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A comment on I Salvaged $6k of Luxury Items Discarded by Duke Students. Parent comment

Re:I Salvaged $6k of Luxury Items Discarded by Duke Students by slibhb on Tuesday May 27, 2025 @05:35PM (#44110848)
> Second, why not just put on the street so that other people can come and collect items? This is very common for example here in Switzerland - you put unwanted things ranging from old kid toys to books to furniture on the sidewalk with a sign saying „gratis - zum mitnehmen“ (free to take with you) and people who want/need come and collect them. Only if anything is really unwanted, you take back and throw away.

It's common in the US too.

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Re:I Salvaged $6k of Luxury Items Discarded by Duke Students by sokka_h2otribe on Tuesday May 27, 2025 @05:42PM (#44110887)
The students live on campus, so the majority of folks are getting rid of items at the same time. Different than when people live in a city and not everyone is moving at once
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Re:I Salvaged $6k of Luxury Items Discarded by Duke Students by bluGill on Tuesday May 27, 2025 @06:05PM (#44111053)
Every year my city does a clean up day - put anything on the curb and they will take it away (hazardous waste needs to go to a special collection location not the curb). All the scrappers know that day and will be driving around trying to beat the trash trucks to anything good and as a result most of the "trash" doesn't get to the dump.

People do put things on the curb other times of the year, but a dedicated clean up day helps everyone - you know when it is your turn, and the scrappers don't waste gas driving down dead end streets.

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Re:I Salvaged $6k of Luxury Items Discarded by Duke Students by dylan604 on Tuesday May 27, 2025 @06:10PM (#44111089)
My city does this monthly in what is known as bulk trash day. This isn't an uncommon thing. There are people that know these schedules and drive around to collect things before the city arrives to collect. Acting like this is a new concept seems for someone seems very strange to me--however far up the thread this strangeness started
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Re:I Salvaged $6k of Luxury Items Discarded by Duke Students by bluGill on Tuesday May 27, 2025 @08:13PM (#44111729)
It is very regional. I had never heard of it until I moved here, but everyone else cannot imangine life without it.
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Re:I Salvaged $6k of Luxury Items Discarded by Duke Students by coderatlarge on Tuesday May 27, 2025 @05:44PM (#44110902)
this is how i furnished my grad school apartment way back when. fellow students helped carry furniture multiple blocks away.
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