Two Cents Worth
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Speaking of the dump… Oh right, that was last week. I was telling a friend about my humiliating dump experience and discovered everyone has one. We shared. Hers were even worse than mine - flat tires on two occasions from driving up the stinky mountain. We had a few laughs and commented on how nice it was now to just park on cement and toss the bags into the bins. What an improvement.
I didn’t realize you could take your recycling to dispose of without charge. Dug out my 2014-15 Oxford County Waste Management Calendar and read up on all things garbage. Amazing the things you can learn if you read it all. You can get rid of old TVs, gaming, computer, audio and communication equipment, scrap metal and tires without charge. They also have depots for disposing of gas, fluorescent lights, oil, pool chemicals, toilets, glass, concrete, batteries, propane tanks, wood, drywall, medication, paints pesticides and other assorted hazardous household waste for free. Who knew? I will sort better from now on and now I know where to get rid of the junk left in basement and garage.
We also got talking about how much good stuff people throw out that would be a financial or home benefit to others. Lots of folks are picking up good, usable things during the large article collection and yet still many decent, working items are deposited in the landfill. We are a throw-away society and it doesn’t have to be broken to be chucked out. Many need to have the latest and newest even though what they have is still working.
My friend had a wonderful idea. The county should reclaim all the things that can still be used, clean them up some, do a minimum of necessary repairs and sell them cheap. After all it’s found property, right, so it should be bargain basement prices.
Imagine that dresser with a missing knob could be a beautiful piece of furniture for someone who has none or is going away to school. Many a young person would actually love to have an Xbox 360 someone discarded for the latest version. Maybe someone just needs a half a sheet of plywood and a couple short pieces of four by four to finish his son’s treehouse. That chair that didn’t go with the new sofa could be the perfect side chair for someone else. That odd kitchen chair could make an excellent option for someone’s home office. The old windows from the back shed can be someone’s craft project. Someone may only need a few small pieces of drywall and doesn’t want to buy a whole sheet. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
This is a great way for the county to help supply affordable items for many people and also make some money. I know the landfill employees see lots of good stuff going into that pit. I don’t think they are allowed to take anything but they could salvage what they see. If they do it up right and actually put some effort into this project they could make enough that we wouldn’t need to pay $2 for a garbage tag.
A win win situation for everyone and a plus for the environment. Another way to put Oxford County on the map. Would we be first in the province with this plan?