Collecting 1000 spons and glasses and selling them is an optional choice that you choose to take.
You're free to ignore the items if you feel that they are junk. Most of them even have an extremely low vendor value precisely to not make you feel encouraged (or as you probably feel, forced) to pick them up for the sole purpose of selling them to the nearest NPC.
The problem is that it is actually very hard to know what is usefull and what is not... especially when you don't play the game many times.
Craft ? Quest ? Cash ? Nothing ?
Ok for spoon but what about everything else ? How can you notice it's usefull or not ?