Malted
Humdinger
- Joined
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If there's a dead horse on it ... it's the council's responsibility.
Don't ask me how I know this.
How do you know this?
If there's a dead horse on it ... it's the council's responsibility.
Don't ask me how I know this.
How do you know this?
Nah - someone dumped it just on the edge of a property I used to rent (semi-rural) and I was fully stoked it was 5 feet on the council's side of the line.
Vacuum-cleaner man won't be charged Mex Cooper
March 22, 2011 - 4:34PM
Comments 202
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Victoria Police has backed down from its hard line against hard rubbish hunters after a man was arrested for taking a vacuum cleaner from a collection in Melbournes outer east.
The 58-year-old Lilydale man was taken into custody just after midnight for allegedly stealing the appliance from a hard rubbish pile on a nature strip in Kimberley Drive, Chirnside Park.
Do you know more about this incident? Have you been targeted by the hard-rubbish police? Email [email protected]
Advertisement: Story continues below A Victoria Police spokesman this morning said hard rubbish became the councils property once it was placed on the nature strip and the man could be charged on summons with theft.
The council responsible for the collection, the Yarra Ranges City Council, had been unaware of the arrest until media reports.
In a statement, Yarra Ranges deputy mayor Len Cox contradicted the police position.
"Any items placed out for hard waste collection remain the property of the resident until collected by the contractor," he said.
At a press conference this afternoon, Superintendent Jeff Forti said "it was a fallacy" that councils owned property put out on nature strips for hard rubbish.
He also said police were unlikely to charge the man.
"As I sit here now, based on what I have been advised, its legitimate and we wont proceed any further," he said.
Superintendent Forti said two officers on night shift believed the man had been acting suspiciously and discovered the vacuum cleaner, which they thought may have been stolen, in the back of his car.
He said the man was behaving evasively so the officers took him to the Mooroolbark Police Station where he was questioned.
"There's no doubt he ... took the property. Its a matter of whether he was legally entitled to take it," he said.
The property is owned by the person who placed it on the nature strip, Superintendent Forti said.
"It doesnt legally belong to the council."
If the man genuinely believed the owner would have allowed him to take the appliance because it had been abandoned, that is a defence against theft.
Superintendent Forti said the incident was one of the more unusual cases to come across his desk.
"One mans junk is another mans treasure," he said.
"I think theres a community expectation ... that if you put something out on the footpath, its anyones."
News of the mans arrest sparked outrage among online commentators, many of whom believed the man had been acting responsibly by recycling rubbish.
Hard rubbish collections are often considered recycling gold mines, with residents taking items and even trawling neighbourhoods for good finds.
A Facebook group set up for lovers of hard rubbish collections, Hard Rubbish Melbourne, has more than 3500 members and a Fitzroy art gallery has even presented an exhibition based on such finds called The Hard Rubbish Show.
Municipal Association of Victoria president, Bill McArthur, said councils were struggling to find contractors to conduct hard rubbish pick-ups because commercial scavengers were removing anything valuable, including scrap metal, before it could be salvaged.
Many councils have moved to "at-call" hard rubbish collections that offer residents an annual pick-up on a booked date, which is collected from their property rather than the nature strip.
Mr McArthur said the personalised pick-ups were more expensive than whole-neighbourhood collections and would be reflected in council rates.
"Certainly the number of councils participating in [hard rubbish collections] is decreasing, partly because of the increasing costs and the difficulties with getting contractors," he said.
"The service is less viable and theres also the unsightly mess thats created."
With AAP
If that was true then such laws might be valid.I assume it's because the council effectively profits from teh pick up. They take all the recycable material and sell it themselves for scrap.
Was that before or after you shoved it with the bull bar
if i find something i need,i go into the house it's front of and ask first...
WHAT THE HELL ? It's rubbish.
What shits me is when people mysteriously roam around and cut the plugs of 240v electrical appliances. Many times I have put something out, with a sign saying it works (as Bizier mentioned) only to find some ****'s chopped the cord.
This sort of thing baffles me.
:icon_offtopic: Just as people dumping rubbish under bridges, even on main roads. It's hardly discreet.
WHAT THE HELL ? It's rubbish.
What shits me is when people mysteriously roam around and cut the plugs of 240v electrical appliances. Many times I have put something out, with a sign saying it works (as Bizier mentioned) only to find some ****'s chopped the cord.
This sort of thing baffles me.
:icon_offtopic: Just as people dumping rubbish under bridges, even on main roads. It's hardly discreet.
Where do you think I get the cords for my fridgemates from? :lol:
You'd get a fair bit of coin from a trailer load of copper wire i'd imagine.
I thought that too, but for two things, one that they don't take the whole cord, and also that its a load of work stripping insulation (from experience as a teenager with Sparky scraps.
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