Although Buffalo is known as the "City of Good Neighbors," you certainly wouldn't know it to look in the dumpsters frequented by students here at Hadley Village.
Between finds made by me and one of my flatmates, our Hadley Village apartment has thus far acquired two lamps, a stereo system, a mini-refrigerator, a chest of drawers and a laptop computer from the dumpsters scattered around the Hadley parking lot. Not to mention assorted other items of less interest (and value).
At first, I was thrilled by these discoveries. After all, finding the floor lamp that now stands alongside my dresser meant I didn't have to go spend forty dollars at Target for something to make my cave-like room a little brighter during the day. A lot of these finds could be dismissed as the discarded belongings of international students - especially the computer, which had to be reprogrammed so it would display English instead of Chinese.
But as we've uncovered more and more treasures, up to the discovery of a self-healing cutting mat (which easily put its owner back $75) the size of a Mercedes Smart Car, and several unmarked pieces of foam core, my emotions have turned from delight at my and my friends' good fortune to annoyance with the wasteful brats who have been discarding these perfectly usable items.
When the university first began the latest push of building new, apartment-styled accommodations, there were many protests of the increased class and ethnic divide that would follow, as the higher price of the apartments would mean only the richest (and presumably, whitest) members of the student population would be able to afford living in them.
At the time, I thought this reaction was a bit silly. But if such large numbers of students living in the apartments can afford to simply throw away the sorts of appliances my friends and I have been finding, maybe there's something more to the suspicions that were voiced than one would initially think.
Putting that issue aside, what really bothers me about finding these things in the trash is that Buffalo, as an economically challenged area, has plenty of charities, shelters and foundations that would be more than willing to take these items. Kids for Computers would have had people willing to reprogram that laptop to work in English, and then disadvantaged kids in both city and suburb (not to mention people who might have liked to get a cheap system right here on campus) would have been able to benefit, and whoever threw out a perfectly functional laptop would have been either a few bucks or a few karma points richer.
The stereo could have been donated to one of the exercise rooms on campus, or a daycare center, or even one of the local schools. The lamps - well, at the very least bring them to Goodwill.
I understand that not everyone on campus has a car (although the car-to-person ratio is certainly higher in the campus apartments than anywhere else, and there's generally at least one person with wheels in any given apartment), but there are plenty of charities in the area who would be more than willing to come by your flat and take your "garbage" to someone who wouldn't turn their noses up at it.
It disgusts me that there are people on this campus who can't be bothered to make one or two phone calls because it's easier for them to walk their gently used appliances down to the dumpster than to think about the people who can't afford to just hop in their Dodge Neon or Geo Sport and whiz over to Target for a new stereo.
Whoever it is that's been throwing these things away - maybe you think you have a valid excuse for this waste. But whatever your reason, it's a pathetic one. There are more families than can be counted who need the sorts of things being thrown away. Especially when it comes to stereos, computers, and refrigerators, all of which can be used by incoming students when last year's residents move out.
And if the idea of giving something away bugs you that much, then just put out an ad. Sell that stereo to someone for ten bucks. It's stupid to bother about recouping your costs if you're just going to trash the thing anyway, so why not make somebody else happy by giving it away or selling it for the equivalent of a song?
On the other hand, American culture is really all about consumerism and convenience, isn't it - and what could possibly be more convenient than simply chucking a large, bulky piece of equipment when you've gotten one to replace it?
You don't need to go to a big city to see people starving, cold, and hungry - and you don't need to so much as leave Amherst to find people who wouldn't say no to a new stereo, a refrigerator or a few lamps. Not to mention the computer.
