Post by Banjo on Apr 1, 2024 14:14:56 GMT 7
This has the words pensioner and road in it so it's not really off topic.
I can imagine what this guy has gone through with people saying "If you can do this you could get a job".
He keeps at it though and more power to him.
Lost phones, a sex swing and dozens of deodorants: Queensland’s ‘rubbish rambler’ on 15 years of roadside finds
Leonard Monaghan has gathered 104 tonnes of rubbish in Warwick since 2008 – and admits he might be ‘a bit obsessed’
Every few years Leonard Monaghan finds a refrigerator full of rotting meat and vegetables on the side of a country road in south-east Queensland.
He suspects the culprits must return from holidays to a broken fridge and bad smell. Instead of paying $12 to drop it off at the local tip, they dump the whole lot on the quiet backroad.
Monaghan, who styles himself as the “Warwick Rubbish Rambler”, has gathered 104 tonnes of rubbish from roadsides around the rural town in the past 15 years.
Other standout finds include dozens of mobile phones of which six were returned to their owners, a sex swing, a sealed 24-pack of deodorant cans and a plastic bag full of pornographic DVDs.
“St Vincent’s [charity shop] doesn’t have an X-rated section, at least not that I know of, so the DVDs went in the bin,” he says.
The disability pensioner spends at least 20 hours a week collecting rubbish.
His days start early to avoid the heat. I met him at a turnoff 15km north-west of Warwick at 5.30am on Monday for a 17km stomp along a narrow road. He targets this stretch of road, which is surrounded by long grass and scrub, one day a month.
“I guess you can say I’m a bit obsessed,” he says. “Obsession isn’t necessarily a bad thing I think, if it gives you a good purpose.”
His rubbish collecting began in 2007 as a daily morning walk, after years of illness. He was aiming to get fit and picked up rubbish along the way. A year later he’d collected one tonne of rubbish.
Early on he experimented with using a postie bike – the low-powered motorcycles favoured by Australia Post – to speed up rubbish collection. That “fun but impractical and inherently dangerous” approach lasted a few years, until he collided with a dead kangaroo.
He now favours a custom-built trolley, which rolls out of the back of a large navy-blue van. This setup has taken his rubbish rambling “to a whole new level”.
His latest personal milestone, 104 tonnes of rubbish collected since 2008, passed on Saturday. By 2032 he hopes to crack 200 tonnes, which will mean collecting 30kg of trash a day for the next eight years.
Queensland roadside trivia sign 'Question: When is rabbit breeding season?'
Monday’s haul is mostly cans, plastic bottles, plastic wrappers and a few cigarette packets flung out the windows of passing cars. It weighs in at just 13kg. “Well below my target,” he says.
Cans and bottles are taken to drop-off points for the 10c refund and car batteries are sold to a local metal dealer for 50c/kg. Anything else that doesn’t fit in his rubbish and recycling wheelie bins (the local council gave him an extra set) goes to the tip.
In 2023 he was named Cultural Person of the Year by the Southern Downs regional council. He received a citizen award in 2018.
“I think they wanted to give me another award so they had to make one up,” Monaghan says. “In what way am I cultural?
“It’s good to be recognised, but it means more to me when people toot the horn on the way past, wave, or give out one of those ‘Gooodoonnyaaas’, especially when it’s raining.”
Read more...
www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/30/lost-phones-a-sex-swing-and-dozens-of-deodorants-queenslands-rubbish-rambler-on-15-years-of-roadside-finds
I can imagine what this guy has gone through with people saying "If you can do this you could get a job".
He keeps at it though and more power to him.
Lost phones, a sex swing and dozens of deodorants: Queensland’s ‘rubbish rambler’ on 15 years of roadside finds
Leonard Monaghan has gathered 104 tonnes of rubbish in Warwick since 2008 – and admits he might be ‘a bit obsessed’
Every few years Leonard Monaghan finds a refrigerator full of rotting meat and vegetables on the side of a country road in south-east Queensland.
He suspects the culprits must return from holidays to a broken fridge and bad smell. Instead of paying $12 to drop it off at the local tip, they dump the whole lot on the quiet backroad.
Monaghan, who styles himself as the “Warwick Rubbish Rambler”, has gathered 104 tonnes of rubbish from roadsides around the rural town in the past 15 years.
Other standout finds include dozens of mobile phones of which six were returned to their owners, a sex swing, a sealed 24-pack of deodorant cans and a plastic bag full of pornographic DVDs.
“St Vincent’s [charity shop] doesn’t have an X-rated section, at least not that I know of, so the DVDs went in the bin,” he says.
The disability pensioner spends at least 20 hours a week collecting rubbish.
His days start early to avoid the heat. I met him at a turnoff 15km north-west of Warwick at 5.30am on Monday for a 17km stomp along a narrow road. He targets this stretch of road, which is surrounded by long grass and scrub, one day a month.
“I guess you can say I’m a bit obsessed,” he says. “Obsession isn’t necessarily a bad thing I think, if it gives you a good purpose.”
His rubbish collecting began in 2007 as a daily morning walk, after years of illness. He was aiming to get fit and picked up rubbish along the way. A year later he’d collected one tonne of rubbish.
Early on he experimented with using a postie bike – the low-powered motorcycles favoured by Australia Post – to speed up rubbish collection. That “fun but impractical and inherently dangerous” approach lasted a few years, until he collided with a dead kangaroo.
He now favours a custom-built trolley, which rolls out of the back of a large navy-blue van. This setup has taken his rubbish rambling “to a whole new level”.
His latest personal milestone, 104 tonnes of rubbish collected since 2008, passed on Saturday. By 2032 he hopes to crack 200 tonnes, which will mean collecting 30kg of trash a day for the next eight years.
Queensland roadside trivia sign 'Question: When is rabbit breeding season?'
Monday’s haul is mostly cans, plastic bottles, plastic wrappers and a few cigarette packets flung out the windows of passing cars. It weighs in at just 13kg. “Well below my target,” he says.
Cans and bottles are taken to drop-off points for the 10c refund and car batteries are sold to a local metal dealer for 50c/kg. Anything else that doesn’t fit in his rubbish and recycling wheelie bins (the local council gave him an extra set) goes to the tip.
In 2023 he was named Cultural Person of the Year by the Southern Downs regional council. He received a citizen award in 2018.
“I think they wanted to give me another award so they had to make one up,” Monaghan says. “In what way am I cultural?
“It’s good to be recognised, but it means more to me when people toot the horn on the way past, wave, or give out one of those ‘Gooodoonnyaaas’, especially when it’s raining.”
Read more...
www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/30/lost-phones-a-sex-swing-and-dozens-of-deodorants-queenslands-rubbish-rambler-on-15-years-of-roadside-finds
