Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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mandycharlie
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Just call me stig of the dumpWho loves going to the tip....
I absolutely adore it, hubby has to take me or endure serious sulks from me.
Best buys... an oak plan file (for storing A1 sheets of paper of the type a drawing office would use, bought for £15.00 found on flea bay many times for nearly five hundred.. (one day I will sell it)
A very comfortable office swivel chair, bikes for the kids, full patio set, stainless steel pans, terracotta pots, A level books for no.1 son, kilmner jars, computer games and thats my list from just the last six months..
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Bernie66
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Re: Just call me stig of the dump | mandycharlie wrote: | Who loves going to the tip....
I absolutely adore it, hubby has to take me or endure serious sulks from me.
Best buys... an oak plan file (for storing A1 sheets of paper of the type a drawing office would use, bought for £15.00 found on flea bay many times for nearly five hundred.. (one day I will sell it)
A very comfortable office swivel chair, bikes for the kids, full patio set, stainless steel pans, terracotta pots, A level books for no.1 son, kilmner jars, computer games and thats my list from just the last six months.. |
All good stuff, its when the car is heavier in the way back you have got a problem 
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Bugs
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as far as I know the tip near us you either get Very Hard Stares if you suggest taking anything back or positively escorted off the premises. Rubbish second hand bookshops and charity shops near me too. I suspect seeing the black bags every bin day that people throw stuff out rather than trek somewhere to recycle it.
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Caplan
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A few questions about wanting to take items from tips.
What would you pay for it new? - OK You don't want to do that....
Second hand price then? - No, not sure i really need it right now at that price....
But you haven't got one already so would you really go out and steal it? I guess not either....
You usually need to offer the guys at the tip a few realistic (see above for my guide on pricing!) coins of the realm for anything you want to take out. Wherever i've lived they always keep an eye out for the 'best stuff' and ask people to put it 'on the side' It's a click. Second hand dealers etc often come along and offer CASH for good looking gear. That's why most tip guys go all defensive when they think you're taking their 'Bonus'. They see rubbish all day long and are well aware of the value of things!
And don't go all high and mighty on some of those guys. Council wages ARE crap and at least they are recycling in a small way.....
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Lozzie
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Bournemouth Tip used to sell stuff on - all legal and above board - everything from bric-a-brac, books, clothes, old bathroom fittings, doors, scrap wood going for a song ... *sigh*, those were the days.
Nowadays Bournemoth and Poole tips are both run like military operations - you have to show ID and proof of residency before they let you past and after that the pressure to get shot of your load and LEAVE is so heavy that there is no time for any gentle totting.
I think they believe there is a health and safety issue these days.
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chrissy
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It must be quite lucrative being in charge of the local tip. Ours has a stall outside his little hut where he sells on the choice items. It was great before that was the case though. I knew a woman who said her husband was a dustman and her house was virtually furnished from the tip. I had a very nasty vision of what her house must look like but it was lovely! She also had cases of stuff from shops which had been dumped because one had split open and had made the rest a mess.
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jema
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Ours has quite a lot of signs prohibiting people taking stuff from area like electrical goods 
Presumably there is a small amount of money the councie make on these, but it could not compare with true recycling, and they have the nerve to call it a recycling centre
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marigold
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Our tips have charity recycling "shops" for the choicest pickings these days, so you have to pay for things. The blokes who work there are friendly, but I wouldn't dare just take something without asking!
People in my area quite often put useable stuff out in the street with a "help yourself" sign. I forage recycling boxes on the street for magazines and skips for wood. Friends who live in posher parts of town have found amazing things in skips - mirrors, chairs, a big slab of marble which will make a great table one day......
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mandycharlie
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I think my post may have been taken wrongly, so just to clarify. I would never take something without asking how much they would like for each item. Its normally very little and then its my choice if I find the price acceptable to me.
I think my council tip is owned by the council and run privately. So these chaps will be paying the council for the priviledge of selling things on. Well thats what I've been led to believe in the past and they have been doing it for as long as I can remember, living memory is over 30 yrs.
My dad was a dustman for most of his working life, five kids (two of which they adopted, me and my twin sister) stay at home mum that just did a couple of cleaning jobs to make ends meet. I wouldn't say we were poor, but we didn't have extra's. And my mum's house was spotless. Treats were often items that had been given to my dad on his rounds, I remember my first bike, being put together from two old bikes dad had been given, it had one white wheel and one black wheel,, I was very proud,,, cause no one had one like that.. oh and it was red. 
Then it became a sackable offence to take anything home that somebody had given you, so that all stopped,
And now from this thread I hear that some tips actively prohibit you from reusing something somebody else doesn't need anymore/grown out off.
that makes me very sad,
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tahir
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| mandycharlie wrote: | And now from this thread I hear that some tips actively prohibit you from reusing something somebody else doesn't need anymore/grown out off.
that makes me very sad, |
That's definitely the case at ours
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JB
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Possibly the best 'shop' that has opened around the corner from me is the council recycling centre (they don't like the word tip these days) where the guys who run resell the good stuff as someone said all legal and above board. I haven't had any great buys from there but have had some excellent value ones such as a stack of 10" plastic plant pots for a quid, and all the demijohns you could possibly want (still looking for kilners though)
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Res
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| jema wrote: | | Ours has quite a lot of signs prohibiting people taking stuff from area like electrical goods |
Thats down to current legislation. You cant sell electrical goods without them being tested and certified by and qualified electrician and you dont get them working for pennies down at the "refuse centre" 
I used to work for a company that manfactured and serviced waste compactors, the machines that some councils use, that you chuck your stuff in the belly of, then it crushes it all into an enclosed bin clamped onto the front of it. No chance of recycling there.
At some of the tips, the "good stuff" was gently redirected to the side, where one could purchase for a few coins. I came home with a few bikes etc.
But the tip in harlow is quite strict, I had an argument with one council inmate, after redirecting a nice mountain bike into the back of my van from an obliging visitor, who was happy to give it to me. The council chap was furious, saying its was all on camera (yeh right) and we would be hearing from them. I called he's bluff 
Having said that, they have stuff "put to the side" anyway, but I am not sure what happens to that lot? 
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hermil
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| tahir wrote: | | mandycharlie wrote: | And now from this thread I hear that some tips actively prohibit you from reusing something somebody else doesn't need anymore/grown out off.
that makes me very sad, |
That's definitely the case at ours |
Yes, ours too. (Manchester) I think the shops some of the more enlightened councils have opened up at the tips are an excellent idea. I'd certainly go there if we had any.
Sometimes you need old items because they're better quality than things you can buy now. (To say nothing of the wood etc that you could use in your own projects.)
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