The Stuffed Toy Scavenger

[CarcinogenCrunchies]

We have a few regular can & bottle collectors in the neighborhood who make the rounds of public garbage receptacles. Generally, they're just a minor annoyance, but when I work in the fuel station I actually await the arrival of one particular forager. This man always carries a stuffed animal with him. Not just any stuffed animal, but a variety of them. The first time I saw him, he had an iridescent white teddy bear. Once last week he was carrying Stitch (from the Disney movie) and the other day, he had Alf. Today it was a lion wearing sunglasses. He doesn't casually carry his animal, he grasps it by its back, holding it up in front of him. Maybe so it can see where they're going??

I don't think he's homeless, because his belongings all look pretty clean, and he's got to have a place to store all those animals. A CW told me he's always been a very friendly, talkative guy, on the infrequent occasions he's spoken to him. That's good news, because I really want to ask him about his animals someday when I have an opportunity. I'm nosy like that.

[Chromatix]

Bottle collectors are a regular sight in Helsinki, because the recycling reward on them is actually quite generous (15c for a Coke can, 20c for a half-litre bottle, 40c for a 1.5l bottle, forget what it is for a beer can). At least some of the homeless/unemployed people actually use it as a way of buying food for themselves.

[fireheart]

It's the same deal here in Adelaide. (10c on bottles, cans and milk containers) My dad, sister and I used to do it as kids-we'd save up heaps of bottles and then take them down to the recycling plant. usually made between $20-$40 off of it.

When I'm in the city now, I'll see people scrounging around in bins and the like....

[SilverOrb]

It's illegal here to scavenge from recycling bins. We have a company at work that you can call and report such things (along with illegal dumping).

I'd say that about 75 % of the calls I get are for can diving (mostly from a certain grocery store) and most of the rest are the dumping.

[protege]

I've posted about the guy who scavenges aluminum around Grandma's old town. He'd literally walk all of the back roads...just for the discarded beer and soda cans. Later, he'd drag them to the local scrapyard and get a few dollars. IIRC, he wasn't ever dirty, and didn't stink like most of the "collectors." Plus, his clothes were always reasonably clean, and he had new coats in the winter. Someone was obviously taking care of him, so he wasn't living outside. Nice guy, who obviously had problems...the main one being that he didn't speak very well. I hope someone is still looking out for him.