One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Ticket?
Usually, people who recycle and donate to charity are commended for their efforts, but Robert Jessberger of Bexley, Ohio is being asked to stop, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Jessberger reportedly collects items that people in his neighborhood set out as trash. With some cleaning and fixing, most of the items he collects are good as new. He donates thousands of dollars worth of cleaned-up items to charity every year and sells the rest at an annual yardsale, which he has used to pay for seven vacations over the past several years.
The problem is this: taking trash without permission is illegal in Bexley. From the Columbus Dispatch:
Jessberger has proposed that Bexley issue trash-collecting licenses to “people of good character,” but the city’s police chief argues it’s an invitation to for-profit scrap collectors and identity thieves.
Jessberger has received warnings from police twice. But after the 49-year-old resident spoke up at a City Council meeting, Bexley Police Chief Larry Rinehart said he was going to tell officers they need to start writing citations.
Hopefully, they can resolve this issue so that Jessberger can keep recycling without opening the town to “unsavory characters” and other problems. In general, the community supports what he’s doing, and one neighbor even jokingly has offered to buy him a mask and cape.
Robert Jessberger sounds like a great guy! What he is doing is helping to “close the loop”, reducing waste and creating a more sustainable culture. Good on him for doing this. The issue of permission does need to be managed; surely something suitable can be arranged!
It saddens me when we prevent individuals from scavenging - an activity that turns out to be good, environmental work. We are so afraid of the “have-nots” who might enter our neighborhoods to go through our trash that we want to outlaw their helpful behavior.
Perhaps if we developed a philosophy of a community eco-system where EVERY citizen has a role to play, we’d start to touch upon the elitism that often lies beneath our fear and disgust of people who do what Robert does.
As far as the fear of identity thieves, what makes people think that those who make a living collecting waste aren’t collecting our identity already? After all, people who work at stores steal our credit card information more often than we care to admit, yet we hang on to the false belief that people with jobs must be legitimate people while those who scavenge must be shady.