I remember there used to live a man in my hometown who was locally known for hoarding stuff, mostly (but not only) things made of metal - so everybody called him an iron man. He rode a bicycle with a trailer attached to it, looking for “new” stuff all the time. His whole house and yard were filled with trash, he had to use the window to get inside as it was impossible to open the door. I remember the authorities couldn’t do anything about it as long as it was on his own property.

Growing up I thought he simply went crazy, but it seems like hoarding obsession is kinda common (wiki says 6% of Americans, I’d say won’t be much different in my country). He was probably just unlucky to have no family or friends to help him treat his obsession.

It’s mind blowing how many hoarders have to be among us, but it probably takes multiple unfortunate factors to escalate the problem to the point that random people or even the whole town notices it.