Who loves "Throw-out week"??

Lumen Miner (Mitchell) · #1 27-07-2009, 11:36 PM

Is it just me, or do all ATM's like "throw -out week?

I am driving to work today, all I can think about is scanning the items, placed on the curb for throw out...

Machines, motors, castors, bearings, rollers,

Maybe it is just me, but the oddity of the Australian, NSW annual throw-out has me amazed... I would love to see a national exchange week, to fully quantify the benefits of free exchange.

I have noticed of late in particularly affluent areas, that they choose to only put semi-out of date products on their curb. I imagine this is due to maintaining their "image" within the neighbours... Example.. I live in Beecroft, my affluent neighbours throw things such as, last years model digital cameras out to be collected.. Last clean-up I found a digital camera, with charger and memory card with case in the first houses throw-out I checked...

Anyways, does anyone else enjoy this time of year...??? Or am I a freak?

gman (Grant) · #2 28-07-2009, 09:20 AM

Council stopped this precess where I live about 5 years ago for the same reasons of leaving a mess.
We now have to call the council to make a collection booking.
The council then mails labels to put on the items to show that it is a booked collection
There are strict guidelines on what can and can't be put out and the sizes of each.
Old appliances, matresses etc are collected separatley
It is only allowed to be put out 2 days prior to collection.
Anyone caught going through the waste can be charged for theft as now the waste belongs to the council.

Dosen't stop people going through it though - it dosen't bother me if they do as long as it is kept tidy

AstralTraveller (David) · #3 28-07-2009, 09:47 AM

I like throw-out time, but not for what I can get. With the junk we've accumulated it is better to give than to receive. The metal recyclers around here are very industrious and any metal waste only lasts a day or so.

My only concern is that my wife has a real bee in her bonnet about getting rid of 'junk'. I have to check the pile to see whether anything of value (to me) is there. I fear that one day I'll find myself neatly bundled up and sitting on the kerb, and no one will want to recycle this old codger.

erick (Eric) · #4 28-07-2009, 09:59 AM

The second-hand dealers go round early with their trucks/trailers!

But - I got a good vacuum cleaner for the garage and a few office chairs that could be butchered into useful observing chairs.

mental4astro (Alexander) · #5 28-07-2009, 11:07 AM

Found a little 3" reflector with its tripod & finder back in march. Donated it to a local school that didn't have a scope! It has a good, loving home now.

My parents rescued an old westinghouse fridge 28 years ago. Damn thing is still going strong!

DavidU (Dave) · #6 28-07-2009, 11:14 AM

Years ago I got a 100 year old French black marble clock.
It is worth a lot of money.
Why would you throw something like this out?

PCH (Paul) · #7 28-07-2009, 11:27 AM

I was chatting to my brother in his front yard at a 'collection time' here in a suburb of Perth a few years ago, when a car sort of meanders onto the driveway a metre or so from us and comes to a slow halt. The drivers looks unwell, and he opens the door and falls out in a heap, with blood and bruising all over his face.

We attempt to make sure he's gonna be ok and make him comfortable etc etc, and when he comes round in a few minutes, he explains that he's been looking through someone's pile of collection junk on the council verge - looking for stuff that he can make use of, I imagine. Anyway, no sooner has he started looking through the pile, when suddenly the home owner comes charging out of the house (a bloke obviously), quickly starts a slanging match and then proceeds to give this guy a good pasting. So, folks, beware of what can happen at council collection time - not everyone treats it lightly

Lumen Miner (Mitchell) · #8 28-07-2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erick

The second-hand dealers go round early with their trucks/trailers!

But - I got a good vacuum cleaner for the garage and a few office chairs that could be butchered into useful observing chairs.

The guys in the trucks always erk me... I like walking at night.

I picked up two nice little timber stools, one padded. The padded one will make an excellent observing chair. It has a good thickness of padding.

Lumen Miner (Mitchell) · #9 28-07-2009, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

The down side is the inconsiderate people that go through all the rubbish you've carefully stacked up on the verge and spread it all over the place.
I had one of these council cleanups 2 months ago and some industrious scavenger decided to rip open the black plastic bags containing garden refuse just to see if I'd left anything valuable in them

I make sure I leave the pile in better shape then when I found it. I find myself putting what others dragged out, back where the owners left it.

