The stuff people throw away at the tip ( recycling centre )

[GUBRATS]

Called today to drop some old broken fence wood off 

I am now the owner of a perfectly usable ( in near perfect condition , a couple of scratches and two flat tyres ) Claud Butler Urban 100 ' hybrid ' bicycle 

He was dumping a couple of usable 2 wheel trucks that I nearly took off him , then pulled the bike out of his van , " seriously " I asked him , " yes " he said , " what's wrong with it ? " , " Nothing , just need the space " , so straight into the car it went , it must be worth a hundred quid all day long , pump the tyres up tomorrow and onto Facebook it will go

[Futtocks]

29 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Called today to drop some old broken fence wood off 

I am now the owner of a perfectly usable ( in near perfect condition , a couple of scratches and two flat tyres ) Claud Butler Urban 100 ' hybrid ' bicycle 

He was dumping a couple of usable 2 wheel trucks that I nearly took off him , then pulled the bike out of his van , " seriously " I asked him , " yes " he said , " what's wrong with it ? " , " Nothing , just need the space " , so straight into the car it went , it must be worth a hundred quid all day long , pump the tyres up tomorrow and onto Facebook it will go

In her home town, my mum helped set up monthly "give and take" events, where unwanted stuff like this can be brought, and anyone who wants/needs it can have it, at no charge.

There are also regular repair cafes, where people with tools and knowledge can take a look at things that could be kept if they were fixed. Obviously, events like this took a hit during lockdown, but the demand is there.

It seriously reduces the amount of stuff that actually goes to the dump.

[distantdog]

In Germany in the 90's. we had a bulk rubbish day every month. Stick it out the night before the rubbish was collected and everyone used to wander round seeing if there was anything they fancied. Living near the border with old East Germany, the stuff was inevitably taken by those from the east. It was a great way to recycle!

On the OT specifically, there are lots of things i would have taken if I could, but sadly not allowed.

[JonM]

Sadly, this is going to be me over the next couple of weeks.

Selling the big place where we've been for 20+ years now the kids are gone, temporarily moving into a small rental, and trying to drastically reduce the amount of stuff we have to pay to keep in storage. 

Already taken a perfectly usable desk and chair to the tip today. Left it out of the front of the house for the day - no takers - so off it goes. Plenty more decent stuff to go too.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 29/10/2021 at 20:42, distantdog said:

In Germany in the 90's. we had a bulk rubbish day every month. Stick it out the night before the rubbish was collected and everyone used to wander round seeing if there was anything they fancied. Living near the border with old East Germany, the stuff was inevitably taken by those from the east. It was a great way to recycle!

I thought the East Germans couldn't get out?

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

2 hours ago, JonM said:

Sadly, this is going to be me over the next couple of weeks.

Selling the big place where we've been for 20+ years now the kids are gone, temporarily moving into a small rental, and trying to drastically reduce the amount of stuff we have to pay to keep in storage. 

Already taken a perfectly usable desk and chair to the tip today. Left it out of the front of the house for the day - no takers - so off it goes. Plenty more decent stuff to go too.

Stick it all on eBay as collection only. 

[JonM]

8 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

I thought the East Germans couldn't get out?

Wall came down in '89 so I suppose by the 90s they could.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

1 minute ago, JonM said:

Wall came down in '89 so I suppose by the 90s they could.

Oh yeah....

[distantdog]

10 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

I thought the East Germans couldn't get out?

Reunification day - October 3rd 1990.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

13 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

I thought the East Germans couldn't get out?

They were allowed out but only in exceptional circumstances such as a funeral and they had to transit through just a handful of checkpoints.

The most famous one is the Palace of Tears at Freidrichstrasse Station in Berlin. It is a museum these days and shows how it was purposefully made inconvenient and incredibly difficult to negotiate to try to discourage people from leaving. Essentially the border point was a series of zigzagging corridors and a number of rooms you went into to be interviewed several times by guards from both Germanys, several interviews that were more like interrogations anyway and it would takes the best part of a day to transit through.

Freidrichstrasse Station itself is very interesting because it was split in half when the wall went up. There were island platforms that had fences running straight down the middle of them because one side of the platform was West Berlin and one East. East Berliners have talked about how distressing it was to almost be able to reach out and touch the West Berliners and yet if they did, or if they tried to speak to them, they would get arrested. Imagine seeing a family member stood just a few metres away and getting arrested for trying to speak to them. 

I'll shut up now, you got me talking about my favourite subject!

[tim2]

Where we go in Spain you leave stuff by the bins and people come and take it if it's any good. That includes the equivalent of rag and bone men who take stuff and recycle for profit. If there's any tat left the binmen take it away.

 

[Futtocks]

When my mum last moved house, I helped her take some unwanted stuff out to leave by the roadside. I put the first lot out and, by the time I returned with another armful, most of the original pile was already gone.

Bear in that this was a house on top of a hill in the countryside, and the nearest neighbour was half a mile away, with another mile to go 'til you reached a village.

[Guest]

At the council tip near Valley Parade, (not Odsal before some joker quips that) if someone has left something, perhaps an electrical item, that is in perfect working order, they still don't allow you take it once it has been left there.

And they are quite strict about it too. 

[Derwent]

5 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

At the council tip near Valley Parade, (not Odsal before some joker quips that) if someone has left something, perhaps an electrical item, that is in perfect working order, they still don't allow you take it once it has been left there.

And they are quite strict about it too. 

Not allowed to if it doesn’t have a valid PAT test marker. 

[shaun mc]

I put stuff on Freecycle, sometimes it goes, sometimes not

[bobbruce]

1 hour ago, Johnoco said:

At the council tip near Valley Parade, (not Odsal before some joker quips that) if someone has left something, perhaps an electrical item, that is in perfect working order, they still don't allow you take it once it has been left there.

And they are quite strict about it too. 

Probably because the lads there will have a deal to sell it on. To someone who will upgrade a sell or use for parts. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

20 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

Probably because the lads there will have a deal to sell it on. To someone who will upgrade a sell or use for parts. 

Now now, let's not get into the debate about upgrading odsal, we've done that to death on here in the past and I don't know about which parts of odsal could be sold on and used, or who'd want to buy it..! 

[Old Frightful]

21 hours ago, JonM said:

Sadly, this is going to be me over the next couple of weeks.

Selling the big place where we've been for 20+ years now the kids are gone, temporarily moving into a small rental, and trying to drastically reduce the amount of stuff we have to pay to keep in storage. 

Already taken a perfectly usable desk and chair to the tip today. Left it out of the front of the house for the day - no takers - so off it goes. Plenty more decent stuff to go too.

If you ain't already on it, join facebook. 

I know, I know, I avoided it like the plague for years but their marketplace is just brilliant.

Anything you want rid of, put it on there for free and folk will be clamouring to get it....all you have to do is use google translate...(In jest!)

Some time back I took a load of stuff to the tip with my very young son strapped in the back of the car. A chap in the car next to us started putting toy cars on the side of the skip in case anyone wanted them. My lad's eyes were like dinner plates. We ended up going home with a very nice collection for him.

My dread was that one day at primary school he would take them for his turn at "show and tell" and proudly inform his classmates and teacher where he got them from...

[Red Willow]

We have a local charity that will come and collect items, we just off loaded an old TV and 2 sofas

[gazza77]

I've found in the past if you want to sell something to clear space there are loads of options. Facebook marketplace, various buy and sell groups or ebay being the obvious ones. Giving to local charity shops is another easy option.

The problem comes if you just want to give stuff away, that charity shops are unlikely to sell but is still perfectly serviceable. Things like unfashionable pieces of furniture, old bikes, random electrical, etc. As soon as you advertise stuff as being free, people often seem to view that as the opportunity to mess you about by not turning up to collect it as arranged, asking for you to deliver, etc. After clearing my late Dad's house earlier in the year I ended up doing delivery drop offs at various points between Pontefract and Hebden Bridge (and detours on the way) because people wanted things but didn't want to collect them. When trying to get shut of a pile of about 30 A4 ring binders, I actually had someone pleading with me to do an 80 mile round trip to deliver just one of them, just because it had Minnie Mouse on the front and she wasn't prepared to collect or pay postage for it!

I hate throwing usable things away, but sometimes it's either that or become a hoarder, because it's more hassle than it's worth trying to give things for free. 

[graveyard johnny]

how do i persuade the wife and kids to "go stand by the bins" for an hour or 2?

On 31/10/2021 at 12:40, tim2 said:

Where we go in Spain you leave stuff by the bins and people come and take it if it's any good. That includes the equivalent of rag and bone men who take stuff and recycle for profit. If there's any tat left the binmen take it away.

 

 

[GUBRATS]

57 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

how do i persuade the wife and kids to "go stand by the bins" for an hour or 2?

 

I'd make sure you have a door key when you put the bins out

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 31/10/2021 at 12:40, tim2 said:

Where we go in Spain you leave stuff by the bins and people come and take it if it's any good. That includes the equivalent of rag and bone men who take stuff and recycle for profit. If there's any tat left the binmen take it away.

 

I believe they do this in some parts of America as well, a really good idea. Whereas round here the binmen won't take anything at all that isn't in the correct wheelie bin and I've got a mattress in my car port that is gonna be there for God knows how long if I can't come up with a couple more sizeable items to make it worthwhile paying the council £35 to take them away. 

[voteronniegibbs]

.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, voteronniegibbs said:

You can get rid of a mattress quite easily, if you strip the material covering off that can go into your recycling bin, or normal bin depending on your local bin dept rules. That just leaves the metal springs, which can be collected by a local scrap man.

 

That's a good idea! It is a nonslip mattress so it has some sort of hard bottom, I think possibly some kind of board but that could be broken up pretty easily as well.