Upscale Scavengers in Princeton

While others are lounging on the beach or off seeking fun and adventure in farflung lands, I'm getting my low carbon kicks by watching things magically disappear from the curb. It's a bit like fishing, but instead of trying to catch something, the aim is to see how much stuff you can successfully let go of.

Take these plastic chairs and stool, for instance. I forget how I came into possession of them--must have intervened at some point, rescuing them from the curb on trash day, but there's something that happens to the plastic after it's been exposed too long to the elements. The shiny surface turns dull and has a funny feel that's not welcoming. So I finally put them out on recycling day, as an experiment to see if the hauler would take them. We're only supposed to recycle plastics #1 and 2, but the website of the hauler and the sorting facility say they will take pretty much any old plastic.

Before I could successfully run my experiment, however, a guy pulled up and started loading the plastic furniture into his car. I could see his thought processes as he struggled to get the furniture in. The chair wouldn't fit in the front passenger seat, so he had to settle for the stool in front, and one of the green chairs in the backseat. Before getting in his car, he hesitated, turned and looked longingly at the other green chair still on the curb, took a few steps in that direction, then thought again and climbed in to drive away. How well I know that feeling! A perfectly good looking, serviceable chair, going to waste. Did our parents live through the deprivations of the Great Depression and WWII just so we could stand silently by while people buy dubious merchandise and toss it in the trash at the first sign of defect? Such conspicuous wastage rubs against the very fiber of our being.

By the way, that's a pretty nice looking car the guy has. What kind is it?

A Mercedes! Sportscar! That's the first question you've got to ask the dealer when you buy a car like that. Sure, it looks great, drives great, but how many used plastic lawn chairs will it hold? Isn't that Princeton for you? Picking up used plastic chairs, already spurned by the Priusey, Ford Rangery likes of me, in a Mercedes sportscar! More power to him, I say. It just goes to show that the temptations of thrift are universal, crossing all class boundaries.

The recycling truck swept by an hour or so later. I got distracted, so can't say for sure if they or another scavenger took the other green plastic chair. Maybe the guy in the Mercedes made a return trip! In any case, we can safely conclude that, on one busy street in Princeton, putting large plastic items out on recycling day can delay their trip to the landfill, and possibly send them on a whole new journey to a second life.