A Load of Rubbish

The things people throw away!

By Frane Maroevic of the BBC's Croatian Service

It's never nice to be woken up by inconsiderate workmen. This morning they are delivering a skip for the house next to us.

A skip is something you can see in almost any neighbourhood in Britain. This morning two men in a lorry delivered the large metal box for disposal of large quantities of rubbish - a skip.

When I first arrived in this country I remember being fascinated by these containers full of interesting rubbish. Not the usual garbage, but bricks, bits of furniture and architectural details.

Illicit dumping

Obviously I am not the only one who was woken up by the noise, a neighbour from across the street pokes his head out of the door, brings out an old broken chair and a large bag of rubbish which he quickly dumps into the skip while his wife keeps watch from their window.

An hour or so later I hear a commotion outside, the next door neighbour, obviously the one who ordered the skip, he does not sound pleased:

Britain produces around 20 million tonnes of waste annually

"Look at this, I can't believe it! It only arrived this morning and some low life has already put rubbish in my skip", he says.

"I paid for this skip and already it is full with other people's rubbish."

It is against the law to dump rubbish in somebody else's skip, so I guess I'll keep quiet that I saw the culprit, after all it was only an old chair and a bag of garden rubbish and there is still enough room to fit a car in it.

Once the workmen arrive the skip is finally put to its proper use. It is filling with bricks, wood, floorboards, kitchen cabinets, a sink, an old lamp, a small bookcase.

Money piles from rubbish piles

A scruffy looking character takes a long look inside the skip before being moved on by angry workmen. Another man, this one dressed a bit smarter, stops to have a chat with the workmen, he seems very interested in the sink, the workmen even help him load it into his car.

What is he going to do with an old sink?

"It's a genuine 50s sink is that, a real gem. I'm going to clean it up a little bit and sell it", he says. "Everything I get from a skip is free so I am always on a lookout for a good skip. It's amazing what people will throw away. The trick though is to go to the expensive areas, rich people's rubbish is always better than poor people's rubbish."

He isn't the only one interested in the contents of the skip. A young couple take an interest in a lamp:

"What do you think, if we paint it and get a new shade for it I think it'll look brilliant", says the young woman.

Her companion is not as enthusiastic:

"I'm not carrying that across London. How are we going to get it back?", he says.

But they go off with their new acquisition leaving the workmen with more space for their rubbish. As it gets darker the workmen leave for the day, the skip is half full. Under the cover of darkness as if embarrassed another neighbour starts rummaging through the skip.

Eventually he pulls out a small spice-rack. He must have seen them throw it in earlier and was waiting for the night to go and get it, I guess some people do not want to be seen picking up other people's rubbish.

Once the skip is full it will be taken away and the rubbish used for land-fill, but I suspect that in the meantime it will continue to play its small part in the community, as a rubbish dump, a recycling centre and a conversation piece.