Another Day, Another Free Pile

They’re so common in these parts. Passersby know the drill—take what you like and move on. Sounds nice and generous and in many ways it is, but it’s also a massive challenge.

We can’t nurture a system of reuse one free pile at a time. Stuff perishes on the street, which takes it from having some value to no value, quickly. Tons of money is spent cleaning up stuff that is all over the place–Oakland has over 2,700 illegal dumping instances every month. Is there room to dedicate some money to collect, consolidate, refurbish, and redistribute/resell the stuff instead?

We’ve been taught to look at street furniture first as waste. As such, our systems focus on treating the SYMPTOM, not the CAUSE. How it’s talked about–the value it’s assigned–determines its treatment. What value is assigned now? Which players are making moves to capture that value? Which ones are resisting it? Why?