To be so surprised at what people throw away

[Soubriquet]

My dh works at the local tip. Actually he commutes between two local ones on days he’s needed.

They are allowed to help themselves to stuff to bring home. He has come home with some amazing things. Dvds still sealed. Teddies with tags. Furniture in excellent condition. He’s even bought home ornaments that are in pristine condition.

Some of it is valuable. Some not so much.

My DH would love your Husbands job. Mine can't drive past a skip without getting in it. Due to his job he has often been on site when home owners are getting rid of item, i never knew what he would turn up with but his best treasure was a Mouse man small table, worth so much money.
It really is shocking how much goes to waste in this country. We al buy too much for the sake of buying, it is shameful.

I really wish our local tip had a swap or take area. For a society that is meant to be embracing recycling etc we really are woefully behind. The stuff that is dumped locally is mad. I feel it would also reduce the council landfill and haulage costs.

This is one of my favourite things he’s bought home. No damages to it at all

My dh is exactly like that. He loves rooting through stuff and seeing if there’s anything worth saving.

My kids have got an entire box of dvds in the last week! Some of those still sealed. Yeah we have Netflix and all that, but on the days the Wi-Fi isn’t working, it comes in handy

some people prefer to dump rather than having the hassle of selling or taking to a charity shop or giving away for free

My DH, knew all the guys at our local tip, when we were moving during lockdown, charity shops were closed. We were downsizing and dumped loads of really lovely stuff, that they took into there shop.

The only things they aren’t allowed to take are things like mattresses and sofas due to the possibility of bedbugs

Damn shame sometimes as he has had brand new single mattresses still sealed dumped. Gone straight to landfill

Its extraordinary what people throw out.

When we moved house we did a massive declutter and we're doing 2 or 3 trips a day to the local tip to recycle anything useless. Anything useful went to their re-use shop. It was far easier than going to the charity shops.

We went so frequently, DS was allowed to root through the newly-arrived CDs and vinyl before it got sorted. He scored loads of pristine albums for 50p each. so much for decluttering

Our local council has a "too Good to waste" section at the tip so things are then sold in a shop for very low prices. Why doesn't he advocate for that?

Apparently in Denmark they have sections of the tip that are nice and clean specially for baby and children’s things, so people come and help themselves without judgement etc.

We have a separate area at our tip for clothes and bric a brac, ie stuff thats too good to throw away, but stuff that I probably wouldnt bother trying to sell on ebay or whatever. So we often take stuff doen there because its easier than having to lug stuff through town to a charity shop. So technically I one of the people who throws "good" stuff away, but we dont put it in the actual landfill bit!

I would rather throw things than mess around on selling sites tbh

🤮

We were at the tip last week (heaving away bits of ancient dismantled rotten wood from old built-in wardrobes in our doer-upper house, definitely nothing anyone would want!) and saw a perfectly good wooden chair in the skip we were chucking into. Then watched a couple throw a pristine TV stand away.

I'm on Trash Nothing and we’ve given tons of stuff away on that.

I saw a woman smashing furniture to pieces at the tip a few weeks ago and was relieved when she was bollocked by the blokes who work there.

Usually “the tip” is officially called a “Recycling Centre” so people take stuff there under the impression that it will actually be recycled or sent out to charity shops/community centres/sold on so they don’t think it’s actually getting thrown away.

What?

It’s perfectly good products. There’s nothing wrong with it and some of them are even re-sellable.

This would be great. I've put things on FreeCycle and get messages almost immediately but I've also been messed around a lot by people who don't show up or start arguing that I should deliver.

I've given up giving items on our local Facebook page. But I've found a company called Anglo that collect items from your home. They sell the items and any money they make goes to charity. It's been a godsend to me recently.

anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk/

Thank goodness a large amount of people don't share your sentiments. How bloody hard is it to take it to a charity shop or put it outside for free.

You're right op so many people are indeed so wasteful!

Where I live there is a massive charity shop next to it (think huge warehouse)

They take everything from your old table and chairs to your clothes

You can park up and they'll take it from there-you don't even have to get out of the car if you don't want to

I'm amazed how many people can't go that extra few feet to the charity shop

I saw a beautiful pine mirror-nothing wrong with it,being thrown into the huge skip

I would have bought it if they'd donated it

Such a waste

In my area we’re a big fan of the unwritten rule of “if it’s on the pavement, it’s free to take”
We’ve had - seesaw, storage towers, a dolls crib, a megablocks table. All in brilliant condition.
I’ve also placed things outside and they’re gone within an hour.

last week there was an exercise bike nearby and a cross trainer. There is always someone that will want it

It’s local recycling 🤣 just give it a good clean and you’re good.

We’ve always loved a freebie and we once calculated that our entire 4 bed home has been furnished for free, literally the whole thing. I think we’ve bought a wardrobe and one of the kids double beds. Even the flooring was free as a company I did logistics for at the time had a carpet department and regularly skipped still-on-the-roll flooring.
My husband now works for a company that fits out high end businesses and we get all their cast offs, often still boxed. I’ve had a brand new microwave and a sit-stand computer desk this week 😃

I don’t drive so no I won’t be lugging things around to charity shops, if you put things outside around here you will get into trouble. I haven’t got time for free sites too many time wasters would rather chuck it

A lot of charity shops won’t accept donations they can’t sell easily, like DVDs or things like soft toys for hygiene reasons; it’s often virtually impossible to get reliable collectors for high value freebies on Freecycle, let alone cheap bits and bric a brac. I’m not surprised people give up and dump it for space.