Does the whole world have "Hard Rubbish" or just Australia

[diverdown]

 Its Hard rubbish time in my suburb


For those of you who don't get to enjoy the aussie euphoria of hard rubbish I will explain.

Once a year we get a letter in the post from the local council letting us know it's hard rubbish time.
This allows us to throw all the "junk" we have in the house and shed onto the front lawn. It sits there about a week and then the dump truck comes and collects it.
What is this "junk"? you ask

well it's everything from whitegoods to lounge chairs. Windows to old shoes. Anything that wont fit in the weekly rubbish collection.


Whats great about that?

Well it's a bit of a tradition but most people at one time in their childhood have found some "treasure" out on the neighbours lawn. As a kid i brought home a chandalier. It still hangs in what was my sisters room 20 years later.


last year I got a few bikes and built my kids a billy cart.

This year I have got so far

2x 21" Pc monitors
1x19" monitor
too many 17" monitors - will add these to my hard rubbish next week
a 100cm 3yr old wide screen TV - working
2x complete P111 1000Mhz 20Gb HDD DVD systems
several Soundblaster 16/128 sound cards
A few AGP and PCI graffix cards
Enough ram to give above about 400mb each
Several old pc's i have raided for above
PC speakers
keboards
mice
Power supplies as backups to fix above(didnt need them)

This was after an hour of driving around. I have enough bits here to keep me in MAME projects till next year. And my 3 year old got to experiance the wonders of Hard rubbish.  He wanted several trampolines but i couldn't get em in the car. -reminds me of the "tramba trambam trambampoline "Simpsons episode)

The cost of this = nuthin except the fuel and slight embarasment being busted going through others trash.


well it's off to brows other peoples HDD - no pix left on discs yet but hears hoping

[pointdablame]

We have that in my town 2 times a year.  It's called "Bulk Pickup" around these parts though.

[shmokes]

It's called bulk pickup here too, so we do have hard rubbish, but what in hell are whitegoods?

[ChadTower]

Whitegood are probably appliances.

We have appliance pick up day once a year.  Stuff like couches and the like can be put out with regular trash, one large item per week.  Random stuff that isn't big but won't fit in a bag can be put next to the bags but if you put out more than say 2 of them they all get left behind.

We have a $130 yearly trash/recycling collection fee + $1.25 per bag tossed.  You buy $1.25 stickers at various places around town and put them onto any bag.  Bags are not taken if no stickers are present.

[diverdown]

Whitegoods are freezers washers dryers etc........ mostly because they all used to be white.

WOW $1.25 per bag..... I would be broke.

If we leave anything beside the bin it gets left there all year till Hard rubbish time





I should have asked in OP


Whats the best thing you have "found" in someone elses hard rubbish?

[ChadTower]

Well, once you parse out all of the recyclables properly, we throw out less than one full bag of trash per week.  And we're a family of four with two small kids.

[Level42]

It would be really cool to find a cab between that Hard Rubbish.

I guess it's because we are such a little country, but here, people have to drive up to the town's "gemeentewerf" where you can dump all your stuff, from garden waiste, to "I just renovated my home" rubbish, batteries and other chemical waiste. All in "home" amounts of course, if they think you're a company you have to pay.
I normaly never have to pay anything, it's allready inlcuded in my local taxes I guess (it should, they're high enough !!).

My brother in law works at one and you would be amazed at what he comes home with some times. My kid has a mini-car that came from there. I have instructed him to look for arcade games and pins of course......so far no luck...

We also call "Whitegoods" exactly the same: Witgoed
There's also Bruingoed = Browngoods. They mean TV's,Stereo's, videos etc. with that.

[ChadTower]

Yep, we don't have a dump.  If we didn't use our town pick-up there would be no place to bring our trash.  There is a town depot where we can bring stuff like batteries, comptuers, tvs, etc, but we also have to pay there.  Yard waste can be brought there free but they make you unbag it and look at it to make sure it fits some pretty narrow parameters.

The town depot is a good place to pick up old computers.  They usually let me take them free, not allowed to open them, but anything relatively recent is in that common "one bad part" state.

[horseboy]

Someone mentioned about a month ago that they found an original Pong cocktail in someone's hard rubbish years back. He also mentioned that when he went away to college his mom threw it away. I am not sure if he laid a beating on her or not. 

