Lifestyle

Residents Worry Scavengers Will Resell Sewage-Fouled Discards

August 15, 2014, 8:50 AM

There's no shortage of pickings at the curb of many houses in Royal Oak, Madison Heights, Warren and Huntington Woods where residents have discarded belongings in basements damaged by Monday night's flooding.

Now some victims worry that their belongings, contaminated by sewage, might wind up on Craigslist or at garage sales, reports Monica Drake of The Oakland Press.

Judy Tarchalski-Banks of Waterford Township warns bargain-hunters to “watch what you buy for a while” at yard sales, flea markets and online to avoid items that were covered in covered in bacteria and raw sewage.

Kathy Canapini, who lives off of Lincoln Avenue in Royal Oak, put about 30 bags of her belongings on the curb and soon saw scavengers tearing open the bags.

“I don’t mind garbage pickers any other day of the week. . . . But when it’s rotting in sewage?” she says. “I told them, ‘It’s been sitting in human waste for two days,’ and they looked at me and said, ‘I can clean it.’ If you could clean it, don’t you think I would be cleaning it?”

Deadline readers add more reactions Friday morning at our Facebook page

  • Bill Faber, Grosse Point Park: Scavengers were trying on boots that my neighbors threw out which were covered in sewage.
  • Carey L. Sperl, Detroit: I actually yelled at people going through my first haul. What is wrong with people? That's just nasty.
  • Alex Jiminez, Detroit: I saw someone take some sewage covered trash from my front yard. After that I grabbed a can of spray paint from my garage and painted "trash" on anything someone might take, that seemed to work. I have seen dozens of cars stop to look then move on.

 


Read more:  The Oakland Press


Leave a Comment:

Photo Of The Day