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[Jimmy-T]

I was amused to read this story in the  Herald online about the Bauhaus building’s recycling initiatives.

I don’t begrudge those residents their praise for recycling clothes.  Good on them. But I can’t help thinking, who was handing out their bouquets when my building did it all 15 years ago?

Yup, way back then we had residents throwing clothes away so Mrs FlatChat, who was chair at the time, called up a charity and had them install a clothing bin in our car park.

Then our enterprising building manager set up one collection point for small electrical items and used batteries, and another so people could leave unwanted furniture and working domestic appliances for other residents to use.

We even had a composting bin for a while (before the worms mysteriously died) and recently someone on the current committee introduced a collection bin for recycling Nespresso capsules (because we are that kind of building).

Also, because we are that kind of building, all the credit has been recycled too.  I remember the look on Mrs FlatChat’s face when someone said, “Oh you live in the same building as that wonderful Mrs SoAndSo who set up all the clothes collections for charity.”

But Mrs F says she doesn’t mind someone stealing her thunder (I do, but that’s just me) as long as it helps charity and clothes aren’t going in the bin. You don’t do it for the Brownie points, you do it because it’s the right thing to do.

So, yes, the people at Bauhaus should be praised, as should anyone else who makes a bit of an effort to reduce waste and help those who need it.

And as for the people who can’t even be bothered to separate their garbage, ignore signs that tell them not to put plastic bags in recycling bins and flout warnings not to drop wine bottles and pizza boxes down the garbage chutes … they should be recycled back to the stand-alone houses that they came from.

Phew!  I feel so much better having got that off my chest.  Now, here are this week’s collection of gripes and grumbles (only some of which have been recycled).

• What do you do about a deposed despotic chairman who refuses to go away and harasses the committee with bogus claims at Fair Trading and NCAT? That’s HERE.
• Two owners accidentally had private work done under a common property project. How do you get the money back? That’s HERE.
• The chairman is the also the strata manager and he used proxies to outvote owners at the AGM and increase fees. Can you demand to see the evidence that the proxies are legitimate?  That’s HERE.
• The NCAT adjudicator doesn’t seem to understand strata law when it comes to dividing fences. What can you do?  That’s HERE.
• Who should you get to install smoke alarms – a specialist firm or an ordinary electrician? That’s HERE

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