Is taking someone else's Hard Rubbish stealing?

[spudboy]

What's the world coming to? I'd call this recycling of our resources.

When we have hard rubbish week here in Adelaide, we get people trolling the kerbs in cars with trailers looking for useful stuff that can be re-used. I got myself a very nice gas adjustable chair for my shed from the last hard rubbish week - nothing wrong with it, but still someone chucked it out.

Surely the police have bigger things to concentrate on apart from this.....

Man arrested over hard waste theft


Map: Chirnside Park 3116 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/maps/map.htm?lat=-37.7552&long=145.3255&caption=Chirnside Park 3116)

A man was arrested early this morning for stealing a vacuum cleaner from a hard rubbish collection at Chirnside Park in Melbourne's east.

Police questioned the 58-year-old Lilydale man after the vacuum cleaner was taken from outside a house in Kimberley Drive.

Police say stealing from a nature strip is considered theft of council property.

Oh well - end of rant. Better have a small lie down or something.

[Bundalene]

We agree it's recycling. One man's trash is another man's treasure, to quote a phrase. Sometimes there's pretty useful stuff on the kerb at cleanup times.

We always get people rummaging through the stuff we put on the street at Council cleanups and I'm pleased if they can use things we no longer need.

[weeds]

i put an old washing machine out one night and it was gone the next morning......

good on em i say

[jazzaD1]

personally i dont think there is anything wrong with it, in the past i have 'recycled' some goods

in alot of municipalities now, you need to call and request a removal, specifying exactly what you have to be collected and it also needs to be in a certain spot out the front of your house otherwise it just gets left there, a much bigger waste of resources i think

here in Ballarat, we don't get any hard rubbish collection, only 2 tip vouchers for up to 1 sq. meter of waste per rated property

[Xtreme]

I agree with others - it's just another means of recycling.

Maybe if you knocked on the door of the house the gear was ouside and asked if you could take it, I'm sure you would get the OK and then it would be classed as a gift.

[UncleHo]

Probably a couple of bored young coppers who wanted to get some brownie points :(


His "Re-cycling it" sure beats it becoming land fill.

[midal]

Bit of a non-issue really.....the property owner has thrown the stuff out and obviously no longer wants it so surely "recycling" is better than the landfill option as has already been pointed out. If our Shire Council is any example I can't see them going to too much trouble sorting through the rubbish to onsell the few bits that are usefull anyway. Chances are that what was good enough for use initially would be damaged in the pickup by front end loaders regardless. A knock on the door as suggested would clarify things and cover all butts.

[jsp]

hmmm I often pick up stuff from hard waste, infact I have even put the trailer on and gone looking for stuff....

I have seen people argue over who gets to rolls of wire first, or who gets bits of copper pipe or car battery's first in the run for junk on the kerb.

There is allot of people out there looking for your old washing machine or hotwater service to get their 5 or 10 bucks at the scrappy for it...

$150 tax free in my pocket for a few hours of collecting car battery's and wash troughs and star pickets goes a long long way in my house hold budget :) but is mere coffee and cake money to others

[gromit]

I personally do it and my kids always check up & down our street at hard rubbish time. If it was something big I would probably knock at the door of the house and ask.
The thing that annoys me is the people who sort through all your rubbish and leave it in a mess, although it's cleared away by the end of the week.

If you're cutting your nature strip at hard rubbish time and you run out of petrol do not leave the mower unattended. it will be gone by the time you find the petrol :D

I understand that as soon as it's on the nature strip the Council claims ownership and can prosecute anyone who removes it. They claim that the contractor doing the job quotes based on getting some sales from the scrap metal etc.. I found the following on a council website :-

Organised scavenging

Organised or commercial scavenging results in a loss of valuable scrap metal for the hard waste contractors and therefore a more expensive service for Council. If you see someone scavenging for scrap metal please contact Council (http://www.activemoreland.com/home-contact-us.html).




Colin

[87County]

What's the world coming to? I'd call this recycling of our resources.

When we have hard rubbish week here in Adelaide, we get people trolling the kerbs in cars with trailers looking for useful stuff that can be re-used. I got myself a very nice gas adjustable chair for my shed from the last hard rubbish week - nothing wrong with it, but still someone chucked it out.

Surely the police have bigger things to concentrate on apart from this.....

Man arrested over hard waste theft


Map: Chirnside Park 3116 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/maps/map.htm?lat=-37.7552&long=145.3255&caption=Chirnside Park 3116)

A man was arrested early this morning for stealing a vacuum cleaner from a hard rubbish collection at Chirnside Park in Melbourne's east.

Police questioned the 58-year-old Lilydale man after the vacuum cleaner was taken from outside a house in Kimberley Drive.

Police say stealing from a nature strip is considered theft of council property.

Oh well - end of rant. Better have a small lie down or something.


U N B E L I E V E A B L E !


another left wing council trying to wipe out an Aussie tradition ? they've effectively stopped individuals recycling from tips too


pity you couldn't get a funny pic for the thread from it....

