money from selling things picked out of the trash. For a 1$ investment, I fixed up a broken futon and sold it at a 49$ profit.

I am not implying Canadians are any better as I am sure there are people who throw out good stuff, but I think we try to get more out of out stuff before parting with them. It is more rare to see useful stuff on the side of the road. We are a very wasteful society and we should try to find ways to dispose of useful items in such a way that other people can pick them up and use them. I think more people need to look into joining Freecycle to ensure useful items are not being useful by filling up a landfill site.

On a slightly similar note, the landfill in Rhode Island is almost the highest point in the state. That is a sad state of affairs yet seems to sum everything up.