Your right, some people just throw it everywhere.

JimmyH155 · #10 28-07-2009, 01:24 PM

All that useful stuff "One man's meat is another man's poison." Talking about rubbish, the richest rubbish dump I came across was in Gove, N.T. My friend who was the health plane pilot was a top tip scrounger.

He made a nice little sideline in collecting mowing machines fixing them up and selling them. His best scoop was, though, an old VW Beetle he found at the tip. The battery was flat, so he rushed back home, collected a battery and his wife to drive his car home, put in the battery and drove it home with the petrol that was still in the tank

. He sold it shortly afterwards for $400

That's not all! being the pilot of the health plane, whenever he was out in the outstations say on dental clinic day, he would stooge around the rubbish tip. He collected several good car engines, doors and all sorts - all airfreighted free back to Gove!!!

toryglen-boy (Duncan) · #11 28-07-2009, 01:57 PM

can i be a n00b and ask

"what exactly is throw-out week" ????

AstralTraveller (David) · #12 28-07-2009, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyH155

That's not all! being the pilot of the health plane, whenever he was out in the outstations say on dental clinic day, he would stooge around the rubbish tip. He collected several good car engines, doors and all sorts - all airfreighted free back to Gove!!!

While the patients were left on the tip?!

mental4astro (Alexander) · #13 28-07-2009, 02:10 PM

Also known as 'big rubbish day' & 'council cleanup' here about's. When the council has perscribed days when you can leave all your bulky rubbish to be collected, such as beds, mattersses, fridges, bbqs, etc.

I also scavange the cast iron burners from discarded bbqs that are not rusted out. My bbq is all stainless steel, except for the burners. Sprayed the surplus ones with vegie oil. Got burners now for the next 12years. The barbie gets used once or twice a week, rain, hail or shine,

.

erick (Eric) · #14 28-07-2009, 02:37 PM

aka "Hard Rubbish Day"

GrahamL · #15 28-07-2009, 05:08 PM

A friend who bought the salvage rights at the local dump told me
one of the most surpriseing regular finds was gold , ma and pa pass on , the family sorts through there belongings and often a bit of it does get dumped , a lot of older glasses often have gold frames

kinetic (Steve) · #16 28-07-2009, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lumen Miner

Is it just me, or do all ATM's like "throw -out week?

I am driving to work today, all I can think about is scanning the items, placed on the curb for throw out...

Machines, motors, castors, bearings, rollers,

Anyways, does anyone else enjoy this time of year...??? Or am I a freak?

Ahhhhhhhh, this thread is like therapy

Steve

mozzie (Peter) · #17 28-07-2009, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toryglen-boy

can i be a n00b and ask

"what exactly is throw-out week" ????

duncan a free service that the local council provides you place your unwanted household items on the footpath and they collect it and take it to the tip and some people throw out some really good stuff
mozzie

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #18 28-07-2009, 07:42 PM

A lot of cheap computer nerds (and dubious dealers) go for old computer cases as they usually have the Microsoft operating System Certificate of Authenticity (CoFA) stuck to the rear of the case.

This is the authentication for a Microsoft OS to be installed on that computer. They get these cases, ring MS & tell them some hardware has died & was replaced, quote the CoFA numbers & re-register the OS in their name on a new computer.

Cunning and against the terms of agreement for CoFA ...but they get away with it.

One persons trash is another's gold!

Glenhuon (Bill) · #19 29-07-2009, 12:32 PM

Ah yes, the COA stickers, very handy things, have peeled many of them from old cases for "recycling"

The XP Pro stickers are best, don't have to reactivate them. Kerbside pickup is a goldmine at times, and I regularly trot down to the recycling yard at the local tip for a look around if I require materials for a project. Just modified the 10" by fitting a couple of 20l bin lid clamps so it can be easily slipped up and down for adjusting balance on the Dob mount. Cost, $2.

Bill

Mike21 (Michael) · #20 29-07-2009, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toryglen-boy

can i be a n00b and ask

"what exactly is throw-out week" ????

I gather you Canberrans are deprived of throw out week, it's not something you can miss. Even if you're blind, you're likely to trip over your neighbour's pile of rubbish. Sounds like yet another good idea that has been destroyed by politicians.