Quote:
Originally Posted by osirisboy
It is a crime to be in possession of stolen property however ie the Safeway/home depot shipping carts
Haha. A bit of a mess? It's disgusting... And I can't see them saving tax payers that much money
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I disagree, and many studies will side with me:
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Link to: a Vancouver organisation that provides binners with custom-built (i.e., not from a supermarket) cart. Quote:
"The public sees all kinds of behaviours on the streets," Lyotier said in an interview outside of United We Can. "People don't know [binners], so they feel a little unsettled about who is doing what and why. But if binners are more recognizable as legitimate workers in our society who are out there doing real work that needs to be done, I think it gives the public a kind of comfort level. In the end, it will be an advantage to binners."
(and there are all sorts of stories about organisations building carts for binners, and how that helps to affect their behaviour).
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Link to Wikipedia article on binners. Quote:
"By reusing resources destined for the landfill, dumpster diving becomes an environmentalist endeavor (and is thus practiced by many pro-green communities). The wastefulness of consumer society and throw-away culture compels some individuals to rescue usable items (for example, computers) from destruction and divert them to those who can make use of the item in question."
All in all, we as a society often look down our noses at the poor and unfortunate, and forget that, but for the grace of God, we could quite easily be "them" - lose your job; have an expensive medical condition that isn't covered by your insurance; get caught up in a legal or accounting mess; and these are the stories of many binners who were once normal members of society. I find it hard myself when I see people going through my bins, but hey if they're healthy enough and hard-working enough to try and make a very humble living for themselves, rather than solely waiting for the state to give them everything (and a cut of my taxes), who am I to complain about putting some old newspapers back in my bin once a week when I leave it out? Instead I should thank my lucky stars that I don't have to do their job.
Oh, and another thought: How much do you think it would cost if, say, the City of Vancouver was to have an initiative start next week: They hire, say, 5,000 people who go around the city in city uniforms, looking for glass & aluminium bottles that were erroneously thrown away, to save them from going into the garbage system, then to give them carrying equipment and transportation to take their finds to a recycling depot...multiple times a day, 7 days a week, rain or shine? Yes, it would be in the Tens of Millions. Just for this saving alone and our landfill thanks us for the extra capacity these people free up.
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