Feast or famine.
Why is it that when you are looking for a certain tool or supply in your crowded work shed, you often find a plethora of everything that you do not need and absolutely nothing or what you do need? Unfortunately, it is a common situation for many repair enthusiasts to be short of exactly the one part they need to complete a project. Whether it is a heavy duty hose clamp to make sure that air vent will finally quit falling off the clothes dryer exhaust or stainless hose clamps for a mower repair, that one adjustable hose clamp can keep a repair from being completed. And while many people have the option of running to a local store for the heavy duty hose clamp they are missing, others who live in more remote locations have to rely on more creative options.
Unfortunately, residents of a remotely located town 400 miles of west of Anchorage, Alaska, will no longer have the option of one of their most creative resources for the parts and household items that they need. After decades of allowing the residents of Bethel, Alaska, and other surrounding areas to rummage through the city dump to look for the items that they need, this popular “shopping” option has been eliminated.
Alaskan City Dump Outlaws Scavengers from Sorting Through Garbage
According to an Associated Press article last week, City Manager Ann Cappella said that the community of 6,200 can longer risk the danger that someone will be hurt or injured while “shopping” at the local dump. Angered by the new law, many residents indicate that they simply do not have the option of going to a nearby hardware store for the nuts, bolts, and heavy duty hose clamps that they may need. Hours away from purchasing options and separated from these stores by heavy snows through Alaska’s long winters, the residents of Bethel and the surrounding area have always relied on the dump for what the need. And while some simply go looking for extra clothing, heavy duty hose clamps, or an extra chair for the kitchen, other scavengers are able to find abandoned clothes washers or clothes dryers to help them complete the tasks of every day life.
The act of scavenging at the local dump has become so common that friends who meet for early morning coffee often offer advice about where in the dump someone might go to locate a needed item. The daily dump scavengers are a mix of people looking for specific items and those just looking for something of interest. And while finding a chair to replace the one that just broke at your house may be somewhat essential, some items like an extra mixing bowl made not have seemed necessary until you found it. Now that it has landed in your kitchen, it is used on a dually basis.
Although the city manager cites the fear of liability issues at the dump for the reason she is closing it down to scavenger hunters, locals cannot actually think of a time when someone has reported an injury. And while a significant part of the population in third world countries survive by finding and reselling items from city dumps, in the lower 48 states of America most dumps are considered private property and no trespassing is allowed.
In the meantime, these local Alaskan residents hope that the new city law will be voted out if the current city manager is not reelected. For the immediate future, residents are asking for locals to sort out usable items from their everyday trash and discard them in a location that is accessible to the public.
Repair Work Often Takes a Creative Approach
The simplest type of hose clamp is called a spring clamp. And while this strip of metal shaped into a cylindrical spring with several protrusions is most often used for connecting a hose to an automotive part, it can also be creatively used for other jobs. In fact, tight u-shaped wire hose clamps composed and other similar clamps can be used for joining any two items. some Alaskan residents, however, will have to search their own work jobs, not the local dump, for these and other important supplies.