I'm with you on that. It breaks my heart to see good stuff thrown away. I know someone could use it. Dh and I often walk at night. I've seen a lot of kid's bikes and other toys thrown out since Christmas. Lots of people are doing spring cleaning. I saw one house that had a lot of kitchen items.

I don't understand it either-such a waste. Don't understand litter either.

I used to have a neighbor who lived across the street. He and his wife had one child - a boy. That child had more toys purchased for him than one can imagine - mainly because father was busy working from home and mother was a nut job who slept all day and stayed up all night buying things on TV and eBay. He would get bored with what he had, and they would pitch it - into the huge dumpster that lived in their driveway for several years. It was totally against the laws in our 6th class city, but ordinances passed in 6th class cities are not enforceable so they just blew off letter from the city mayor and council. Then, they started adding a lot of the stuff she was buying. Every single day, the UPS/FedEx/USPS trucks would each back up in their driveway and leave 5-10 packages...EACH!

I offered to take the stuff to Goodwill but owner "didn't want to be bothered" and just trashed all this stuff. I was SO glad when they moved!

There's simply no excuse!

Yikes, I could have used both last week... but since bought a glass dish like that. Where I lived before, all you had to do leave items at the curb. They would be gone in no time flat. Lots of people enjoyed others cast offs. So far, there is nothing like that done here.

I shop at goodwill and Salvation Army and other thrift stores, unless I can purchase the same item brand new for the same amount of dollars or even less.

I am still looking for a fry-pan about that size, and wish, I could have my old cast iron one back.

Moni

Some people feel strongly about disposing of unwanted household items so that others can use them, and some don't. I understand both possible views.

There are large parts of the country where home refuse collection doesn't include curbside collection of recyclables in separate containers from other household trash. For those in such areas, getting your community services to do so will have a significantly greater effect on not wasting resources than any concern about what does or doesn't get contributed to thrift stores.

I hate to see wasted items like that.

I don't understand the rule of not taking something from the dump if you can use/recycle it in some way - that's such a waste!

Isn't it actually easier to put it outside and post a "curb alert" on Craigslist, free of charge? Or put a note on it. "Free". My stuff always went fast.

My garage is at the alley so I see many usable item just tossed out. Sometimes I stop and later donate it. at the end of the alley is a resale shop that benefits a senior center. When they have items that don't sell, they toss it into a garbage bin. One neighbor piks stuff and sells it at his yard sale. I have been know to look into the bin and have come home with some finds. The best was a solid brass chandelier that was marked $25. Took it home and installed it but first stopped into the shop and gave them the asking price. I priced it at an upscale lighting store for over $500!

Just shows you that one persons trash is anothers treasure.

I hear ya. My 1st sewing machine came from the neighbors garbage can.

"I don't understand the rule of not taking something from the dump if you can use/recycle it in some way"

I suppose that's the rule at most dumps, to limit liability and discourage people from going to the dump to "go shopping". Walking around on dumped "stuff" is very dangerous. In addition to the risk of falling, there are no shortage of sharp things, to include used syringes, knives, broken metal and glass, etc., Plus, heavy equipment and large trucks moving in and out. Not a place for people who don't belong to wander around.

Glad you picked up the items...people in our rentals often leave usable items behind that I take. Items that I don't use I donate to ARC thrift stores..I can't understand just throwing away items in good shape.

I see this on my walks on trash/recycling day. We have several organizations that will come to pick up good usable items of all sorts, and there are also drop off bins and used goods stores all over the place -- but every week I see good, usable stuff -- sometimes expensive stuff -- in good condition, not damaged or broken, set out for the trash (or in the recycling bin, even though our county only take bottles, paper and cans).

I have gone back to get my car and have salvaged chairs, stools, strollers, car seats (unexpired), 2 beds (undamaged!), 2 vacuums (including a Dyson that only needed the filters cleaned!), toys, bikes, small appliances, sports equipment, furniture, décor items, 2 rugs (undamaged and currently in my living room and family room), the ceiling fan that is now in my family room....I could go on.

People no longer use something, or redecorate, or downsize -- and just send the stuff to the landfill? I don't get it, and it upsets me (it shouldn't, I know, but it does). I know my neighborhood -- these aren't sick, elderly folks who perhaps couldn't be expected to find another way to dispose of their unwanted items.

Okay, rant over!

Unfortunately even were the cookware put into the recycling bin it would most like end up in the landfill. It is not cost effective to separate all the metals that may be part of a pan's construction. Pyrex and ceramic dishes can't be melted down with container glass so putting them into a single stream recycling bin is just contaminating the bin.

I think a lot of people depending on where they live simply don't have time to sort everything and haul it off to donate and recycle. Maybe they are cleaning out an estate. Easier to make a keep and toss pile. A lot of places have become really picky about what they will accept. Some areas have laws preventing passing on things like beds and even other furniture for public health reasons. Old toys can't be given away even in mint condition due to lead fears, new choking standards etc. In California just about everything has a "cancer" warning. Lighting code is so strict you can't recycle fixtures easily.

I would never pick up a car seat. The expiration date means nothing. If the car seat was in an accident it's like a helmet. One incident and it's done. DD and her friends take car seats to trade-ins sometimes but they are marked and destroyed. Never recycled for use.

