Clean Up Your Act!

Santa Clara, California has had a tradition for the past 50 years of "Clean Up Week". It's basically a month stretching from March to April when residents can put anything they don't want in front of their house to be taken to the dump. I should say, residents can put out anything they don't want EXCEPT for hazardous waste or live ammunition, which is unfortunate, because as a second hand scrounger, I sometimes wonder what to get for the person who has everything.

Having a sister that lives in Santa Clara means that I have witnessed clean up week in all it's glory. And by glory, I mean I have cruised around her neighborhood looking for gems in piles of broken furniture, construction refuse, clothing, kid toys, old food, tree trimmings, etc. And boy, have I seen some amazing items. Last year I scored some 1970s vintage Tupperware (fire orange with the ribbed lid that actually burps) and my RockSteady found an awesome cycling jersey with a cow on it, cycling and smart wool socks, and part of a Yakima bike rack. Along with that awesomeness, people last year seemed to be all about dumping off their obsolete metal Christmas tree stands. Who needs a metal stand when you've moved on to a fake tree?  This year I hoped to see similar visions of tree stands, and I brought my camera with the intention of sculpting the tree stands into the shape of a Christmas tree to use as my 2010 holiday greeting. But alas, everyone seemed to have dumped their stands last year. The closest I got was a fake Christmas tree in strewn pieces. What I found this year were toilets. Hundreds and hundreds of toilets. Apparently I missed the great crapper revolution of 2009 that had everyone ousting their old porcelain for something new. Since the flush toilet exterior design hasn't really changed for the past 100 years making it doubtful that the "look" of the toilet was wrecking the overall bathroom aesthetic, I wonder the reason why these poor thrones were discarded to the curb? Was everyone making the move to water saving toilets at the same time?  (Sidenote: when I was researching the history of the modern toilet, I found this.)

As usual I was amazed by what people were getting rid of. How do these Santa Clarans have so much stuff? Even houses that had huge piles in front of them last year, had big piles this year! I'm sure this isn't limited to Santa Clara. It's all a reflection of our consumer driven disposable lifestyle where we can use what we want and discard it to a little bin that is put out once a week and then taken away for us never to be bothered with again. Luckily, I can happily report that all of the Clean Up Week stuff does not end up in the landfill. There are various people driving around the city all month looking for anything thing that could be partially reused. I saw trucks carrying ovens, refrigerators, kitchen tables, desk chairs, dog kennels, fencing, unused lumber and a whole mess of other things. Several computer recycling firms scour the neighborhoods looking for computers to recycle (they get a rebate from the government) so I'm pretty confident that few electronics make it into the garbage system. My bro-in-law put out some bark chips from under a soon to be disassembled play set and people came and scooped it up to use in their yards. A successful reuse scenario! While on a bike ride I saw a women blissfully loading a slightly worn, but still beautiful desk and dresser (1930s era) into her car with the blessing of the man who had just set it on the curb. My friend Caitlin and I noticed some fresh clippings from a fruit tree and we collected about 10 pounds of amazingly fragrant lemons while the owner encouraged us to take more. If I had a car with me, I could have loaded up some great wooden furniture that I'd probably have for the rest of my life.

The main beef that a few neighbors seem to have with the idea of Clean Up Week is that sometimes their piles get scattered as people search for "treasures". This potential scenario leads my sister's neighbor to spray his pile with water from the hose, which is a total asshole move! If he's so worried about people rooting through sensitive paperwork, maybe it shouldn't be on the curb. And really, the only scattering I saw done was by kids (including the said neighbor's sons) who wanted to root through their neighbors stuff and jump on the mattresses and assorted couches on the curb. I saw a group of young boys kick around a Buddha garden sculpture until it's head fell off. Well boys, I hope you get an introduction to my friend karma real soon.

What treasures did I bring back, you ask? Lemons and avocados scrounged from the trees lining my sister's house and a soft bicycle case for hauling a bike on an airplane to pass along to the RockSteady for upcoming races. I contemplated a plastic storage container large enough to hold a pie, but then I remembered that it's easier for me to attach a square box to my bike rack instead of a round container. It was a good reminder to use my logic to to tell myself that I don't need something just because it is free!

                                                                                      

 When life gives you freshly trimmed lemon branches, make lemonade!