I guess you Northern Hemisphere chaps would call this a Barn Find"

[vdubnut62]

Oh we have the same no scavenging signs that you do, but the attendant is an older ex-marine and we are on a first name basis. He really doesn't care much for silly regulations and his name is Ron also, what are the odds?
Ron

[dieselspanner]

Same in France, every little town has it's own 'dechetterie, immaculately kept, every thing in it's place, the right place.

Ours is run by Patrice, his tip, his rules. If you can hold a conversation concerning the chances of France v's England in broken French, clean up the mess you made emptying your trailer, and help others unload theirs when it's busy you can have anything in the place, well anything he hasn't squirrelled way first.

If you want something in the metal skip he'll go in and get it for you, if it's not there you can place an order and he'll put it aside for you, pallets, 40 gallon barrels, etc. His theory is simply that if you can use it the 'Marie' - local council, doesn't have to pay to dispose of it, so everyone's taxes go a little further and you save a few euro's so you can buy him a small beer next time you are in the bar.

A lot of Brits here whinge about the French and their 'individual' attitude to the interpretation of the rules, and boy are there some rules here, but it does work both ways, well sometimes!

Cheers Stef

[guest23837]

My sister lived in Saskatchewan for a while. She is also into reusing and recycling and in that part of Canada they give you a few cents for metal and glass rather than charge you to get in. it's somewhat ironic that you can't actually recycle anything out of a recycling centre in Ireland. I don't know if they have a similar system in the UK?
I'm still irritated about the Schwinn bicycle, I offered the guy a ton to turn a blind eye for a few minutes but he refused. Bicycle was worth at least €500.00 and it was in really good condition. They seem to know the price of everything (scrap metal) and the value of nothing (vintage bicycle) but that's Ireland. They closed the glass plant here years ago and for a long time were sending glass people had tried to recycle to landfill. Dopes! Anyway there's another storm coming so time to check the oil and fuel in the generators. Paul

[mikenash]

OK Guys.

Mr. Cynical writing.

You're blaming the pushers for the junkies decisions.  It's actually called a rule in the world of economics or what I call the science of predicting the past.  "Cheap money will always replace Expensive money."  The reason there is so much crap available for sale today is because it SELLS!  Much like cheap heroin.

I believe there are are few among us that respect nice stuff any more than I whether the badges are made of hand tooled brass or etched into the stainless cover plates.   This "Buy crap and live the short life" philosophy is a world movement.  It started just after the iron age began and people stopped using their bronze swords.  Sometimes a tool that you're going to use three times in you life makes the crap choice the "One" but as a life standard - I don't get it either.

I too love the "No Scavenging" sign next to the metal recycle bin at the transfer station.  I was chased out of the plastic recycle bin for taking 5 gallon buckets.  The other four people at the station booed the attendant.

And this is what makes Barn Finds so much fun and a thrill to be shared with like minded people. 

Casey

Casey, I agree about the throwaway society but I hate it. Make the thing, whether it's a cylinder head or a pipe bender out of quality materials and it will last. This crap is just using valuable resources for a short term quick buck.  In my local recycling center there are guys that act like "recycling police", I know they only work there but they really can be OTT at times looking at cardboard in case a tetra pack has slipped in and removing plastic from the skip and giving it back because it was an empty engine oil can. I tried to tell him the can was actually a by product of the industry but eventually had to tell him to go fcuk himself and take the can back.

My brother is also old school, lives in the shed and he used to make waste oil stoves for sheds. He now makes wood burners as waste oil is very scarce because its valuable. In the local recycling center they weigh the can with the waste oil,  I assume 1 liter weighs 1 kilo and they charge you a Euro  a liter to empty the oil.

I too spend quite a lot of time in the shed and the missus wonders what I'm doing there, then we have a small storm. In 5 minutes I have one generator powering the water pump and the freezer in the shed and another supplying light and power in the house via a UPS. Not quite seamless yet but I'm working on getting a bigger engine and a bigger alternator. I bet loads of you guys have better more integrated systems but mine works for me. Some neighbors don't have a candle or an oil lamp, I have the tilley and a wallback lamp but even if they had a candle they ofter don't have matches or a lighter as nobody smokes or lights a fire. My kids would have to die of cold in the dark but thats modern people, they are like fragile southern belles standing by the Mississippi saying "help"

I'm on your side.

Got a half-built shed/workshop/house in an off-grid site

I have a couple of old enamelled cast-iron fraypans older than me, a wok I have had for over 40 years and a kitchen knife I have had for 30+ 

I guess it's childish, but I get a lot of satisfaction from using these things and others like them every day and enjoying how they were made to just go on working . . .

Like the Listers . . . .

FWIW though, I have a Corolla, a Hilux and a Suzuki DR650 - I'm not a Ludite lol

[mikenash]

"Luddite"  sorry

[LowGear]

Say Luddite?

Come to Hawaii where we are not building the snazziest telescope on the planet.  Because it doesn't fit with traditional beliefs.  So many words - so many walking backwards. 

Casey