"Free" + Curb Is the New Dump

"Free free free" courtesy of Seattlest Flickr Pool member twatson. Aw, we kid because we love, Weekly!

You can tell it’s almost summer because people are gleefully filling the sidewalks with the trash of a consumer society and, in a enlightened spirit of philanthropy, marking "free" on it. There was a time, not so long ago, when putting out a lightly used item you no longer needed was a kind of urban recycling. Who among us hasn’t grabbed a chair or desk from the street? Who?!

But now, it’s out of hand. With rising garbage collection and dump fees (it’s now $27 to take a carload of junk in), and old electronics requiring more fees and/or special trips, it now appears "free" is an invitation to take out the trash.

To make things worse, Seattle’s spring is a notoriously fickle time to place a sofa or exercise machine outside. It’ll be months before any "free" sofa left out this week recovers from the other day's monsoon. So remember: garbage in = garbage out, "free" sign or not.

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By RvO in Miscellaneous on May 21, 2009 10:00 AM

Comments [rss]

Troy Morris

Furniture and Clothes have no business being free. Other objects, sure. Luckily, that free shit in my neighborhood gets taken off the corner fast by hipsters.

Wesa

No kidding! There are 2 couches in the alley near my apartment that have been there for 2 months, and someone dumped a pull-out sleeper sofa with a sign that said "$1000, inquire inside" likely in hopes that someone would "steal" it, but it's been drenched in rain for 3 weeks and someone stole a cushion off of it. Don't people see this stuff day after day or do they dump it before they move?