Kerre Woodham: The manky couch defence

I love the inorganic collections. I don't go out hunting for stuff myself, but the idea that your unwanted pieces could be just the thing for an enterprising hunter is great. Surely it's the ultimate in recycling - rather than cluttering up the tip, your manky old couch is cluttering up a student flat, soaking in beer spills and pizza grease.

Sure, people on occasion can be rude and ill-mannered. Some park their vans in the middle of the road, and hold up traffic while they fossick. Then there are others who spread neatly stacked discards like a moggy let loose in a rubbish bag.

Then there are the more unusual treasure hunters. I had one woman come banging on the door late at night, demanding to come in and switch on an old microwave oven to see if it worked. When I said no, she wanted to know where we'd bought it, how old it was, whether it still worked and could she come back and drop it off if it blew up when she plugged it in at her house.

But most people are genuinely delighted to find something they can use or sell. This latest inorganic collection has saved me a fortune in cartage and tip fees, and if somebody can make a buck out of my unwanted bits and pieces, good luck to them.

I remember a few lads who turned up to take away a mattress that was easily 20 years old, and a filthy old couch the dog had been sleeping on. They'd been cluttering up the shed for ages, and one fine day it was time for them to go. The van turned up, I pointed the lads in the right direction, and they stopped in their tracks.

Very politely they asked if I was sure I wanted it taken to the dump, because, if I had no objection, they knew some families who could really use my junk. I told them how old and grubby everything was, but they were adamant they could clean them up and use them, or they knew people who could.

I would far rather give people the opportunity to pick over my stuff before it's consigned to smelly pulp at the tip. When I was setting up my first flat, I did so with cast-offs that were a lot shabbier than some of the stuff you see on the street. In fact, an old oak chest of drawers given to me by a mate 19 years ago went out in this latest inorganic collection, and I was delighted to see a young woman loading it into the back of a rusty old staton wagon. So I can't really see why Waitakere and North Shore City are taking such a hard line with treasure hunters. Surely, there are ways to minimise the mess by only giving people a week to put out their stuff before it's collected, and having officials use the same line with scavengers as they do with parking offenders. If the rubbish police operated with the same vigilance as parking wardens, surely there wouldn't be a problem.