Story Archive

Taking Back the Trash

Frederick Tomlinson often goes out to pick up trash dumped around the Northern Territory of Australia. So, naturally he responded when he heard about a large amount of discarded goods in Roseberry. At the site, Tomlinson found several items that seemed valuable, including a fish tank, school reports, and a rabbit hutch. “We just assumed it must have bounced out of his truck so we returned it to its rightful owner,” he said. Several of the items included a man’s name and address, so they took the trash there, but nobody was home. “I was going to say ‘hey mate, you’re going to get a fine because there’s so much stuff to identify you in here, why don’t you take the stuff from me and take it to the dump’,” Tomlinson said. Since nobody was home, though, Tomlinson left everything in the man’s front yard, where he discovered it when he returned home. “I often collect rubbish if I see it out,” Tomlinson said. “But this is the first time I’ve returned it to the sender.” (MS/Northern Territory News) ...Some people talk trash, but this guy does something about it.