By HANNAH ZIMMERMAN
The age of front-yard dumpster-diving may be over in Kansas City, Missouri, when the Bulky Item Collection Program turns to appointment only next month. Kansas Citians on the Missouri side will have to be a bit cleverer in their plots to pounce on questionable-stain covered couches and mattresses peppered in fleas that sit on front yards for big trash day.
Back in March, the city decided to save $350,000 by turning its Bulky Item Collection Program into appointment only. The change signals the death of a Kansas City scavenging tradition. Big trash day in KCMO has for years signaled the arrival of those with pickups or a spacious trunk -- and unafraid of some unidentifiable funk – and would take to the streets and swipe what could be salvaged before the trash men came. Move that rotting piece of wood covered in maggots and you just might discover a baby stroller that, with a bath of pure bleach and some duct tape, could be usable.
There are many mourners of big trash day, including those who made a living off it and some who say it amounted to a poor man’s recycling program.
“It is just too bad,” says Patrick Ottesen, owner of Foundation, a salvaged artifacts store. “Not only will we be affected — our customers will be affected as well.”
According to Ottesen, the bulky-item pickup day pays the bills for some scavengers, known in the industry as “pickers.”
“Pickers are out there in their old pickup trucks four to five days before pickup. They are scrappers,” Ottesen says. “A lot of that stuff, they will strip down and take to recycling centers or scrap yards.”
Carol Barta is a self-proclaimed eclectic entrepreneur who advocates “curbside trolling” and often sells the items in her antique booths. She figures pickers will stick to the Kansas side. Barta says Kansas neighborhoods typically have an annual big-item pickup day rather than the confusing Missouri pickup days, which were determined by location.
“In this economy, people are more likely to look for bargains, big-item pickup is the ultimate in recycling,” Barta says. “Why not take advantage of something that will otherwise be destroyed in a landfill?”
For those who don’t want to go through the hassle of figuring out which days to go on the prowl for some sweet trash, here’s a guide to area trash days.
• North of the River: third trash day of the month
• South of 63rd street and East of Blue Ridge Cutoff: second trash day of the month.
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Oh, how cute, KCMO has big item pick up day too? I always wondered where the big item stuff from JOCO ended up. It makes my heart smile to know that Reaganomic Trickle Down is alive and well in KC Metro!
I do wonder if in KCMO you also have a swap meet on big item pick up day? I provide some examples that I have actually witnessed in my JOCO neighborhood. Scary part is most of the folks look like Dan Fogler (click my name to see), which is what I envision Chris Packham to look like in real life...Def Leppard shirt and all.
I placed a 12 year old gas grill to the curb and the item was snatched with such efficiency that I did not see the vehicle arrive or depart in the time it took for me to walk to the kitchen, wash my hands, and walk back to the front door. I wondered, is meth production as rapid?
My neighbor placed a nonfunctional lawn mower curbside, which was taken and replaced with a more beat up mower of questionable functionality. However, it too passed into the bowels of yet another truck just a few minutes later. I wondered, do these folks rotate stock as efficiently when working at Wal Mart?
A neighbor a few cul-de-sacs down placed an entire lawn furniture set at the curb. A burdened truck rapidly approached and an obese smoking woman emerged from the truck, which did reduce the truck�s burden considerably, but failed to provide enough room for the lawn furniture if the woman had been placed at the curb in trade. The truck sped off leaving the woman to �guard� the newfound treasure. Alas, another truck approacheth and it had no burden and was focused on the lawn furniture treasure. The ensuing argument was amazing. Never before have I seen mouth breathers discuss the rules of dumpster diving so intently using mostly monosyllabic curses. In the end, the woman was unable to defend her treasure, the reason for which could have been; being outnumbered by the two occupants of the unburdened truck, worried that the JOCO people gawking at her likely resulted in summoning of the constable, her poor physique being unable to generate any realistic expectation that she could throw down hillbilly style, or perhaps the occupants of the other truck simply won the curse-a-thon fair and square. I wondered if this simulated the trials that take place at a lynching?
Mostly I wonder how Zimmerman missed the source for the trash in the first place. Especially when Barta clearly indicated the connection.
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