Personally I have snagged a few of those old console TV's to turn into fish tanks. I only ever got around to doing one, though. You wouldn't believe how many pizza dudes said "Is that a real fishtank? That is ---smurfing--- sweet."

On a side note. I think I saw a movie called Hard Rubbish once, but don't tell my wife about it.

[ChadTower]

So he got it from hard rubbish and they put it back into the hard rubbish.  Sad but the circle is complete.

How did you convert the front of the tank?  I have always wanted to do that but was never sure if I would cut the front of the CRT off for a real curved glass or just use a flat tempered piece.

[diverdown]

ChadTower
 
Please Please cut the front of the crt off.  Then put it in the living room and fill it up. Don't forget to invite me around to laugh. I promise to bring a mop.

I too have built said fishtank. You remove the tube and all the gutz and put a "real" tank inside butted up against the surrounding timber. The old CRT will be curved but it will have a matching surround which you remove to get a flat edge

[danny_galaga]

it got so that when i was living with my sister and a housemate, between recycling and having a compost bin we didnt have enough rubbish to throw out every week! so we would often wheel out a quarter to half full wheelie bin every fortnight with our overflowing recycle bin. funny because the guy we bought the house from didnt care much about recycling and had given that bin to the shop owners across the road. they werent really happy when we asked for it back (",)

ill have to look out for old tvs the next time they do a 'hard rubbish' day (didnt know it was called that). can make me a nice 21" 'arcade' job with a chassis...

[ChadTower]

Yeah, we throw out about 3/4 of a 35 gallon bag every week.  Realistically, we put out two bags every other week.  Not usually full.  We put out two bags of paper goods and three bins of plastics/etc every week. 

Of course, we got into that habit at UMass, where people would actually see that you weren't recycling and knock on your door to ---smurfette--- you out.  Damn hairy lesbos.

[horseboy]

How did you convert the front of the tank?  I have always wanted to do that but was never sure if I would cut the front of the CRT off for a real curved glass or just use a flat tempered piece.

I too have built said fishtank. You remove the tube and all the gutz and put a "real" tank inside butted up against the surrounding timber. The old CRT will be curved but it will have a matching surround which you remove to get a flat edge

Chad, when you pull out the monitor it leaves you with the wood and the bezel (usually the bezel is that grey color). Diverdown is saying that he just pulled out the bezel as well and butted the tank up to the wood. I thought about that, but I just didn't think that it would look right without the bezel. Like you that was my quandary, "How in the hell am I going to get a curved piece of glass to fit this and then somehow attach it to a fish tank?"

Miraculously one day it hit me. Optical illusion. I put some 2x4's in the bottom of the TV to raise the tank (standard Wal-Mart 29 gallon) to the proper height. It fit perfectly in the case with only the bottom strip of black from the tank showing through the hole. Up left and right you could see nothing but water and fish. When looking at it straight on you can see the bottom of the tank and about an inch of rocks. The distance from where the bezel touches the screen (when it was still there) and where it attaches to the wood is about 1 inch to 2 inches depending upon where you are on the curve. So, I took a thin piece of cardboard and attached it to the black strip on the bottom of the tank and to where the bottom of the bezel meets the wood. Then I filled that area in the bottom of the bezel up with the same rocks that are in the tank. The rocks blend in seamlessly with the ones in the tank. You can't tell what has been done unless you are very very close to the tank. The only problem is that the loose rocks aren't child safe. My sisters kids slung those things everywhere.

The other problem was that any real fishtank you get is going to be too tall for the top since the monitor are pretty much always attached to within about an inch of the top, so the lights and filters and stuff are too tall to fit. For that I cut a rectangle out of the top so that the tank could slide in from the back with the stuff sticking out of the top. Then I took an old broken VCR and a broken DVD player and gutted them leaving nothing but the tops of the cases and fronts of them. I screwed them together side by side and they were just long enough to cover the whole hole I cut out of the top of the TV. Then I cut out some of the metal from the sides that were attached so that it could rest perfectly on top of lighting. I never got around to hinging it, but the end product looked just like a dvd player and vcr sitting ontop of a console TV.

