Trash Traders

Who are trash traders?

Trash traders. You’ll encounter them mostly in Fairy Gardens and in T@Ö#Ä3, near Wasteland. The profession of trash trading is just about as old as the New World itself and hasn't changed much. Basically what these people do is collect other people’s trash and sell it forward to crafters of Fairy Gardens and Wasteland, who then upcycle them into new items, but by most, they’re seen as annoying weirdos who constantly rummage through others' trash. They are strange and loud and deal with trash, so many see them as trash of society; maybe those hippies could try getting a REAL job one of these days, dammit. But though it may be an unglamorous job, their existence is a necessary evil one should be thankful for at the end of the day.

What exactly is it that they do?

To many, it may seem easy to just toss their trash out and not think about it anymore. But just throwing something in trash won't make it disappear and this is a problem that has to be dealt with, lest our world will go down the same path as the old one did. Surely, a lot of stuff can be and is recycled, but that’s not the only thing that can be done and trash traders are very well aware of that. They particularly like larger items, pieces of furniture, old clothing, electronics, but also paper and plastic. To everyone’s great misfortune they like to collect all that stuff, especially in late night or early morning hours, making a whole lot of noise in the process. This is no small job after all, they go around whole neighborhoods with trucks, trying to find and salvage anything that might still be useful to anyone.

After they’re done with this, they take it to their storage areas, where they sort everything by material, condition, stuff that might need to be fixed up a bit, and stuff that needs can be broken down into smaller potentially useful pieces. Every piece, from single soda cans to pieces of furniture, is carefully catalogued and stored in their warehouses.

After all of the items are accounted for and organized, it’s time to contact clients. Usually the trash traders would already have a list of their regular clients. These are most commonly local artisans who need regular supplies of materials for their crafts, or sometimes make specific orders for stuff they need.

In addition to that, so-called Trash Trades are organized weekly. As the slogan welcoming you at the entrance of any of these says: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. These Trash Trades welcome everyone to come buy, sell or trade their stuff. People bring here everything they might find in their homes; from old broken items, to things that are still in a working condition, but they don’t use anymore, to obscure collectibles, to any other item one might want to part with, but isn’t ready to throw in trash. Plus, it’s a good way to make some extra money that way.

Importance of sustanability

And though all this, the life cycle of an item is concluded and started over. What were once new items now became materials to create other new items. While not everything can always be recycled or reused, it’s this cycle of reusing and upcycling old materials that keeps the production going, while minimizing the amount of waste, all thanks to the trash traders who are the ones responsible for keeping this up. This is something that can’t be denied even by those most bothered by their trash rummaging habits, and their annoying loud nightly trash raids.