U is for Unload
A couple of definitions of unload are:
To dispose of, to dump
To relieve of something burdensome, unburden
Once or twice a year -depending on where you actually live
most shires and councils
have what we call hard rubbish collections
It is a service for every household
whereby you can leave all those things
enormous or small – broken or otherwise – that you want to get rid of
on the nature strip out the front of your house
and a big truck comes along and does the deed for you
It lets you get rid of it – to unload – to unburden – For Free
It frees you from the thought of having to organise all that moving
lifting and paying!!
This is what happens here at this time of the year
Starting this week in my local area
Thats it in theory
In practice its slightly different!
It’s when that old saying
‘One Man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure’
comes into play
and the Hunters and Gathers come out.
Little cars and big utes will glide by, suddenly stop and drivers pick through the piles. Even when times are not hard like they are now it seems as though everyone is out for a bargain – turning into scavengers – in many cases utilising their skills
by upcycling their gains
Unloading others of their useable cast offs before the council truck arrives!
The going rate on scrap metal must have gone up lol
Anything that looks ‘metal’ goes in a flash – washing machines, dryers, bicycles, as well as various other metal bits and pieces are swooped on and removed almost as soon as it hits the nature strip.
Anyway, judging by my ‘nosiness’ while out walking
(yes, I’ve had a little squizzy at some piles here and there)
I think sales in TVs must have rocketed. From what I’ve seen
just about every house I’ve passed has at least one sitting on the grass.
It surely can’t be the result of the switch to digital that so many older people with older sets were upset over – that happened over 20 yrs ago.
Obviously bigger and better is the way to go – or are those new ‘you beaut’ ones not lasting as long
I wonder if they will have a truck just for them (tvs) on their own.
The trouble with all this ‘trawling aka car window shopping’ and then unburdening is that it starts to get messy. Instead of the nice neat (as per council guidlines) separated piles of junk we end up with something like this
A new version of urban sprawl 😊
I’m still wondering if (after breakfast) there’s time (before the garbos arrive) for me
to do a bit more cruising the streets with a view to window shopping
through my car’s window
Linking to Wednesday’s Words & Pics hosted by Denyse.
Still Waters 
Here in our hood, they finally stopped “the mess” and now you have the option to “book” a collection, with a small cost attached. But the “stuff” be within your boundary (nothing on the curb) and they still really fussy. Recently I came upon council collecting…3 trucks for different objects!
I tend to use Junk2Go as I don’t need sort anything. That’s what I did last year…and it was reasonable cost IMHO.
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Different councils have various schemes on the go here – we’ve got this others have the book a day one. Even with that one stuff sits around for a while because as sure as fate something will stop the truck arriving on the planned day. Most of it ends up in landfill- ‘cept in a slightly smaller form after being crushed in the garbo’s big monster truck!
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Some here ends up in landfill but if can be recycled or even fixed for resale … hence the extra trucks. It’s quite a good operation as the streets stay clear and clean.
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Resist the temptation. You don’t need more stuffs.
We have four collections a year. Mattresses are collected separately for recycling. You could run a weekly market stall selling what gets put out here.
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Oh I was good Andrew – nothing came home with me. I do get annoyed though seeing some of the ‘good’ as in useable not damaged goods put out.
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Look by all means, but don’t buy. I agree with Andrew—you most likely don’t need more stuff. We have a local organization here, where people take all sorts of stuff. They accept preictally everything. Then they fix it up and sell it for charity. Seems like a ‘win, win’ !
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I ended up being really sensible and just drove on by😊
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I loved this when I lived in a city where it was done. One man’s junk was indeed my treasures. I still use the big cooking pot, I found, the spikes from another pile is nearly done, and for many years I enjoyed drawing in the ekxtra large sketch pad. I also salvaged a lamp – since broken by me, but it lasted long – a lot of white flower pots, also now broken – 6 children mean that you go through a lot of breakable items. Not one thing I have not used at least 100 times, unlike some store-bought items 😉
Now it is a drive-them-to-the-dump-yuourself thing, and scavenging is illegal. I miss those piles.
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It’s great fun isn’t it Charlotte- you never know what you’ll find and be able to use. And for free as well!
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Oh hubby would be in heaven there and we would be having difficulty getting into the house.
Fantastic that you do have a collection day.
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It was a huge surprise when we first moved here – it was a huge surprise seeing so much ‘junk’ coming out of ‘posh’ houses as well.
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I own a few things that my husband found on the street. He brought them home and fixed them up and they were like new again.
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It’s surprising what others put out for collection- so much of with years of life still there
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I don’t have a problem with taking something to use yourself but the scavengers that take the metal and sell it make me angry as that is how the council subsidises the cost of the collections. I know we pay rates but if the council didn’t sell the metal then our rates couldn’t be used on overseas jaunts for councillors.
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😊😊😂
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It’s good to unload…and not only the tangible items!
Take care. 🙂
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Such a good thought Lee. As you rightly point out it doesn’t have to be ‘bricks and mortar’ that gets removed!
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Good to read your post Cathy!
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Here’s hoping all goes well with your move Denyse. looking forward to your post in a couple of weeks
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Thanks Cathy! We have lived in this area with 6 hard rubbish collections allowed per household annually. In our downsizing, so much went outside that we could not donate or sell. So many op shops have so many rules about anything electrical that they have to go out for hard rubbish. Link up when you are up to it…never any pressure to do so. Right now, am hoping I can get on-line at the new house. All the systems are ready for it, it’s the old “can we do it ourselves’ thing. Thank you for joining in this week’s link up for Wednesday’s Words and Pics. Next week I will be in ‘moving house’ mode, so no link up. All being well, the link up will be back on 8 March. Denyse.
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Unloading stuff and having a pick-up that one doesn’t have to schedule is such a good idea. That sure doesn’t happen in our area. Everyone is on their own to get rid of stuff. I applaud those who scavenge to reuse other’s cast offs. It’s always good to keep stuff out of the landfills or garbage dumps.
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I’m another who doesn’t mind the ‘hunter gatherers’ because I’ve done it myself over the years. Years ago as well as this yearly pick up we as ratepayers also received 4 free tip/dump (now called a waste transfer station!) passes – sadly that has gone now. Our rates are still going up each year though
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I don’t mine people going through the piles and repurposing anything they find. But I do mine that they leave it in a mess.
At least be considerate and leave it neat and tidy
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Agreed Angela!
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My little regional town in Queensland doesn’t do the big rubbish pickups which is kinda sad as I’ve got things I can’t be bothered advertising for someone to come and get, but would happily leave on my footpath (old bookshelves, plant pots etc…)
As for unloading or unburdening, I’m struggling with some work stuff at the moment. I was so happy going back into the full time / more challenging workforce. And the work itself is fine, but there are a couple of people who are challenging and it’s ruining the whole thing for me and I cannot stop thinking about work ALL OF THE TIME. So I need to work out a way to unburden myself of the toxic thoughts….
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What a great idea for those big items. We have to take them to the tip ourselves or pay someone else to do if.
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