I am sure everything I have just explained is clear as mud, but give me break, it is hard to explain. I will try to get some pics to clear thing up a bit.

[ChadTower]

I wasn't thinking of putting in an existing tank.  An existing tank is just 5 sheets of tempered glass, some silicone caulk, and some rails.  I figure a person could custom build a tank to fit perfectly in the TV. 

I'm assuming use of a wooden console TV here.  That would be strong enough to make it easy and would look good.

And if you're already making a custom inner tank, it would be possible to make the front side of it the front piece cut off a CRT.  The biggest challenge I would see is decontaminating the glass and if you can do it so that it is transparent and not scratched up.

[horseboy]

Yeah, that all seemed like too much trouble for me, though. Also, you would still run into problems because the lighting and filters would still have to be on top.

[ChadTower]

Hrm.  A console TV usually has a 2-3" wooden frame area above the CRT.  Bigger than a plastic framed TV.  You could fit a low profile fluorescent in there but if I were really doing it custom I'd be more inclined to use a series of strategically placed LEDs.  Maybe with a color sequence.  Get a filter that sits in the tank.

[diverdown]

you still need to get your arm into the tank from above. In my case to remove dead fish cos it sure wasnt for cleaning.

The dvd is a great idea.  i did build a custom tank, was being lazy with my explanation above. i cut a rectangular hole in the top to allow a flouro lightbox to sit on top. It was black and sort of was not seen when eyes were drawn to the fish.

The rocks idea is a great one too.  Could you mix the rocks in resin or even glue/pva glue and then pop em back in place so the rugrats cant piff em around?

[NightGod]

it got so that when i was living with my sister and a housemate, between recycling and having a compost bin we didnt have enough rubbish to throw out every week! so we would often wheel out a quarter to half full wheelie bin every fortnight with our overflowing recycle bin. funny because the guy we bought the house from didnt care much about recycling and had given that bin to the shop owners across the road. they werent really happy when we asked for it back (",)

ill have to look out for old tvs the next time they do a 'hard rubbish' day (didnt know it was called that). can make me a nice 21" 'arcade' job with a chassis...

The sad bit is municiple recycling is generally counter-productive. After watching the Penn & Teller ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- on it, the only thing I recycle anymore is my aluminium cans-for the most part, anything else pretty much is just to make people feel better about themselves-the environmental damage and financial cost makes it a losing proposition in the long run.

[horseboy]

Someone mentioned about a month ago that they found an original Pong cocktail in someone's hard rubbish years back. He also mentioned that when he went away to college his mom threw it away. I am not sure if he laid a beating on her or not. 

Here is that post.

[richms]

Around here all the CRTS have the backs smashed in within minuites of going out so that some dole-bludging locals can get a bit of cash for it at the scrap metal guy. Shame really because I recon most of the tvs would have worked before that since the old wooden ones really did seem to go forever.

and it gets called inorganic collection here. Basically up to a cubic meter per household (never enforced since they have no idea who's is who's) and it has to be able to be handled by 2 guys, nothing car related and no stacking of stuff since different companies take different things.

And as always, its that time of the year when relatives from overseas come over and think we live in some 3rd world country where that happens all the time... lol

[Cametron]

I had a mate find a working Op Wolf cab in hard rubbish last year........  he was rapt.
All it needed was a new lens for the gun.

Only prob he had was convincing the missus that it was going to stay!
 

[sez]

For those of you who don't get to enjoy the aussie euphoria of hard rubbish I will explain.

Everyone in Australia, except for diverdown apparently, calls it "Council Cleanup".

I've had plenty of hard rubbish in my time but it's not the type you're talking about.

[TOK]

They'll take this stuff one day a week where I live. Couches, bikes, lumber, things like the chandalier the other poster mentioned... Makes me feel kind of lucky if other people can only get rid of stuff like that once or twice a year.
There is a bi-annual thing where you can take things to them that can't go in the regular trash -tires, gallon cans of paint, refrigerators and air conditioners (freon), etc.

[ChadTower]

That last part is hazardous materials... different issue.  We have that too and I always manage to miss the day I'm supposed to bring it in.  I have a can of gas/oil mix that I've been waiting to bring in for two years.

