Is it theft if the people and companies throwing it out don't care? I would assume it's not the cities or garbage company's property until it's actually picked up?
>I would assume it's not the cities or garbage company's property until it's actually picked up?
Depends on where the cardboard was dumped. If it's on the curb somewhere, on public property, there's a stronger case that the property as abandoned[1]. However, if it's a dumpster located on private property, an argument can be made that the residents/businesses disposing of the garbage is immediately transferring ownership to the city. eg. consider the scenario where a factory dumps its metal scraps in a dumpster so it can be picked up by a recycler (who will pay the factory for the scraps). You also see something similar for restaurants where they have a dedicated storage container for oil, which a dedicated company picks up and pays them for it. In those cases it's clear that the "garbage" isn't being abandoned, and still belongs to either the original owner, or the company designated to pick it up.
[1] Although even that's tricky, eg. the process for clothing donations involves leaving your clothes on the curb for pick up. Are articles of clothing left like that fair game for anyone else to snatch first? I don't think so, given that the intent is for it to be picked up by the designated entity, not merely just abandoned.
While I think you're right (in terms of laws around abandoned property) it's worth noting that the gangs discussed in the article only steal cardboard in large quantities. At $80/ton, even a pound of cardboard is just 3 cents.
Now, in poorer countries, people absolutely do collect individual pieces of scrap cardboard, even at those incredibly low prices. But that's more related to a much, much sadder discussion about income inequality. If you want to see what that looks like, living on scraps from the streets, Reuters recently did an interesting photo piece: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-homeless-widerimag...
Then put a lock on the trash bin and give a key/access code to the recycler. Problem solved.
In my country we have poor people making a living on recyclables. They usually carry carboad by push carts. I would have a problem if these vulnerable people got prosecuted for cardboard "theft".
On the one hand, it doesn't seem right for the government to use this as a moneymaking opportunity at the expense of other "entrepreneurs" but on the other hand the official pipeline probably adheres to some standards they wouldn't, like not dumping it in the woods if it can't be sold.
Like any other industry, I assume the value of these things ebbs and flows. If you look at recycling in the US when China decided not to accept our waste, I bet a lot of companies found themselves stuck with tons of material that suddenly had negative value. It's easier to imagine a government agency doing the right thing in that situation than a criminal enterprise.
That's an isolated incident. I don't think the cardboard they've been collecting all this time regularly will have day to day shifts in values that cause them to randomly discard some in the forest.
A lot of cardboard has no recycling value because it is contaminated with other materials.
For example, used pizza boxes soaked with grease are not recyclable. If you're lucky and your city has a municipal composting program, they can be composted, or some places incinerate stuff like this for energy, but otherwise they end up in the trash, or worse, discarded in the forest.
That doesn't stop people from throwing them in the recycling bin though.
The government doing it means that a previous generation of entrepreneurs or citizens had a problem with recycling that wasn't being solved adequately by private markets, so they petitioned the government to organize it.
The alternative is privatizing the profits and socializing the costs, which is way worse.
I would assume that as well. In some jurisdictions in the US there is a precedent that when you take your trash out to the curb it is no longer private property, so the cops (and anyone else) can take it and search through it for goodies. I would expect the same rules to apply to recycling bins as well.
People who are embedded in modern politics either as participators or commentators are all hyper angry and annoying. Calling for the collapse of your home government in so many words... then ending by proudly claiming you 'don't want to think about what happens after that' is stupid and a waste of people's reading time.
I think the legal argument services like serpapi make is that as long as you don't create a google account and/or accept google's terms then you are free to scrape and clone what is publicly accessible (at least in the US). I have no idea though.
Looks clean and well-designed, congrats on launching it! I thought the search bar would let me search video titles/subject so was a tad disappointed with what it actually is (maybe giving it a more specific label will fix my expectations), but everything else is great.
I was intrigued in your experience as a polygot and was buying your arguments until I read your suggestion to listen to guides then that completely reversed it because almost all the many many guides I've had are definitely not fluent in their non-native language in the same way children gain fluency. Most have broken language in the same way older immigrants have broken language despite the fact that are forced to navigate in their adopted language full-time.
Have to start your search somewhere. Watch out for an older distinguished-looking gentleman giving proper tours, not the fellows that accost you at the exit of the bus/train station with a few simple sentences.
If I was a researcher with no travel budget I'd try cross referencing a list of medium-small touristy towns (like Cusco) with decades that had upticks in tourism and a very bad local economy. Narrow it down to above-average income college grads and start asking them if they are or know of a polyglot. Can probably get pretty far with nothing but Facebook.
Just a guess, maybe I'm wrong about this pattern. Let me know what you find out. ;)
Edit: I was also intrigued by your comment until I read "in the same way older immigrants have broken language" - this is indeed the common but rather narrow experience. I don't think I'll be able to convince you of anything. Best assume you are corresponding with the Loch ness monster.
My work requires me to travel with guides, I have no idea if they are all above average income 'gentlemens' as you say (before you edited it out) so I can't really comment on that. I'm an immigrant myself along with my community so there's that. If you consider that a 'narrow' view not sure what more to say. There's a difference between fluency and native-like fluency that kids obtain. I would love you to post recordings of you speaking and ask the public to see if they can tell if you're a native speaker or not because I genuinely am curious.
Strong lockdown measures doesn't translate to people actually following through. In Central Valley and places like Huntington Beach you can go outside and not realize there's a global pandemic. The data is fuzzy and evolving. I doubt the world will have concrete answers for many years.
Thanks, I love me some icons. Looks like it could work well stylistically along side those also using Github's recently redesigned octicons (https://primer.style/octicons)
Looks nice. For a db backup service you really need to have a privacy policy and more information about your company and your country of origin on your website before anybody would consider using your service.
