The mysterious
vanishing garbage

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The city's bulky-item pick-up crews hardly get a chance to do their jobs in my neighborhood.

I put some pieces out on the sidewalk midmorning on the day before the scheduled pick-up. Before evening, the beat-up rifle case disappeared. By dawn, the huge, 1970s-vintage stereo speakers and broken VCR (with remote) vanished. A few months back, a termite-eaten chest of drawers was snatched up just as quickly.

My mother suspects that people who sell second-hand merchandise, aware of the pick-up schedule, troll the streets in advance. Could be, but none of the charitable groups I called wanted the stuff.

On the Big Island, where many people have to haul the debris of life to the local dump, the practice is to leave any salvageable items off to the side. That way, if anyone wants them, they won't have to grub among the tuna cans and coffee grounds.

Maybe Mayor Harris should sponsor a bulky-item swap meet, a kind of trash-to-treasure exchange. It could be held at City Hall. That would be appropriate, wouldn't it?

--Cynthia S. Oi

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