'Pickers' out in force during Cape Breton heavy garbage pickup

Heavy garbage pickup has become a rite of spring in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and so has the accompanying ritual of "picking."

Operating on the theory that one man's trash is another man's treasure, pickers scrutinize piles of discarded household items placed at the curb for pickup, pulling out items they might be able to sell on, fix or restore for themselves.

Jamie Foulds, the owner and recording engineer at Soundpark Studios in Sydney, spent a good part of Sunday observing the behaviour of various pickers from his own front window.

He's created a satirical Picker Taxonomy. All in good fun, those descriptions, along with illustrating photos, were posted on Facebook throughout the day.

Here is Foulds's list, and his commentary:

1) The PRO 

Highly focused. Travels with a heavy duty trailer. Mainly interested in metal items.

2) The rummager

Has the world's smallest car. No clear goals. Randomly pokes around and makes the pile even messier. Takes one small 100 per cent useless item.

3) The stealth dropper 

This is in my pile. But I did not put it there. This elusive species of picker is still very much a mystery to science.

4) The Old Timer 

Has been picking at heavy garbage since 1947. Always drives a white Chevy pickup with homemade wooden side extensions. Only really interested in doors and windows for his shed. But knocks over all the smaller items in the pile anyway.

5) The refinisher

This is a highly specialized species; only interested in wooden items that can be stripped and refinished in some way. Mostly furniture. Doesn't matter how broken. They all get stuffed into a small late model SUV.

6) The kids

These gangs of marauding neighbourhood kids don't actually take anything. They're in it purely for the adventure. And sure ... maybe they smash a few things. But God luv em they're OUTSIDE and not glued to a computer screen!

7) The sneaky friend 

This species of picker usually works under cover of darkness, but can be spotted pretty much any time of day. He's been eyeballing your stuff for years and just biding his time, waiting for you to curb it during the heavy garbage celebrations. Caught this one red-handed.

8) The cord cutter 

This species honestly confuses me. The male appears to have a single mission. He has a pair of edge cutters and snips off every power cord in sight. Only the newly liberated cords go into the back seat of the SUV while the female looks on. Is he making some sort of offering to the female? What could these power cords be used for? Fascinating...

9) The Eeyore

It's hard to avoid anthropomorphizing a bit with this species. They just always seem to look so sad. Like they really wish they could just be anywhere else. Almost as if they're questioning the very purpose of the picking, but just can't help themselves. Does it not make them happy to pick? If not, why do they keep it up? Do they question their very existence? These pickers don't take a thing … More study is definitely needed here.

10) The Nightcrawler 

I didn't think I was going to get you one of these. This elusive species travels in packs and only picks under cover of darkness. Armed with powerful flashlights, and working as a team; these little guys waste NO time. They quickly root through everything like they're pulling off a perfectly timed bank heist. They peel away with whole boxes of stuff to go through later back in their den.

11) The Dumper

Here's a newly discovered species for you! This fella is a pure delight. So you've got a bunch of smaller crap inside a large bin and put that out for heavy garbage. Then this guy comes along. Guess what he wants… The bin full of crap you say? Nope... *JUST* the bin! In order to accomplish this feat, this guy has developed a few amazing adaptations. He cleverly removes the items from the bin one at a time and stuffs them under any larger item in the pile. That is until the items get to be too small; at which point he just dumps the remainder out all over the street. Isn't nature wonderful?!