Dumpster Diving

Anyone around here do it?

Ive found some pretty cool things. Dishes, a shop vac, toys, brand new clothes and lights for my indoor plants. A friend of mine has found 2 plasma tv's that he fixed and a guitar.

So how about you guys found anything good?

 

i don't actually look in dumpsters for stuff to take, but i have occasionally found some pseudo-treasures sitting outside the dumpster to be taken. that's where i got my entertainment center and one table that i've had for about 9 years now. also a vcr that i used for a few years until it finally stopped working altogether. and then there was the time i noticed a big bag of what i assume were stolen dvds sitting right in the side door to my work dumpster on top of all the trash, so i grabbed them up. most of them sucked, but there were a few gems in there.

 

I once found a few trashbags full of bob marley and yellow submarine notebooks, stickers, note cards and some random craft items. I was sick thinking this must be against some sort of law.

A close friend just got harrassed and almost thrown in jail by the police and store for trying to get some food though. It's pretty sad that our society wastes so much and there are so many starving and going without.

 

I like to make the biggest stinkiest mess in my trash dumpster. It deters rummagers.

 

i stay away from anyplace with food type garbage...but other than that its all game

ive made thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars picking ..then repairing things and re-selling them



probably the best thing i ever found was a fluke multimeter...one for checking network cables...one small wire was bent in the jack..all i had to do was straighten it and it worked fine...sold it on ebay for almost $200

 

me too i can't bring myself to eat from the dumpster.

 

i wasnt thinking eating...im just sensitive to smells and dont like to get my clothes dirty

 

I dumpster dive a lot. Usually in dumpsters where they are doing construction for scrap. There is a lot of money to be made scrapping out buildings, and when they do renovations they oftentimes (more often then not) throw away the things that are worth money, ie copper wire and pipe, cast iron stack pipe, lead pipes, brass. You name it I have found it and turned it in for scrap.

I've also found some cool shit in dumpsters as well. I once found a box of vinyl that I made $500 off of. But other stuff like phone chargers, stereos in working condition, microwaves. Plus the things people put on the curb on garbage day is insane.

 

I agree, if we wasted less there would be less of a need to work, and more to go around thereby driving prices down and saving resources.

 

really?, most places I know off raiding abandoned buildings and construction sites, especially for scrap metals, is illegal and they throw you ass in jail.

Maybe what your actually seeing is that most often they collect the scrap metal into dumpsters for easy handling, not because they are throwing it away......
geesh

 

^^^ uh huh, thats what they do.

 

A Mechanic Who Doesn't Like To Get His Clothes Dirty....???



Cheers Glen.

 

I used to do that a lot but columbus has become so developed i haven't seen any new neighborhoods popping up in at least 5 years. Which is a bummer cause i spent a year diving my old apartment building for 2x4s and my father took $50 of wood or more to build a shed.

But o well it could be worse he could charge me rent to live in his house.

 

I have never gotten inside a dumpster...but I used to live next to one that was definitely not dirty and I saw lots of people "diving in". Also in some places(grocery stores) I have gotten the food they put in carts outside of the dumpsters for people to get... tons of free, organic, perfectly ripe fruit and things of that nature.

Also, I have gone to a restaurant before they closed to get what they were going to throw into the trash, and when I ran a restaurant I gave that stuff out a lot. Sometimes we'd put the food in a container and hand it to whoever we could find on the streets. There is entirely too much food(and other things) being thrown away.

 

I do at times in industrial areas when I'm in the city.

 

I don't do it, but I have gotten some nice gifts from my grandma that she found in and around the dumpster behind her house when I was a kid. She'd always clean up whatever she found, but I got a cool little Doughboy toy, a lot of nice scrap material, and some stuffed bears that I remember. I've been thinking of taking a look in the dollar store's dumpster some time, though. They throw away greeting cards and stuff that doesn't sell. I hate that good stuff goes to waste. I have a whole trunk full of apple sauce because we were throwing it out at work and I couldn't watch that go to waste. I'm looking for a food drive to donate it to now.

 

There have been stories on some of the current affairs and news stories here in Oz about groups that go dumpster diving for packaged food thrown out before use by dates by the bigger supermarkets here...a lot of the food is packed in sealed containers and they get some high quality meals apparently.

 

Im good at what I do...dont need to roll in it to get it done

 

i technically had to dumpster dive today. my dumb ass threw away my paycheck and had to recover it.

i also threw away my keys about a month ago. i need to be more careful around that dumpster.

 

A pay packet is a good reason to dumpster dive

 

i did that once at burger king

got outside and couldnt find my car keys

im one of those customers who throws my garbage out instead of just leaving it on the table...turns out my keys were on that tray i dumped in the garbage :drummer: