Scavenging...

[summerdays]

Old computer stuff can usually be sold off on ebay... hubby is always fiddling with the insides of the computer and had a huge box of bits. When he decides he doesn't want it he puts it on ebay ... even stuff quite a bit out of date. Sometimes it only goes for a pound or two but other bits have gone for as much as £30 or £40. Its the only thing we have had sucess, getting rid of, on ebay.

 

[User482]

If people are throwing stuff away it's usually rubbish. I've been at the tip a few times this last couple of weeks and at least twice I've seen people throwing computers away, I thought about salvaging them but they're probably throwing them away for a reason.

I read that a third of all food is thrown away. Difficult to believe that none of it is salvageable - old veg always ends up as soup at User482 towers.

 

[GaryA]

The logical way to stop people throwing away perfectly servicable items is to change the social order so that they can't afford to throw them away

 

[Aperitif]

The logical way to stop people throwing away perfectly servicable items is to change the social order so that they can't afford to throw them away

I'm going to stop making throwaway comments...

 

[domtyler]

Of course, one could argue that throwing more stuff away creates more work and hence more jobs. Therefore a good thing?

 

[User482]

The logical way to stop people throwing away perfectly servicable items is to change the social order so that they can't afford to throw them away

Well, I could afford to throw 1/3 of my food away, but in actual fact throw away virtually nothing.

 

[User482]

Of course, one could argue that throwing more stuff away creates more work and hence more jobs. Therefore a good thing?

Throwing food away whilst millions starve is a good thing?

 

[fossyant]

We've used Freecycle to get rid of a few items - it's the wife who says put in on - we've got rid of an old microwave and a 10 year old settee within a day or so...phew so much easier than the tip..

As for Dysons - they fall apart.... hence loads get chucked - we cover ours on extended warranty as so many bits have broken and the amount we pay per year is covered by replacement parts... so far 2 x wands, 1x long flexi hose, 2 x foot plate hoses, 1 x foot plate, 1 x whirlwind part, 1 x rear 'framework/pipes' and a new motor.... that's in 3 years.... (we have 2 x messy kids though, so it gets used every day at least twice......)

If you use something like freecycle, and give it a chance, there will always be someone who would like your item..... the local tips are full of TV's - everyone want's a huge LCD telly these days... I'm sure most of those 'old' tellys could have gone to someone 'less well off'...

 

[User482]

We've used Freecycle to get rid of a few items - it's the wife who says put in on - we've got rid of an old microwave and a 10 year old settee within a day or so...phew so much easier than the tip..

As for Dysons - they fall apart.... hence loads get chucked - we cover ours on extended warranty as so many bits have broken and the amount we pay per year is covered by replacement parts... so far 2 x wands, 1x long flexi hose, 2 x foot plate hoses, 1 x foot plate, 1 x whirlwind part, 1 x rear 'framework/pipes' and a new motor.... that's in 3 years.... (we have 2 x messy kids though, so it gets used every day at least twice......)

If you use something like freecycle, and give it a chance, there will always be someone who would like your item..... the local tips are full of TV's - everyone want's a huge LCD telly these days... I'm sure most of those 'old' tellys could have gone to someone 'less well off'...

I've managed to get rid of two old kitchens, a broken dishwasher and a 25 year old TV on freecycle.

 

[Paulus]

Surely vegetables, unless they are rotten and going green are salvageable to use in soups and stews. Too much good food is wasted and thrown away. These days the scourge is sell by and display by dates. After these dates much of the produce is perfectly eatable. Many other products are also reuseable. It just takes a bit of imagination to see the future uses of them.

 

[longers]

I get Dysons from a bloke on the market who refurbs them. I'm on my second in 2 years and haven't paid more than £40 for the pair. My latest model is a belter and he's got my old one back to try to fix up and sell on.

I very rarely throw away food and what is suitable goes to the worms.

I will skip dive for suitable items and have some great stuff in the past. The feller opposite my parents moved his family to Portugal last year and in emptying the house skipped about 3 loads of hardly used kids toys and games.
My mum and other neighbours tried to convince him about charities crying out for such good stuff.
He'd rather pay for them to be skipped .

I think some folk can't bear the thought of others benefiting and would rather see such stuff go to waste.
A lot of stuff got liberated from those skips .

 

[Arch]

There was a huge number of bikes last time I went to the tip - most looked to be shockwave and apollo full sussers, from what I could see. I did toy with the idea of rooting for a nice steel framed 12 speed, but didn't fancy my chances :8:

You might have been lucky. When my late BF was going through a patch at a loose end, he would often stroll down to the tip and come back with something that only needed a little work, or new tubes, and he did them up and sold them on to our friends for a very little profit, so that mates had bikes to get about on. There were a couple he was able to ride home from the tip - they were mostly steel framed utility type bikes. And he got a Moulton Speed Six once.

I think the tip bikes now go to our local bike recycling project.

 

[domtyler]

Surely vegetables, unless they are rotten and going green are salvageable to use in soups and stews. Too much good food is wasted and thrown away. These days the scourge is sell by and display by dates. After these dates much of the produce is perfectly eatable. Many other products are also reuseable. It just takes a bit of imagination to see the future uses of them.

So true, my wife won't eat anything past its date even if it is clearly fine. :8:

 

[domtyler]

Throwing food away whilst millions starve is a good thing?

I wasn't really talking about food, more consumer items.

 

[Globalti]

I own a 1986 Land Rover 90. The only original parts left are the engine and the chassis. The rest has come off all kinds of other scrapped and crashed Land Rovers. I am pleased with my latest addition, a £300 gearbox off a drowned water company Defender - it came full of an oil/water emulsion but it's now giving great service, nice and quiet as it's the latest spec. Is this the ultimate in recycling?