They put out this shelf and I want it, but I don’t want to seem strange? It would make a nice plant shelf, but it’s not something I can scurry away with, so people would see me while I carried it. Is that a bad thing to do?
EDIT: Never mind. Someone beat me to it. 😭
Next time just go take it. No one will care. They might even help you lol
Homie. I wish you better luck in future recycling adventures. I think you might meet cool like minded people along the way.
You already know the saying about one man’s trash. Just use that if they ask about it.
I put trash on the curb knowing the kids next door will pick it up and use it. They love to score new stuff, and I love seeing an old bicycle or chair getting new love.
I actually love it when people take things I put by the curb. I would much rather someone get use out of it than have it end up in a landfill.
One persons trash is another persons treasure.
There is a reason why this is a universal saying.
If it’s up for grabs, grab it
Have you tried calling your neighbor out and asking him? “Hey! Can I take your shelf?”. Takes like three seconds to sort this out.
I’m sorry, I’m not a well adjusted adult, so I need to ask people on the internet (also, someone beat me to it, so they answered that question in real time 😂)
Something is wrong with anyone that would look down on you for it
People around me put things out early with the expectation and hope someone will come and take it.
Where I live, there are people who make a decent amount of cash by grabbing whatever metal they can find out of the trash and taking it to scrapyards. There are a couple of trucks that swing past my house a few times the night before and the day of trash pickup. And myself, I grabbed two bikes by just knocking on the door and asking.
We have scheduled bulk item pickups in pur city. The night before you will usually see at least a couple trucks driving around tossing any scrap metal they find in the bed.
Got a scooter, bike, and eliptical from a neighbor the same way.
My neighborhood has bulk trash pickup monthly. Most of the bulk trash gets put out the week prior to pickup day. The majority of this trash doesn’t make it to the dump! People with trailers come by and pick up anything remotely usable. I like to think they are reusing/upcycling this stuff but I really don’t know. I see this as a huge win because it keeps stuff out of the dump but it does feel very dystopian to see a junk economy like something from Fallout.
I’m in the USA btw. Others have pointed out that some countries have different laws regarding ownership of trash. Don’t get in trouble with law enforcement, get to know your neighbors better! It’s not trash if they give it to you.
its very normal to to do this in southeast asia
As a kid in the 80s I lived in a burb where once or twice in the summer they had a day where they could put out big clunky stuff for trash pickup that normally wasn’t allowed. So stuff like furniture, mattresses, old tires, etc. You’d routinely see cars driving past to see if there was anything they wanted to take. Our church friends, a family with 6 kids, would have a few ride off on their bikes and scout for useful stuff and call dibs. Then one brother went back home to get someone to bring the station wagon around while the others kept guard over the claim.
It was a good system for giving a second life to stuff that was still good (or fixable) but that you didn’t want or weren’t able to lug to the flea market or something.
We have this still where I live. Was just this weekend gone in my neighbourhood.
Last week it was the rich neighbourhood and the council was there stopping people from taking anything saying that it all belongs to the council.
Dann rich fuckers get extra protection for their rubbish mean while our houses get broken into and cars stolen constantly
I’m pretty sure that’s ok. Now if it was someone’s underwear or hair…that is another story.
Just go and ask
