auckland has this very cool thing where once or twice a year your street will be nominated for an 'inorganic waste' collection.  the weekend before the week you have to put all the rubbish that wouldn't normally be allowed in the rubbish bin (the stuff you'd take to the refuse tip in the UK).

for a few days the streets look completely messy, except they are full of fantastic things.  And there are rag and bone type people going round collecting anything which can be repaired or sold or melted down.  so by the end of the weekend there really is very little left.  it's an excellent scheme.

they are also really clear that anything you put out will end up in a landfill (unless it get taken away by a passing opportunist) so people can think twice about what they put out.

i like the mixture of official and unofficial recycling that goes on.  and the glorious mess that exists for a few days.