One Mans' Trash.....

from Elliott
Monday is trash pickup day in our town. With most of our ministry area not having trash pick up, they must burn everything or dump it. Fortunately, we can take a bag of trash to the curb on Monday.  The pick up usually does not occur until later in the day so when we are out for the day we must put the bag out when we leave in the morning. Like clockwork someone shows up soon after the bag goes out. 

I have watched from a distance and seen someone gently untie the bag and begin picking through what we have determined to have no use.  Invariably we have a different view of what is usable! When the picker has completed their search, they will put their items in a bag to take with them and carefully tie the bag back again. I wonder if they are simply fastidious people or if there is an unwritten code of trash pickers that is meant to increase their acceptance along our towns roads. I am fascinated that they often find something in our trash of value. There are times when we know we are putting something out that has value like clothes or empty containers so we leave it outside of the bag and put it on the ground next to the bag. 

Perhaps I would need to walk in their shoes to fully appreciate how they judge value. They are friendly when we speak to them. They seem to go about their business quietly and inconspicuously. We have not engaged in significant contact simply because we are uncertain how they view their activities and whether they would be uncomfortable relating to the owner of the trash.

One thing I have noticed here is that we generate far less waste than we did back in the US. While there we would throw out two or more bags a week even with a separate recycling bin. Here, we typically have less than one bag even without recycling. We certainly reuse more items but it appears that there is generally less packaging on purchased items. We will see if our new found waste minimizing discipline will ‘return home’ with us when we repatriate in a couple of years!