One thing German people are quite eager about is separating waste. We separate organic waste, paper and carton, glass, packages and tins, and non-recyclable waste, what means that you will find several garbage tins in every household for the respective kind of waste.

And then, there is bulky garbage. This is basically all kind of waste that takes a lot of space, such as trashy furniture, old fridges, computers, mattresses, and so on.

All these kind of garbage are taken by the litter service at peculiar times, and there are calendars telling you when which kind of waste is going to be taken.

Today, it was bulky waste day. This means that people put out their bulky waste at the street from where it will be taken the other early morning. I also had to contribute something this time because a few weeks ago, this happened.

This was my laundry rack. I was sitting in the kitchen (where I have my working table) and reading something for my thesis, when it suddenly made “clonk!” in my back as my laundry rack collapsed. Well. I kept this broken thing in my apartment for some time until there was bulky waste collection again.

Bulky waste collection also means treasure hunting, because what is someone’s waste may be someone else’s treasure. You see, the bulky waste is taken early in the morning, so people usually put their stuff at the street the day before, and some folks strategically go for that and screen if there are any valuable things to find. Usually, I am none of them, but this time, I was. When I walked to the supermarket for grocery shopping today, I saw a nice chair standing within a pile of other (useless) stuff at the side of the street, and I told myself that I would take that chair, given it was still there when I came back. You know, the early bird catches the worm.

It was. And I dragged it home. Now I have it here in my living room, and it is very weak so I better not sit on it. It needs wood glue treatment and has to have some nails removed (which somebody drove into it who apparently did not know about applying wood glue). And it also needs a nice paint. Here it is, in its current (miserable) state.

Unfortunately, I lack any practical skills and have two left hand with things like this. But I have nice neighbors who are very handy with tools and will show me how to fix it. I actually like the white color and am thinking about painting it with white color again and then put a nice cushion on it. I really like that chair.

So, what would you do with it? Please tell me your ideas!