Part 1: Garage sales one way to turn trash into cash
Whether you’re moving to a new home or just cleaning out your old one, it’s the time of year when a lot of old items seem to end up on the curb.
But instead of setting those items out for weekly garbage pickup, why not see if anyone will pay you to take your junk off your hands through a garage sale?
“Some things I don’t think are worth anything, and yet somebody wants it,” Ed Authier, a vendor at a recent community garage sale in New Hamburg.
At that community garage sale, shoppers gave CTV a wide variety of reasons why they like to browse the sales, ranging from love of antiques to enjoyment of the unexpected.
“It’s always the thought you might find something really interesting,” said Dan Cohoe.
Others said they don’t walk into a garage sale expecting to find great deals, but simply enjoy the social aspect of it.
“It’s a nice way for the community to come together, talk to people and usually find cool bargains,” said Aimee Bender.
To find those cool bargains, though, Bender recommended keeping an old proverb in mind – the early bird gets the worm.
“A lot of the time, the good stuff goes early,” she said.
“If you want to find it, you’ve got to get there early. But … you’re going to get a better deal later because they just want to get rid of it.”
Experts recommend that garage sale customers go in with a strategy of what they want and what they’re willing to pay, while vendors should make sure they haven’t priced their items unreasonably – and shouldn’t be afraid to accept a lower price.
“The price is negotiable, usually,” admitted Authier.
Another tip for prospective garage sale shoppers, this one from Cohoe – neighbourhoods with older residents preparing to leave their houses and children growing out of clothes and toys are likely your best bet for finding lots of sales in a small area.
Part 2: 'Scrappers' scouring curbside garbage lucrative and legal
Every day, almost 900 tonnes of garbage is sent to the Waterloo Region Landfill.
Education, recycling and compost programs have all been implemented to help reduce that number, but there’s one way of salvaging used items that doesn’t always meet with the same positive reaction.
John Sapay knows what that way is. He does it himself.
“I feel good because I’m helping the environment,” he tells CTV.
“I was sort of embarrassed at first.”
What does Sapay do? He patrols neighbourhoods in the evening hours as a scrapper.
‘Scrappers’ are those who keep an eye on what’s being thrown to the curb, looking for the usable and the sellable.
In Sapay’s case, he works with fellow scrapper Phyllis Vere to scour neighbourhoods in Waterloo Region.
“There’s money on the streets,” says Sapay.
Sometimes the pair even find repeat business, or talk to people who aren’t quite ready to dispose of certain items, but say they’ll call Sapay and Vere when they are.
But more common is noticing an old appliance sitting on the curb, which is how the pair were first introduced to Roger Neves.
“I’ve often thought hey, what are these guys doing, are they stealing stuff?” says Neves.
But over time, Neves learned what Sapay and Vere were doing with his stuff, and now they’re his first call when he’s cleaning house.
“(Sapay) helps me get rid of a dryer that, for me to get a truck and haul it away, is just a pain,” says Neves.
Kathleen Barsoum of Waterloo Region’s waste management division says there’s nothing illegal about scrapping.
“As long as the stuff is getting recycled, that is the goal,” she says.
Sunday evenings often produce the best hauls.
“Most people clean up on the wekeends,” says Vere.
“We can get a lot and – I have a storage unit, I’ll put some in there – and we can go back out on Sunday night because people put their stuff out at different times.”
So what do they pick up?
“Anything that is recyclable, that has a motor in it,” says Vere.
“Anything with a piece of metal in it. E-waste such as electronics, TVs, VCRs, fridges, stoves. “
Scrap metal dealers are currently paying about $165 per tonne of metal – or 13 cents per pound for a mixed load.
Individual metals can be more valuable, with copper checking in at $2.80 per pound and brass raking in about $1.85 per pound.
An entire truckload for Vere and Sapay can fetch as much as $120.
Part 3: Landfill looks to become 'one-stop shop' for waste disposal
More than 30 years after the first blue box recycling program was introduced in Waterloo Region, the program is an undeniable success – but there’s still more that can be done.
“(We get) 800 to 900 tonnes of garbage each day at the landfill,” says Kathleen Barsoum of the region’s waste management department.
Waste management costs Waterloo Region taxpayers $42.5 million per year.
