Posted on 03/16/2024 11:40:51 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A retired man who built the world’s largest-ever collection of empty potato chip wrappers says he’s finally reached the proverbial bottom of the bag — after pulling in an astonishing 24,000.
Gary Key, of East Yorkshire, England, first embarked upon the thoroughly unusual pastime back in 2012 as a diversion after his partner Joanne was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. Joanne eventually passed, but Key was determined to honor her memory by continuing to build the curious collection.
Formerly employed by the University of Hull, Key, whose personal tastes run toward a nice, salty plain chip, estimated he collected nearly 300 empty bags per month, often picking them up from the side of the road.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Saving the bags of various chips he has eaten is a bit odd, but I can see it.
But adding ones he found on the side of the road? That’s just weird!!
If it is a complete collection, it could be worth something.
I read the article. He has thousands and thousands of bags. However, he heats them up and they turn into little balls - perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. He has bins and bins of these tiny balls.
He wants to build a water park, and put all of the balls (a variety of colors) into the water. They float.
That will not happen.
Strange.
My nonsense alert went off full blast after reading that headline.
He’d lead a healthier life if he solely collected side-of-the-road as opposed to eating them empty. In the latter case, he’s just pining to join his wife a bit earlier.
I suspect that he might be a bit neurodivergent, Asperges. They tend to develop unproductive obsessions to keep them occupied when bored or stressed.
In the 1990’s I had a very large potato chip distributor as a tax client. In the summer, the shelf life of chips is shorter due to the heat and the bags of chips are often pulled from the shelves as they approach date, and they were returned to the warehouse.
I had about 200 layer hens that loved chips, all flavors, but especially the barbecue. I would get about a pickup truck load per week of potato chips and my four children would smash the bags and feed them to the chickens.
Needless to say, we didn’t keep the bags or they would have far surpassed 24,000.
He needs to see a psychiatrist.
Choking hazard.
Some people collect coins, some people collect stamps. Whatever trips your trigger.
Chip = French fry
Crisp = potato chip
Crisps bags.
I have the world’s largest collection of empty Preparation H tubes. It started when....well,I’ll save that for later.
Yeah most people if they have lost a loved one due to cancer try to raise money for research or maybe plant a tree or something. This is a news thingy just because it’s bizarre.
I have always wanted someone to remember me by collecting old trash. Oh, he worked for a university? It’s all clear now.
The guy’s got a screw loose.
I knew it was England before I even started reading. They have a strange and serious hoarding gene over there. Apparently 1 out of 50 Brits is a hoarder (according to various hoarding shows I watch. Because I am descended from British people with distinct hoarding tendencies.)
I have heard those bags are very flammable.
If true, that place will explode if a fire breaks out.
My morning routine is to buy a coffee on the way to the office. One day I had a few cups stacked up on my desk and decided to just keep stacking and after say 10 years, I had a whole wall covered from floor to ceiling. It certainly served as a conversation piece and a bulletin board but it was also interesting to watch the effect of thermal expansion as the sun passed over it in the afternoon. Once the wall was full, I took some pictures of it and dropped one off at the coffee shop.....the lady who handed me the coffee at the takeout window all those years had tears in her eyes.
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