The two months beginning with "A" are dumpster diver holidays here in B'town. Those are the two months when the kiddy widdy winkeys clear out the student ghettos and leave four years of junk at the curb for big trash pickup. The students seldom read the local news so have no idea when that's scheduled. As a result, the sidewalks are lined with entire living room suits, computers and printers, tropical fish tanks (often with the fish included), mattresses and at least a semester's (or maybe even a final's week) worth of imported beer bottles.
We're not quite sure how much of the stuff actually gets hauled away. Our professional divers have loads of time to cruise the neigbhborhoods looking for garage sale loot or new "used" junk they can sell to incoming students' to furnish bedrooms, living rooms, front porches --or even rooftops. (I can't even imagine sleeping or laying on some of this stuff which I'm sure is home to numerous varieties of cock roaches and other Hoosier vermin or mildewed and moldy from four years of spilled beer and other fluids.)
And then there's the stuff that dumpster dreams are made of--those rare items that find good, long-term homes somewhere in Bloomington suburbia. I have a very close friend that went for a dive in the dumpster his shop shares with upstairs student tenants. What wonderful prizes were won! What treasures were carted home! After uttering the necessary "Oh, yuck, how gross. You found those where?" I immediately encouraged them to be loaded in the dishwasher and cleansed at the highest temperature possible. We then proceeded to use them to cook Saturday night supper.
To the parents I saw today in our Target store--fear not. All that stuff your little darlings just had to have will certainly be left behind at graduation. But rest assured, somewhere, sometime, it will once again be contributing to Bloomington's greater good. In a town that goes absolutely ga ga over recycling, dumpster diving is our form "community service."
Schedule your Outlook and sync your PDAs. Dumpster season opens again at the end of next April.
1 comment:
Not only does dumpster diving provide me with an income, and not only is dumpster diving the best way to truly recycle items and keep them out of our local landfill, but it also provides a way for lower income people to afford items that they would otherwise not be able to afford. I have taken it to the next level this year by starting a grassroots project here in Bloomington, Indiana that I call the Urban Waste Reclamation Project. I started it in January and already we have reclaimed and recycled over 1,500 books, over 3,000 comic books, clothing, space heaters, laptops, appliances and so much more. Much of our finds we offer for free or donate to local families in need and/or local charitable organizations here in town. Check it out at http://uwrorg.blogspot.com/
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