Nearly half of that amount is taken up by efforts to keep yard waste, organics and recyclable materials away from the landfill – but in return for those efforts, the region takes in about $3 million annually when it sells its accumulated recyclables.
But if taxpayers would do even more to reduce, reuse and recycle, waste management officials say even more money could be saved.
“Why throw something out that can be used again?” says operations supervisor Joe Cardoso.
That’s part of the reason why the region allowed Habitat for Humanity to set up its ReStore operation right at the landfill.
In 2010, the ReStore took in 700 tonnes of items people had brought to the landfills, earning them $1 million in the process.
“We can turn it into well-needed dollars for Habitat for Humanity so that we can build homes in partnership with low-income families here within Waterloo Region,” says ReStore director Rob Snider.
Taking goods to the ReStore also saves the region on landfill space.
Barsoum says the region wants to get residents thinking of the landfill as a general space for waste disposal of all sorts, rather than just one method of disposal.
“We want this to be a sort of one-stop shopping place,” she says.
Bicycles have been another bumper crop saved from the landfill.
Last year, the region diverted nine tonnes’ worth of bicycles from the landfill. Some were harvested for parts while others were rebuilt and ridden away.
Part 4: Internet connects people looking for items with those offering them up
Once upon a time, if you wanted to get rid of an item that was still usable, your best option was the classifieds of the local newspaper.
Thanks to the rise of the Internet, though, connecting with someone interested in your junk has become a quicker and simpler process.
Kijiji is one of the most popular classified websites, and Waterloo Region is no exception to its success.
As Renee Goodman’s infants became kids, she turned to the site for both disposal and reimbursement purposes.
“When they outgrow their things, I put them on Kijiji because I hope to recoup a little bit of money for what they will need next,” she says.
So what’s Goodman’s advice for others looking to discard old goods and make a few bucks in the process?
“Put your things up there and see how they do,” she suggests.
“If they don’t do how you thought they might, lower your price a little bit.”
But not everything has a price, and not everyone selling goods online is necessarily after money in return.
Enter sites like FreeCycle, a non-profit which matches people offering goods for free with those looking for the ultimate bargain.
“For that item you might put to the curb, this is a chance to give it to someone directly who can make good use of it,” says FreeCycle founder Deron Beal.
“You don’t have to make it sound any better than it is. You can say it’s a ratty old sofa and if someone is looking for a ratty old sofa, there’s always somebody there who’s willing to have it.”
FreeCycle has more than nine million members in 110 countries.
Goodman is a member of FreeCycle as well, using it to get rid of items she doesn’t care if she gets money for.
“People throw away some pretty decent things,” she says.
Goodman has one more piece of advice for anyone looking to get rid of items, whether for cash or for free.
“Always include a picture, because people want to see what you have before driving over here to look at it,” she says.
Part 5: Kitchener artist picks up what others throw away
Most people walk past litter on the street without giving it a second thought.
The few who do decide to pick up the trash usually only keep it for as far as the next garbage bin.
But for Susan Coolen, one person’s trash really is another person’s treasure.
Coolen is Kitchener’s artist-in-residence for 2013.
Her first project for the city is called ’50 Ways to Leave Your Litter: In the Beginning’.
But before she can display her artwork at City Hall, she has to track it down on Kitchener’s streets.
“I’m always looking. I’m not looking for anything specific, but I’m noticing everything on the ground,” she explains.
Coolen’s art starts with her walking down the street and picking up discarded items – lighters, pop tabs, plastic lids and other common forms of litter.
Even roadkill captures her attention – it inspires here to create exhibits depicting the ‘crime scene’ where the animal died.
“Just rethink what it is that is actually quite ordinary, often ugly and dirty, and yet it can be transformed into something that goes beyond that,” she says.
Her work as artist-in-residence doesn’t include roadkill, but the rest of her ‘litter-arti’ will be displayed through the year at various city events and locations.
She hopes her work will help raise awareness about unnecessary waste in Kitchener, as do the city officials who hired her.
“Sometimes it really takes someone like Susan, who is really creative, to change our perspective on these things,” says Emily Robson, Kitchener’s arts and culture co-ordinator.
Though quick to call herself a “starving artist”, Coolen does receive a small honorarium from the city – so although she does it in a different way from recyclers, scrappers, garage sales or Internet buyers and sellers, she too is turning trash into cash.