We have single stream recycling. I try to recycle as much as possible but I see a lot of bins overflowing with plain trash. Even making it simple and easy doesn't work for people too lazy to do it. Our city is doing random checks and leaving notes about things they find that don't belong. But mostly the checks are only done if the guy has to get out of the truck to pick up oil of cardboard.

Many years ago, like 40, I worked with a woman whose husband once had a job with the city, picking up "trash" in Beverly Hills, CA. She said that you wouldn't believe the beautiful items the rich celebrities just tossed. Since there was no rule back then about employees taking "refuse" home, they ended up with enough items to start a small antique/collectibles shop, later specializing in gemstones.

When I have good items that I no longer want, I always put them on the corner near my house that has the most traffic visibility, with a "free" sign. Rarely are these items still there even a few hours later. I've noticed that neighbors have taken to doing the same thing.

When I recently helped my BIL pack up his house in preparation for moving/downsizing, he trashed a lot of perfectly good stuff because he couldn't be bothered thinking about sending it to a charity shop. Unfortunately I was not in a position (in a different town away from home) to do it myself. Made me so angry at the wanton waste.

When I packed up my mother's house I had three piles: keep, trash, recycle. It wasn't hard.

My SIL kept his Direct TV components claiming they may want them back. Um, no. Read your paperwork. It says to recycle them. Some folks can't let go of anything and they use excuses to keep them.

Oops, came back and read my post again. That should be "not bear to see," not "bare."

Did you know that not everything that is donated to thrift shops hits the shelves? A lot of it goes to the dump. So, we really don't know who tossed them in the trash. Either way with recycling the big thing now (we recycle 90% of what needs to be recycled), and thrift stores, online "garage sales" and give away sites, there is really no excuse for most of the things that are in the dump to be there. The city here is actually laying off a lot of employees who work in the city landfills because we are doing such a good job at recycling! It's sad for the people who work there, but good knowing the citizens here are doing their job. There is a city just south of Calgary that takes items like this that get thrown out, clean them up and sell them for a very good low price. It keeps their landfill at a minimum while raising funds for the city.

I don't have an answer to OPs question /comments on wastefulness. However I think it is a new age mindset. We have a lovely older flat screen that WE KNOW requires a minor repair but we were quoted $700 for repair! No way we will repair when we can buy a new bigger better model for less.

But I notice newer generations have no problem with cheaper things b/c they tire of them so what if they're treated like trash--little or no attachment to things. Fixing the old simply doesn't make sense to new generations when the cheap latest and greatest is just around the corner. I don't like it but not sure I can disagree with that way of thinking.

The landfill I'm most familiar with had similar "no scavenging" laws. But it was common practice for people to put larger, still usable items near the bins for others to take home. The couple guys in charge of the landfill never objected.

My parents were born in the Depression, the impact of that time guided them as they raised us -- waste not, want not. Our daughter prefers to shop at thrift shops, not so much because of financial hardship but because she's seen first hand that their selection is more varied than retail stores and often, the quality of an old item exceeds the quality of newer stuff.

It's a crazy world, sometimes.

When it comes to recycling and avoiding polluting the environment, apathy abounds. (Just look at what's in our oceans....)

Before our trash pickup included recycling, I drove my recycling and my son's family's about 25 miles to a drop-off. When recycling finally came to our area, we were delighted. It's single-stream. One bin for trash, the other for everything recyclable. Bins provided. Couldn't be easier! But is everyone on our road taking advantage of this? Not even close.

Nice finds, Graywings. But I share your feelings on the subject.

Off topic:

I'm kind of tired of every thread turning into a bash the other party thread. You can go bash the opposing party on Hot Topics. That's the place for it. Your comments are ruining this forum.

Back on topic.

Like I said above, I try to recycle what I can and get reusable items in the hands of someone who will use them. I've known a few people who won't use the recycle bins because just because something is recyclable doesn't mean it will get recycled. Recycling sounds nice. The truth is we don't have enough viable outlets for all of our recyclable goods such as plastic bottles and many still end up in the landfills. This is the first neighborhood where I've lived that I have a recycle truck included with other services that takes all of our recyclables and hauls them away. I've saved aluminum cans and newspapers before and taken them to be recycled, but most often didn't have a place to stockpile it until I had both time and a place to take it. Someone in my last neighborhood invited us to join them in paying a $35 or so fee every month to have a truck come through the neighborhood every week and take recyclables. There was no guarantee the stuff would be recycled and we couldn't see paying another bill to basically take our trash to the dump.

That is exactly why Freecycle is so popular. I've picked up high-quality skillets from Freecycle that just needed a cleaning. My kitchen storage cabinet is a prized possession, again from Freecycle. It was a stereo cabinet that works perfectly as storage for my casserole dishes, enameled cast iron dutch ovens and recipe binders.

Susan, I'm positive there are just as many Hillary supporters who don't recycle. That was an uncalled for remark.

I removed it, guys.

Our city provides a wheeled recycling bin to residences. Everything goes in, unsorted. Pickup is weekly. Garbage/trash pickup is twice a week. Given what I observe on the street, there is much more 'recycling' than garbage. We two adults produce enough recycling to put the bin out alternate weeks. In winter, we could do the garbage run monthly! (No disposal, either.)

I support whatever recycling is offered. A "good enough" program is better than waiting for 'ideal'.

I avoid buying over-packaged items. There's more 'presentation' than product. Most boxes are twice as large as what's in them.