[Vigo]

My town sucks when it comes to picking up stuff like that...Nothing of that sort is available. I think every summer, they secretly pick up all crap left from the university students, but will not say anything to avoid promoting the dumping of crap on the curb.

The garbage pickup is a sorry state here...my garbage man will whip my trash can clear across the street if I stuff my can too full...complaining does nothing as well, even if I saw the incident and tell the garbage service I saw what happened, they still say it was the wind.
 

[TOK]

That last part is hazardous materials... different issue.  We have that too and I always manage to miss the day I'm supposed to bring it in.  I have a can of gas/oil mix that I've been waiting to bring in for two years.

When I first saw this picture, I didn't realize I was seeing 3 superheros... Rogue, Storm and Captain Obvious! 

[Kremmit]

They don't have "Hard Rubbish" day in the county where I live, I guess a bunch of crap sitting on the curb is too unsightly for us.  Which is a pain in the ass, you have to haul it down to the "Solid Waste Facility" (dump) to get rid of it, and you have to pay.

When I have to get rid of something, this pisses me off no end.  On the other hand, the county I work in does hard rubbish day all the time- and there's always a bunch of refrigerators, washers, dryers, ovens and crap sitting on the sidewalks, too. 

I wonder which is worse?

[diverdown]

For those of you who don't get to enjoy the aussie euphoria of hard rubbish I will explain.

Everyone in Australia, except for diverdown apparently, calls it "Council Cleanup".

I've had plenty of hard rubbish in my time but it's not the type you're talking about.

"Everyone"  ?  Strange  it doesnt seem to be just me. I did a poll at work and we all call it hard rubbish.....and so does the council who sent out the reminder letter.........Who cares what its called though?


I found a food/chocolate/chips vending machine yesterday............was a struggle getting it in the ute  but it works 100%..   I think its time to list it on ebay

[ChadTower]

In our tiny town, people put out one big item per week with the trash.  The trash truck then radios that in to another second truck that collects the big stuff later that day.  If your big item sits there more than a couple of days the neighbors will get ticked off, if it's there more than a week someone will call town hall and you get a "warning ticket".

I have a property line on a main road, though.  I have put things out on that sidewalk with a "free" sign and it is always taken.  Once put out a toilet there and it was gone in a half hour.  Other stuff is easy enough to dispose of via Freecycle if the person shows up to get it.

[boykster]

I have a property line on a main road, though.  I have put things out on that sidewalk with a "free" sign and it is always taken.  Once put out a toilet there and it was gone in a half hour.  Other stuff is easy enough to dispose of via Freecycle if the person shows up to get it.

You gotta be pretty desperate to take a free used toilet 

[ChadTower]

Toilets are good items, actually.  It was a very expensive one piece in a designer color... in near perfect shape.  I replaced it with a taller one.  A new one like the one I put out would run $500 easy.  It was there when I bought the house and I didn't like it much because it sat so damn low.

[DrewKaree]

You gotta be pretty desperate to take a free used toilet 

No way dude!  I'd bet Chad's toilet was one of those old 3 gallon flushers, and lemme tell ya, folks will PAY for a used toilet if it's one of those!  That's prolly why someone took it.  Mebbe they were re-doing their basement, generally where a lot of these new low-flow jobbies SUCK at doing their job, and wanted to throw a loo in there.

Now if there was still a deuce in the thing, you've got a point!

* DrewKaree throws up in his mouth a little bit just thinking about it

[Ed_McCarron]

We have a $130 yearly trash/recycling collection fee + $1.25 per bag tossed.  You buy $1.25 stickers at various places around town and put them onto any bag.  Bags are not taken if no stickers are present.

I sure as hell hope you don't pay town taxes...  What are they doing with the money now that they've suckered you into paying for your trash removal?

Or are you more suburban than I thought?

[ChadTower]

Town of 8000 people.  Pretty suburban in eastern MA terms.

The problem is that we don't have landfills.  Or dumps.  Or anything of that nature.  We don't even have many junkyards.  So the towns have to hire a service to come get the trash and ship it off to other places.  A lot of small towns in MA are like this.

We do pay town taxes but they're not all that bad.  NH pays more than twice what we pay for almost no services.

[NiN^_^NiN]

It's hard rubbish in my suburb except its every 3 months it gets picked up

And this is in melbourne australia