I was raised to be “green” long before it was popular (or the term even existed). My father, who lived through the Great Depression, was averse to throwing anything away, so if we did go to the dump, it was to see what we could find!
When I started Estate Services in 1985, I soon found that I too had difficulty throwing things away, which led to innumerable trips to charity and the recycling center for items that many in the business just take to the landfill. On average, I haul six times as much volume to the recycling center as I do to the landfill. This results in my being at the recycling center much more than most people, and here are a few resultant stories:
While dropping off a load of mixed grade waste paper at the community recycling center, I noted that there were a number of magazines in the bin that were in plastic covers. As I often sort out things that have been placed in the wrong bin, I fished them out. It was then that I discovered that it was an entire comic book collection, and that the plastic covers were the protective slip covers that are placed on issues to retain their condition! …. I sold them later that day to a comic book dealer.
While dropping off a load at the local recycling center, I noticed a pickup truck with three people gleefully slinging bottles into the glass bin and watching them break. When I went closer to tell them that this was dangerous, I noticed that the bottles they were throwing were vintage soda bottles and that the canopy on the truck was stacked full of wooden cases filled with the bottles. When I asked where they had gotten so many bottles they said that they worked for a local thrift store and “some jerk had dumped of that whole load. Not only did they now have to recycle all the bottles but had to take the whole truck load of “ugly boxes” to the dump”. ……
I paid them $100 to transfer the remaining bottles and boxes to my truck, and did quite well on them at the next auction.
Yesterday, a friend called me. She had been dropping off some paper at the recycling center and “there were dozens of beautiful old fashion magazines from the 1800’s”. She wondered if there was any way that I could retrieve them from the bin (a 40 cubic yard dumpster). Although I figured I would probably not be able to get permission, I decided to swing by and take a look. I got there about an hour after the phone call, and the bin was empty…
Postscript: Just a few more examples of people spending their time and energy to throw away money.