10 wackiest items Just Junk has found during springtime
Digital Reporter
Monday, March 26, 2018, 10:07 AM - As warmer weather inches closer, it's time to clean out your closet and ditch all of those items that have been collecting dust in your garage.
It's the busiest time of the year for Jeremy Borda, field manager with Junk Junk.
Just Junk is a removal and recycling service offered in several different provinces. Borda has been working with the Toronto location for six years.
"Our day-to-day jobs involve going to our customers' homes to collect items from fridges and couches to dirt," Borda told The Weather Network. "Whatever they want removed, we go in and take it away from them."
Visit our Complete Guide to Spring 2018 for an in depth look at the Spring Forecast, tips to plan for it and much more.
The hot housing market in the Greater Toronto Area has led to a growing demand for junk removal services as sellers declutter properties to list them, and buyers pare down belongings for their big move.
"Everyone wants to move and sell their homes, so we're going in and cleaning out houses and we have to do it real quick," said Borda.
A job can last anywhere from five minutes to five days, he explained.
"To clear out a house you're looking at about four or five hours, depending on the size of the house."
Just Junk diverts roughly 60 per cent of items collected from landfills through recycling. Furniture and clothing is often donated to charitable groups for reuse and resale.
Here are the Top 10 strangest items found on the job.
10. Gross stoves
"We had to pull out an old stove that someone never cleaned in their whole life," said Borda. "They are never fun to remove."
Image courtesy: FSTOPLIGH - Getty Images
9. Gross sheds
"You go into sheds and clean them out and it's like no one has ever opened the door."
8. Giant bronze Krishna
Image Courtesy: Hindu God Krishna - Desifoto - Getty Images
7. A Harley Davidson... in pieces
"We were just pulling out all of this stuff in one guy's apartment. We found a tire and thought that was cool," said Borda. "Then there was the Harley Davidson seat... we then pulled out this heavy box and there was a Harley Davidson engine!"
6. Vintage 1912 punch clock
"We found an old punch clock from a store downtown that made shoes. It looked like a big slot machine."
Image courtesy: Pixonaut
5. Hundreds of Crown Royal bottles
"There were 700 Crown Royal bottles in one guy's apartment."
4. Giant animatronic elephant
"We picked up a 12-foot animatronic elephant in someone's backyard once. That was pretty cool."
3. 400 handmade dolls
"I found a handmade doll made in 1894. It had real human hair and leather arms. It was kind of creepy, but kind of cool. It was one of hundreds."
2. Mummified cat
"One of our guys found a mummified cat while cleaning out an attic. I guess it got lost in there."
File photo: Ancient Egyptian mummified cat -- Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, St. Augustine, FL
1. 200 precooked chickens
"It was a big job," explained Borda.
"We had to go inside with our hazmat suits and we're digging through the house trying to get to the basement. We finally found the door. The basement was full of garbage. I had my light in my hand and I started pulling out all of these plastic bubble things. You know, those chickens you get in those plastic bubble containers. The basement was full with those premade chickens. I would say there was 150 to 200 of them. It was pretty gross."
