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Scavengers are fighting for the pick of inorganic rubbish collections as the credit crunch squeezes household budgets.
The canniest collectors can refurbish houses with cast-offs, and others sell the best items online.
Despite bylaws, local authorities said they were losing the war against packs of professionals who ripped televisions and other goods apart for steel or copper wire.
Budget advisers predicted the practice would grow in popularity the longer the recession lasted.
The elderly, students and families from all walks of life were among those picking through piles of items left out in North Shore City over Labour Weekend.
Some had vans filled to capacity and others were sitting on couches or guarding their spoils while they waited for transport.
Residents told the Herald on Sunday they saw people fighting over items and smashing TVs and computers for prime parts in streets clogged with cars and strewn with rubbish.
A call taker on North Shore City Council's action line said collections were running at least a week behind schedule because people were putting out "way more" than their one cubic metre per residence limit.
Illegal dumpers from other parts of the region had dropped their trash for free, while those extracting copper wire were smashing screens on the roadside.
The future of inorganic collections is in doubt, with Waitakere City Council introducing a user-pays pick-up service from next year and other councils expected to follow suit.
Brian Pethybridge of North Shore Budgeting said it was sad a free opportunity for the budget-conscious would be lost.
He said collections often contained perfectly "fine" goods, underlining the adage that one man's trash was another man's treasure.
North Shore residents told the Herald on Sunday they liked people making treasure out of their trash - providing they didn't make a mess.
Kim Hockly said while the junk was a "bit of an eyesore", it was great her old things could get more use.
But the collections weren't popular with everyone.
Waitakere's solid waste manager Jon Roscoe said that the council received 90 complaints a month about illegal dumping during last year's inorganic initiative.
Parks and reserves had morphed into dangerous scrapyards, scavengers had threatened residents, and one man cutting his lawns had his mower stolen when he went to his garage for more fuel.
Roscoe lives in Glenfield, North Shore, where inorganic materials were overtaking his street.
He had put a fridge in "good condition" outside, hoping someone could make use of it. Within hours it and his rubbish were picked apart.
Formerly tidy piles were strewn across the footpath and road.
North Shore's waste minimisation manager Warwick Jaine said there were bylaws to prevent scavenging, but it was difficult to catch offenders.
Meanwhile, flatscreen fever is being blamed for a surge in the number of working TVs being thrown out.
A Waitakere City Council spokesman says more than 100 sets were being taken to its West Auckland recycling centre each week.
Most were working, but the council "can't even give them away".
Working sets were being sold on Trade Me to fund council recycling initiatives. Waitakere councillor Vanessa Neeson put the trend down to an obsession with flatscreen TVs.
