The "hard rubbish collection" is

a thing of the past. For the uninitiated this was a once a year event run by each local council area. It allowed you to put out things you wanted to get rid of and leave them on the verge or the area between the footpaths and the road. 

For a week the area would be littered with all sorts of "rubbish". It was amazing how much of it would disappear. People would put out everything from old fridges and  microwaves to boxes of newspapers, from broken toys to bits of timber, from boxes filled with games to old golf clubs and much, much more. These things would disappear.  People would lay claim to things that other people no longer wanted or needed.

It no longer happens. Councils stopped doing it. It is said they stopped doing it for reasons of safety. Yes, there were some safety issues involved. The council told us they would allow a collection we could book. It can be done once a year. The amount you are permitted to put out is small. In our area it is a cubic metre.  The weight has to be such that it can be lifted by one man.

When we packing up the last house we took the risk and did put good quality things out for collection. Fortunately the council inspectors did not find out. People took away good timber we could not use. They took away some very large plastic boxes with lids. Those were in excellent condition but they were too big for this place. We put out the refrigerator that was too big to go here that we had not been able to give away on Facebook. (I have a smaller one now, courtesy my BIL's employer who no longer needed it.) It disappeared in the space of an hour even though it would not have even been picked up by the council.

There were people who depended on these collection times. They would come looking for furniture, for firewood, for things they could repair and sell. They searched for toys they could use for their own children and a bike they could ride to their place of work. 

All that has gone apart from those who, like us, occasionally sneak things out for others to use. The arguments about safety may seem valid. Who was responsible if things went wrong, if an item harmed someone? There was never any mention in the media of this occurring. There were positive stories.

I met two boys who "rescued" a mattress. They wanted to take it on a train back to where they were squatting in a house several train stops away. The first train would not take them but the driver was sympathetic. "Wait," he told them, "I'll arrange something." He did and a later and much less used train took them and, although  it was an "express" not supposed to stop at their station it made a special stop. There was the mattress to sleep on. It was one of the things that eventually led those two boys to now run their own business in another state. I wonder what the councillors would make of that now. 

For all the issues involved I think those collections should be reconsidered. They encouraged recycling, reusing, repairing and more. That might do more for the environment than we think.