How improved bulk trash pickup killed a German cottage industry of furniture re-use

One piece of good news for Americans in Germany is: bulk trash pickup works the same way.

You fill out a card with the request or go to the utility website and enter it there. They schedule and notify you of the pickup date.

There are some differences as to what items German waste management folks will take. And they enforce their choices by leaving non-conforming items behind so you can schlepp them back under the watchful eyes of the neighbors. If you have any. 
The rule of thumb for modern day German bulk collectors is that they take stuff that is typically used inside the house, mostly all sorts of furniture, small accessories, and the like. Windows count as building material - they won't take any. 

The basic process, though, is the same.

The trucks look similar, too, with their big hydraulic compactor at the back. Steering wheels are exclusively on the left in Germany, never on the right.

Most of the bulk trash is driven straight to the nearest big city incinerator for "recycling".

The old version of bulk trash pickup was done on a single day for all households.

And because whole neighborhoods or whole towns put their bulk trash out on a single evening, a cottage industry of scavengers managed to make a decent living picking through discarded stuff.

In cities, so the blogster has been told, these scavengers were soon joined by migrant workers when they arrived in large numbers in booming post war West Germany.

This article in the weekly Der Spiegel from 1972 provides an entertaining look at the phenomenon.

In Hamburg, says the article, monthly bulk trash day had become an almost festive event, with people coming out after dark to rummage through the mountains of stuff. Neither the police nor the utility company was worried, although technically people were stealing. Ownership of the trash remained with the discarding person until utility workers loaded it into the truck.

The diverse groups of scavengers came from all walks of life, from students to academics, and even included off duty police officers.

The utility chief was happy: every cubic meter they take is one less for us to dispose off. It's a win - win.

Antiques dealers joined, too. And the article quotes one man who built a successful business with six employees on the monthly bulk trash hunt.

At some later time, probably in the late 1980s or the 1990s, the system switched to on demand pickup, and the cottage industry collapsed.

Every now and then, on the way to somewhere in our hill country, the blogster spots a lone pile or two of bulk trash for pickup the next day.

And it* slows down and checks out the goodies. Two nice chairs on the porch and a gorgeous 1950s living room chair prove that even today too many perfectly good things are thrown away. 

* Gender neutral.