[isuzurover]

Technically it is theft AFAIK. The goods are either the property of the householder or the council, depending on the situation. However if you ask the householder and they say you can take it then that is fine.

It is a bit silly, and hopefully the charges will be dropped in this case.

Usually if we put anything out it is gone by the end of the day. In fact it is so effective we have put items out even when there is no council bulk rubbish collection (which is technically littering/dumping rubbish on the verge... :angel: ).

[JohnF]

It is a pity the greens are only pretend environmentalists. Recycling by collecting a vacuum cleaner from a kerbside shopping center, is surely environmental much better than using electricity, and finite resources to make a brand new vacuum cleaner.

[abaddonxi]

I think most councils turn a blind eye to it, since someone else picking it up saves them costs of collection and tipping fees.

On the flipside, I suspect councils worry about a public liability lawsuit after an injury from waste not collected promptly by council.

My local council separates out any metal left after the scrappies have been through and recycle it - at a profit.

[isuzurover]

It is a pity the greens are only pretend environmentalists. Recycling by collecting a vacuum cleaner from a kerbside shopping center, is surely environmental much better than using electricity, and finite resources to make a brand new vacuum cleaner.

That depends on the footprint of manufacturing vs use (vs recycling/disposal).

E.g. - it is better to replace all light bulbs with CFLs or LEDs immediately, because the energy saving is about 1000x the energy required to manufacture a new light bulb.

However for goods such as furniture, then reuse is always preferable to disposal/recycling.

Note that the vacuum cleaner in question was being taken for reuse, which is different (and preferable to) recycling.

[drivesafe]

Technically it is theft AFAIK. The goods are either the property of the householder or the council, depending on the situation. However if you ask the householder and they say you can take it then that is fine.

Not quite the same thing but on similar lines.

About 18-20 years ago, I and my neighbours was involved in a dispute with our local council.

11-pm one garbage collection night, I’m in the shower and my wife tells me there is a council vehicle out front, collecting our two garbage bins. A contractor normally collected the garbage

By the time I got out front they were gone.

At that time I was an active member of a network of local community groups, which met once a month.

At the next meeting I bring up about what had happened and low and behold, half the members in the meeting had had the same thing happen to them.

There is always a council representative at these meetings so it was raised with them to look into what was going on.

At that particular meeting there was also a police rep, there for something unrelated but they too were asked what was the law on this.

The officer was unsure but told us he would get back to us.

The next meeting the full story of the council’s garbage collection came out.

The council’s excuse was that they were making random collections to see if the garbage and recycling were being used correctly.

Unfortunately for the council, they had a RAT in their ranks and the union rep for the council was also at the meeting and had been notified of what the council was really up to.

They had been collecting the rubbish of anybody who was in dispute with them as a means of collecting info against them.

The police officer was also back at that next meeting and told us that as he could not work out what was lawful and what was not, the whole thing had been “kick up to Sydney”, his words, and word came back that the garbage was the legal property of the property owner until such time as it was collected by the CONTRACTOR and that the council had been committing theft by collecting it with out getting the property owner’s permission.

To this day I never put anything in a garbage bin that may contain info about my personal life or my business, unless it is shredded and I strongly advise everybody to do the same because they is a trade in stolen info and much of it is gained by going through someone’s garbage bins.

[JohnF]

My son has just told me that recently on the Today Show, they discussed the issue of people picking up rubbish on the foot path. It was concluded that this rubbish is not council property but was "Public Property," and so any member of the public was entitled to take it.

If you accidently took someones lawn mower when they were not throwing it out while they were getting petrol then maybe you could be charged. After-all a lawn mover that is hot--clean may not be a throw out. As we live in the country and do not have our Rubbish collected, we have deliberately left some stuff outside our gate next to the road hoping that someone will take it, to save us the tip fees.

[F4Phantom]

I dont know how true the story is but the guy lives right near my house. What apsolute *******. I have hard rubbish on right now because I live in the same area as this story.

Yesterday a lady in an old POS car came and got my two clothes draws that I got for free when I was poor, which I painted up to be nice etc. After 5 years I have only now got new ones from ikea and I hope this lady who obvioulsy does not have much money gets many good years of service from these units for her or her kids.

In fact I placed the units on the lawn in a way to make them easy to see for anyone wanting them.

If this is illegal then who cares about the law, we should all just do what is right and correct, rather than listen to councils.

[Homestar]

My son has just told me that recently on the Today Show, they discussed the issue of people picking up rubbish on the foot path. It was concluded that this rubbish is not council property but was "Public Property," and so any member of the public was entitled to take it.

If you accidently took someones lawn mower when they were not throwing it out while they were getting petrol then maybe you could be charged. After-all a lawn mover that is hot--clean may not be a throw out. As we live in the country and do not have our Rubbish collected, we have deliberately left some stuff outside our gate next to the road hoping that someone will take it, to save us the tip fees.

