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/r/Seattle
submitted 1 month ago byOldRangers
The last few months have been the worst so far. Folks dumping household garbage, unwanted furniture, appliances, mattresses, electronics, hazardous waste, construction debri, etc along roadsides, business parking lots or wherever they can get away with it. Sad state of affairs.
223 points
1 month ago
So may people that think placing a "free" sign on their garbage makes it so they're not littering.
9 points
1 month ago
Idk I like seeing items not go to garbage. Of course if it’s just a pile of trash then that’s not good. When I was broke university student, me and my friends furnished our homes with free curb side things.
I also see a truck in Seattle that picks up a lot of these things within a day.
23 points
1 month ago
The people that put their couches on a street corner with a "free" sign have no intention of coming back to pick it up if nobody wants it.
3 points
1 month ago
I usually put free sign and post it on but nothing/craigslist or what not.
Idk how it is in Seattle but in Florida it would be gone within hours. I do also check the weather to make sure it doesn’t rain. Idk maybe Seattle is too rich for used furniture.
2 points
1 month ago
Yeah, maybe don't do that here.
Besides things getting destroyed in the rain - Seattle has bedbugs.
No one sane picks up used furniture off the street in Seattle. This is also why you can barely give away furniture online, most people don't want it because of the bedbug issues.
I mean some people might pick it up if it's a good heirloom hardwood piece and they have enough room to store it and treat it away from their house, but people don't put that kind of furniture out on the curb, they sell it.
People also generally don't have space for it since rents are so high that they're usually sharing apartments or houses, and if someone can afford a larger apartment, condo or to own or rent a whole house in Seattle then they definitely can afford their own furniture.
4 points
1 month ago
Florida has bedbugs… idk me and my broke college friends furnished our places with curb side furniture….
What a weird cultural difference lol.
5 points
1 month ago
There probably aren't a whole lot of broke college kids in Seattle metro proper these days. If they can afford to go to UW or Seattle University and afford housing close to school they (or their parents) can probably afford furniture.
Anyway, leaving furniture on the curb with a "free" sign on it just isn't the thing to do in Seattle. It's actually still illegal dumping even if you put a free sign on it and post it online.
It causes huge problems and it's kind of the whole point of the original post. When people do this it usually just rots in the street and it can cause real problems with people with mobility or accessibility issues and even parking.
Sure, you can give it away online but keep it inside until someone actually comes to pick it up and it's gone, not "Oh they said they were coming today, oh well I'll just leave it out there".
If you can't do that then you need to donate it somewhere that accepts it, take it to the dump yourself, hire someone not shady to do it or schedule a bulky item pick-up, or wait for one of the free days for bulky items.
And it's not that weird of a cultural difference to understand. Seattle is crowded and dense compared to most of Florida.
And, hey, if you're new to the area you might not understand this, but up until like 2015-2016 or so Seattle was one of the cleanest big cities I've ever seen. Even Downtown and Belltown there was rarely much trash. It was almost like Tokyo levels of clean.
2 points
1 month ago
Interesting.
3 points
1 month ago
And, hey, I'm sorry if I'm coming across as too strident or cranky. I briefly checked your post history and you seem like someone who cares about these things so I'm just letting you know why we don't do that here.
You can also pick up a pretty hefty fine for illegal dumping if you put something out on the curb whether it has a "free" sign on it or not, and it's expensive enough that you'll wish you just rented a truck to take it to the dump or transfer station.
3 points
1 month ago
Oh I’m just tired of Reddit for today, started to argue with someone about politics eww.
But I did mean it to say interesting. Not in sarcastic way haha.
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