Today is almost like a holiday for me!  It’s the only day of the year that I do a bizarro twist in my trash routine and actually look forward to taking the trash out!

You see, in my city, once a year the city will pick up anything that doesn’t fix in the trashcan.  On this day it’s much like the Bizarro Christmas…

The conversations goes as follows…  this toy can go, that toy is broked, goodbye “Mean Green” lawnmower, broken sled, old basketball hoop and broken kite!

It’s a balance, I don’t want to throw everything away, and actually some things were saved by my daughter…  Hello old yucky kitchen set that my daughter still wants, hello old but-still-in-decent-shape bike that my son want to give to Goodwill.

Everything Goes Trash night is a busy night for tinkerers!  For they play the role of bizarro Santa during this fine reverse Christmas day!

As my wife was sitting in our bedroom, she heard a noisy truck than made such a clatter (the noise woke up my son too).  With the TV and lights turned off in both bedrooms, my wife and son in parallel watch as a man in a old red sleigh pickup truck take “Mean Green” (my old broken lawnmower) away.

As I stopped to watch too, I feel guilty knowing that “Mean Green” was pretty busted up and even missing a handle.  But that doesn’t stop the tinkerer man, he goes right to work and heaves it onto his truck bed much like Santa does with a bag full of toys as he put them on his red sleigh.  The tinkerer didn’t look up and went right to work, shifting his truck to run as it took off with a noisy jerk!  I start to wonder if we should have left cookies and milk…

As I’m typing this I can hear the tinkerer’s truck on other stops in the neighborhood.  the clanging of other mechanical things onto his truck (which was actually pretty full when he took my lawnmower).

You might think that I’m making fun of this man (the tinkerer), but actually, I think he’s awesome and here’s why:

1. The tinkerer will try to make something that will work out of the mechanical trash that he collects (but probably not “Mean Green”, because it was very busted up).
2. The parts that doesn’t work may be recycled as he takes the metal chassis and other pieces of such very broken machines to a metal recycling center.  To make money of course!
3. By salvaging these machines, he is keeping money in the economic system.  When the pieces go to the junkyard, these machines/materials leave the economic system.  So he is in his own way helping the enconomy.  Betcha didn’t see that one coming!
4. Obviously, the machines he takes partially won’t go to the landfill and this is a very green activity.

So I really like this special day because I get rid of our oddball and large broken trash, but it’s also a very green day with tickerers coming out to save the day!

Bests,

-MR