Yeah, I think this is pretty close to the mark. A Vic Police spokesmen said this arvo that the item belonged to the owner until they abandoned it, but it does not become the property of the council.

This whole sad story came from the council asking that the man be arrested for theft, as the private contractors that do the collection make big bucks from the hard rubbish. The council was trying to protect what money they get from the tender of this, so once again, it was all motivated by greed...

[ATH]

Those who advised being wary of your lawn mower going are dead right. I was doing a clean up during our "bulk collection" in WA and had left the wheel barrow beside the path when a woman gypo of some kind casually walked up the road, had quick look around and then walked off with the thing!
I was over the road talking to an old lady and gave a loud shout of......"**** off" and she quickly dropped it and scuttled off.:D
If I hadn't looked round at that moment it would have been in the back of her old mans ute and I'd never have known what happened to it.
People cruise the streets here all the time when a collection is coming up and I've never heard of the council stopping any one and assume that think it means less for them to get rid of.
If I don't want it any one else is welcome to it.
AlanH.

[zuno555]

Since the uproar charges have been dropped.

What a waste of time for the coppers tho to fill out the forms etc all for what is basically recycling. Surely its easier and benefiting the community to pick up a drug dealer than scoping out hardened criminals stealing from kerb side hard rubbish! :D

[Ralph1Malph]

they've effectively stopped individuals recycling from tips too ....



Our local tip is a recycle drop off but no actual selling or recycling gets done on site :mad:.

There is a lot of building going on in Brisbane and when dumping off some timber offcuts at the 'timber drop off area' I noticed the pile was huge and had an enormous amount of assorted 90x45 and such timber. Brand new and obvously left over from multiple and various jobs.
I asked the attendant how I could get hold of enough to build my deck.....he replied that the effort of sorting timber is not cost effective and that it is all sent to a local power station to be burnt:eek::o!

In a similar vein to others in this thread, I asked what if I wait until another punter brings his ute in and we transfer the stuff from his ute to mine...a gift you might be thinking... According to the same guy in the high viz shirt, once through the gate, you have demonstrated an 'intent to abandon on private land' and therefore you can't give it to the ute beside you because the private land owner (the council) now has a vested interest!:mad:
I didn't have all day to wait for a ute load of 3"x2" to pull up beside me so haven't tested the theory.

Cheers
Ralph

[slug_burner]

Around here if you get a skip and place your hardrubbish in it everyone else donates their hard rubbish and helps you fill your bin. Now they should be charged.:mad:

[Mick_Marsh]

Around here if you get a skip and place your hardrubbish in it everyone else donates their hard rubbish and helps you fill your bin. Now they should be charged.:mad:
Where will I find that skip at, say, 3am tomorrow morning?
We don't have hard rubbish collection. We have garage sales.

[Bushie]

We have a twice yearly collection by council, a series of different vehicles collect different stuff, whitegoods, timber/green waste, other metals etc so I'd say (well know) at least some of it is recycled.

I also use the fact that waste will be 'recycled' by others to my advantage. Last collection I put out lengths of steel pipe knowing it was too long for the council collection, but it went anyway, as did a couple of out of date, empty LPG cylinders.
Everybody is a winner :D:D


Martyn

[TimNZ]

Looks like they thought better of it:

Trevor Flood to escape charges over vacuum cleaner taken from hard rubbish | News.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/national/man-arrested-for-allegedly-stealing-vaccum-from-mooroolbark-rubbish/story-e6frfkvr-1226026313038)

Cheers,

[3toes]

If the council had thought this through they would never have claimed to own anything which is on their property.

As a simple example imagine a drum of some nasty chemical is dumped on their property which then leaks on to yours.

They as the owner are now fully responsible for all damages and costs. Before when it was abandoned they had lots if wriggle room.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[spudboy]

Well, I am glad to hear that the bloke has not been charged or anything.

Would have been better use of Police resources if they'd spent more time chasing up some other proper crime. Like finding the riff-raff who broke into my shed and nicked some of my tools :mad:

[UncleHo]

G'day Folks :)

I notice that this subject even made it onto a segment of Sunrise on Ch 7:)

[waynep]

Trust the commercial media to beat it up.

I heard another version on ABC 774. The cops saw the vacuum cleaner in the back of the guy's car and questioned him. He was never arrested or charged.
This from the inspector they interviewed.

They also interviewed a council guy. I think the council is just trying to scare people. Mainly because their contractors are kicking up a stink at all the good stuff going before they get there.

[Basil135]

While we are on the subject of Crazy Councils, this warrants a mention:

Kid's chalk drawings graffiti - council | News.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/kids-chalk-drawings-graffiti-council/story-e6frfku9-1226026820354)

[Tombie]

U N B E L I E V E A B L E !


another left wing council trying to wipe out an Aussie tradition ? they've effectively stopped individuals recycling from tips too


pity you couldn't get a funny pic for the thread from it....

Not really - People stopped people recycling from the tip.

Law suits, liability etc put paid to that!