Recycling and the barter system in Poland

SeanBM 34 | 5780

31 Oct 2008 #1

I thought with the credit crunch and all, this might be a good time to discuss and share ideas on Recycling and the barter system.

I will start with the barter system, of course money is useful, it is a representation of a value but I would like for you all to share your experiences of people helping each other to both of their advantages.

An example, my roof had a leek last autumn, a friend knew a roofer, the roofer has a potato field but no tractor, my friend has a tractor but needs someone to help him cut the wood for winter.

Do you see where this is going?
We all came out happy:)

Of course recycling is not just putting plastic bottles into recycling bins. Although this also cuts on waste charges.
Have you any tips on how to reuse things?
The guy across the road from me, has a tractor he made himself.
I have just broken up the last of an old fence to use as fire wood.
I used to reuse stamps.
Any more examples?

Just a tip if you want a few quid in Poland, apply for a telephone line, I applied last year and now the postman comes around with 50 Zlotys from the telephone company, he has just been and gone :)

aphrodisiac 11 | 2426

22 Jan 2010 #2

Just a tip if you want a few quid in Poland, apply for a telephone line:)

what do you mean?

Any more examples?

when I was living in Poland I would put the stuff I wanted to get rid of by the garbage bin with a little note that " this blanket is still good". It was nicely packed and all that. I do it here as well, if the equipment is broken - I leave a note, so the happy bugger does not take it home and have his fuses blown out.

OP SeanBM 34 | 5780

22 Jan 2010 #3

what do you mean?

The can't run a landline so by law they have to pay me.
Actually they just offered me a radio line, which I don't want but it stopped them from paying me any more.

I would put the stuff I wanted to get rid of by the garbage bin with a little note

In London they are very good at that, people make a living off collecting, tables sofas TVs etc...

aphrodisiac 11 | 2426

23 Jan 2010 #4

The can't run a landline so by law they have to pay me.

OK- I understand now.

In London they are very good at that, people make a living off collecting, tables sofas TVs etc...

well, you might want to know that I just recycled my old phone and tomorrow I am giving some clothes to charity:). Thanks for the suggestion.

pawian 226 | 27211

29 Jan 2022 #5

to discuss and share ideas on Recycling

At last! After years of discussions, they are starting to install can and bottles reverse vending machines. I enthusiastically used them in the USA 30 years ago. So my theory that Poland is 30 years behind the USA is correct.

Ron2

22 Jul 2026 #6

I don't think can and bottles reverse vending machines are popular in the US, unless in some popular places like Disney parks. If anything, they are more used in Poland.

Recycling

22 Jul 2026 #7

In London they are very good at that, people make a living off collecting, tables..

Poland is full of tramps who make alcohol money from collecting empty containers from bins and dragging massive bags of them to the nearest recycling machine. Warsaw is full of stinking cvnts doing exactly that. They raid the bins and then they convert their 'treasure' to more alcohol money, which they spend at Biedronka and Zabka on more alcohol to drink on the streets and local parks, and then pass out on benches. They stink like fvck and they're disgusting.

jon357 77 | 26050

23 Jul 2026 #8

bottles

I used to like the lady in Poznan Rynek that people gave the bottles to. She collected them and got the deposit. Then they banned drinking outdoors, not so much because of anything antisocial but because of lobbying by bar owners.

AngloAlcoExpats

23 Jul 2026 #9

Poland is full of tramps who make alcohol money from collecting empty containers from bins..

That's high praise coming from a Brit. Your expats do the exact same thing in Poland with public drunkenness, except they don't even have the work ethic to return the bottles for deposit money. They just leave them strewn around the park benches they pass out on after three cheap lagers.

Alien 31 | 8030

23 Jul 2026 #10

lobbying by bar owners.

They probably don't make a living from deposit money?

jon357 77 | 26050

23 Jul 2026 #11

@Alien
They prefer people to drink in bars rather than buy a bottle and sit on a bench.

Miloslaw 24 | 5802

23 Jul 2026 #12

In London The Poles still prefer to buy some booze and drink it on the corner of the street than go to the pub.

AngloAlcoExpats

23 Jul 2026 #13

They stink like fvck and they're disgusting.

You mean the British expats in Poland? Listen, I've seen swarms of flies leave freshly laid dog sh1t and land on a British expat walking by.

jon357 77 | 26050

24 Jul 2026 #14

go to the pub.

It's not much of a pub culture.

Then again, with the beer prices down there being double that of many other places, it's hard to blame them.

Syriusz

24 Jul 2026 #15

Recycling makes no difference. They mix the regular garbage with the recycled anyway. It makes people feel good - I admit that.

cms neuf 3 | 2561

24 Jul 2026 #16

They mix the regular garbage with the recycled anyway.

In Poland ? No that is completely untrue.

Ron2

27 Jul 2026 #17

I've seen an example of a developer building a large complex of duplexes and multifamily homes in a suburb of a popular city in Poland. Within a couple of years, the township built a large waste dump about 400 meters from the complex, and the value of the homes collapsed overnight.