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The Freegan movement under threat

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LAN_403

Conundrum

Tue May 31 2011, 05:21PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062

Yet another reason why we need a proper system for giving away items that are surplus to requirements or otherwise unwanted.

One idea I had was for people to put stickers stating "Freecycle", the date, and condition of the item on any items they wanted to be reused rather than landfilled before they leave them out for the trash.
Makes more sense than just throwing it away, and in court anyone accused of stealing a given item could use this as a defence.
i.e. "the item was intended to be given away therefore not stolen".

Discuss.
-A

GluD

Tue May 31 2011, 07:07PM

Registered Member #1221 Joined: Wed Jan 09 2008, 06:17PM
Location: Odense, Denmark
Posts: 196

So if I stole your car and put a sticker on it I could get away with it?

Steve Conner

Tue May 31 2011, 08:10PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

On average you can steal about 8 cars before getting the jail. So probably yes.

The legality of picking things out of dumpsters, recycling bins etc, has always been debatable. For instance the junk in the recycling depot belongs to the city council, who will presumably sell it for scrap to offset the cost of collecting it, and taking it may well technically be stealing. So do it when nobody is looking.

Around here we have a hardcore Freegan who smashes up anything left at the kerb to get at the copper in it. He snips the compressors out of fridges, breaks TVs open and snaps off the tube neck to get the deflection coils, and so on. One day I left out 50lbs of transformers, but they must have been too heavy. Or the guy was too dense to realise that they contained 25lbs of copper. The "real" recycling guys eventually took them.

Chip Fixes

Tue May 31 2011, 11:47PM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Steve McConner wrote ...

The legality of picking things out of dumpsters, recycling bins etc, has always been debatable. For instance the junk in the recycling depot belongs to the city council, who will presumably sell it for scrap to offset the cost of collecting it, and taking it may well technically be stealing. So do it when nobody is looking.

Or ask first, I have yet to be turned down at a recycling depot when I ask to take stuff for parts

ScotchTapeLord

Wed Jun 01 2011, 04:26AM

Registered Member #1875 Joined: Sun Dec 21 2008, 06:36PM
Location:
Posts: 635

Steve McConner wrote ...

So do it when nobody is looking.

I can confirm that this works.

Steve McConner wrote ...

Around here we have a hardcore Freegan who smashes up anything left at the kerb to get at the copper in it. He snips the compressors out of fridges, breaks TVs open and snaps off the tube neck to get the deflection coils, and so on. One day I left out 50lbs of transformers, but they must have been too heavy. Or the guy was too dense to realise that they contained 25lbs of copper. The "real" recycling guys eventually took them.

There's someone like that around my house, too, as I've noticed certain things looking a lot lighter in the morning than they did the night before (yes, I guess I monitor trash... my source for power cords- midnight snipping, anyone? :D).

Ash Small

Wed Jun 01 2011, 12:36PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

I generally find that offering to make a 'donation' to the 'recycling technician's benevolent fund' usually does the trick.

I also generally ask permission before taking stuff from dumpsters/skips. People are generally pleased, especially if they are bulky items as they can then get more stuff in it before having to pay for it to be emptied.

The police once pulled up as I was taking the bricks out of a couple of storage heaters in a skip in the middle of the night (to build an aluminium smelting furnace), asked what I was doing, and then helped me to load them into my car! On another occasion, I'd been given permission to take whatever I wanted from a skip at a car body repair shop, the police pulled up as I was walking up the road with a dented bumper/fender late at night, and made me put it back, even though I told them I had permission. I waited til they had gone, and went back and got it out again, hoping they'd come back and arrest me.

As far as stuff that is dumped by the side of the road or illegally fly tipped goes, you could always argue that it's danderous there, and you're doing a 'public service' by removing it. Not sure if the judge would agree, though, but it would be worth a try.

The other side of the coin is that if you injure yourself while removing stuff from a skip/dumpster, the owner is liable, even if you don't have permission. This 'health and safety' argument is the 'excuse' companies like Tesco use to stop people 'helping themselves' to 'free' food.

(Can you tell I'm a 'hard core' freegan? I even drive a pick up (flat-bed transit), just so I never miss an opportunity.

)

Nicko

Wed Jun 01 2011, 12:44PM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

Camp Badger wrote ...

Or ask first, I have yet to be turned down at a recycling depot when I ask to take stuff for parts

I have never had a problem - I generally start a discussion along the lines of "Its a real tragedy that all this stuff, that could be repaired or parts used for school science experiments has to be trashed,..." etc. etc.

Typically a few $ into the "tea & biscuits" fund and I can take away as much as I like, so long as I avoid the CCTV (which is annoying). The attendant at my local depot told me where to park my volvo so that it obstructed the view into the back of the skip, so I couldn't be seen - thing is, the guys at the depot have no control over the CCTV - that's run by the company owning the site, so the depot guys can;t turn it off.

My stash of big RIFAs/BHCs etc. come from a WEEE pre-recycling breakdown - very useful to have friends who own such places and can ask their guys to look out for certain stuff...

Nicko

Fri Jun 03 2011, 05:00AM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

Case in point - yesterday evening, whilst taking a load of rubbish from my FiL's farm to the tip, I spotted an almost brand new APC Smart-UPS 1000 in the electrical waste skip - it was even undamaged as it had just be placed there - not chucked in so not a single mark on it. Gave the guys an extremely small donation (couple of GBP), got it home and it works just fine - was made at the end of 2009 so the batteries are only 18 months old.

There was also a 3-com managed switch in there, but too deeply embedded in the general crud (old videos etc.) to be worth worrying about.

Conundrum

Fri Jun 03 2011, 05:12AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062

Yeah, used UPS's are great as emergency backup supplies for the inevitable power cut.

Cost of replacing your entire freezer stock can run into hundreds, plus there is the inconvenience.
Having that supply there means your PC, freezer etc can be quickly plugged in and you have at least four hours of power per UPS.
More if you do what one of my friends did and replace the batteries with deep cycle FLA's which ironically had been discarded by another solar enthusiast because they had run flat and he thought they were FUBAR.
One week of outdoor charging without the stupid regulator and voila, two nearly perfect >60AH 12Vs.

Car batteries are not quite as good due to them falling apart after a couple of years, but if you get to them before this and look after them they work well for >5 years at least.

-A

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