garbage wars

 Here are the premises:

Someone discarded a rather old, almost ancient looking wooden chest in the garbage, almost derelict with some drawer hinges falling off and what not and another resident spotted it. She decided to haul it for herself to refurbish it with some of her own DIY plans to give that wooden chest a new look and life for her house, except the garbage caretaker refused to give it to her for free.

He told her that she'd have to buy it from him.

'Why?' she asked. "it's garbage' she said adding that it doesn't belong to anyone and that she can take what she pleased from the garbage, except the caretaker didn't relent.

This small conflict slowly burgeoned into a discussion and shouting match of sorts and now it has developed into two factions. 

One sides with the woman who believes that garbage is garbage and that no one is allowed to make a sale on that garbage and the other faction is people who have been buying discarded furniture from this garbage area for a nominal fee from the caretaker who believes that caretaker should be allowed to supplement his meagre income with whatever little he makes from these sales.

There's a full-on blowout war right now and I am enjoying it from my balcony. 

I was quite intrigued to know about this new economics that's been happening right under my nose and a friend of mine who sides with the faction that believes in paying for this furniture has informed me that she often takes things for a small fee from the garbage area. 

What? I'd asked her and I was astonished to know that a beautiful mahogany almirah in her house was actually procured from this area, ditto for a tall rack that serves as sleeping space for her cats 

 These were items in perfectly good condition discarded by some residents who had revamped their house and bought new furniture and wanted out with the old and so they'd kept these things in the garbage space and my friend happened to chance upon them and now she has new furniture for barely 1/100th the cost and she thinks it's a great bargain.

No skin off my nose in paying them some money for great furniture she said. 

Why would anyone have an issue with giving some money for it was beyond her, except the faction which believes garbage is garbage and belongs to no one especially since the caretaker has not bought it, he has no rights to make sale on it.

Wow!

Never did I think I'd live to see the day when people fought over so-called garbage.

This is most interesting.