The other day, I found a man disembowelling an abandoned stereo on the nature strip. He was snipping cables when I startled him. His head whipped up; he froze briefly like wildlife caught in the beams of an oncoming truck, before shoving the cables into a faded green shopping bag and moving on.

Yep. It’s hard rubbish week in my suburb, and the scavengers are on the prowl. My man fit the stereotype: middling and furtive with his pliers, green bag and non-ironic nineties parachute jacket. Nevertheless it’s surprising to discover how run-of-the-mill hard rubbish scavenging is. According to researchers, ‘while four out of five householders contribute to hard rubbish at least every two years, two in five make a withdrawal. Parents with young children are…the worst offenders’ Continue reading →