THE LOST ART OF DUMPSTER DIVING

[alma]

When we lived in Maryland, we had a friend who dumpster dived all the time.

There's gold in them thar hills.

Stores would toss out a eleven jars of spaghetti sauce, for instance, that had one that broke and spilled all over the rest.

He would bring them to me to store with my y2k stuff.

I simply washed off the 11 perfectly good jars and put them with my stash.

I is amazing how much was wasted that could be so easily salvaged--ut there is an art to it.

He made it a point to learn what days were best, and when a store was going out of business, he was there for sure.

On certain days, the country would have people put out unwanted stuff for a truck to pick up, and he would be there before the truck to salvage what he could.

He got unwanted computers and all kinds of stuff for me to fool around with. I had a room in sue's basement with all kinds of stuff he had had picked up along the road.

Also, when college lets out in the spring, there is a mint along side the roads the same way, etc.

I wish i had known then what i know now and could have got a lot of info from them.

Some stores crushed things and some poured ammonia on things, etc., but some gave stuff away to the amish to sell in their stores, and sometimes it helped to know someone in the stores to clue you in on the best days , etc.

It was great fun. i went along a couple of times and so did bill and he liked it too. I miss dumpster charlie. He never got anything but good stuff, would get right into the dumpster when ncessary.

We met other dumpster divers when stores would close and dump tons of stuff out and after hollidays, the candy was dumpted, too, etc.

Oh, all the good stuff he got for me before y2k. and all the computers i had access to. I loved it, and miss it more than i could possibly tell.

I repeat, Thar's gold in them thar hills, but you have to know real gold, and not be taken in by fool's gold. love, alma

[ryanmercer]

I miss dumpster diving... but just in the past 10 years everyone has switched to locking the dumpsters or using compactors around here.

[homesteaderbelle]

My mom has been dumpster diving before. She has an uncle who went every weekend and sometimes thru the week.They called it "goin junkin." He found the best stuff to share with my moms family. I guess there are some people who just throw stuff away to get it out of the house, even if it is perfectly good. I have never been dumpster diving but I think I would like it. Now days the dumpsters are locked, I think this is to prevent a lawsuit. Sad to think of all the food that is wasted when some don't have enough.
Belle

[Northern_bushrat]

They just gated the dump that we've been frequenting, bummer...found great stuff over the years, from a bathtub and windows over skates and workboots to buckets and lumber.

[bookwormom]

you can get in trouble here if they catch you. I love dumpster diving, but do not dare anymore.

[flatwater]

After our dumps got sofisticated and started calling themselves sanitary wast disposals. (oxymoron) we all lost a great treasure hunt. Darn it anyhow.
Flatwater

[leera]

I work at a store,so I get first dibs on anything before it gets tossed.....

I have a route I take home on trash night through some nicer areas........yuppies throw all kinds of things outs........

I have never actually dug through a dumpster but there are a lot of people in the area that do.

In the spring the city my husband works in has an annual clean up.......it's like a gold mine for trash pickers........Hubby and I call it "curbside shoppping" his aunt just calls it "curbing"........You name it,it can be found in this city sitting out by the curb.......from flower pots to a jet ski...........yep,saw one last year......saw it later in the back on someone's truck.......

It's all out there,you just have to know where to look.

[mike82934]

Went dumpster diving myself this morning...I needed some boxes to pack for our upcoming move, so when I took my trash out I found two good-sized boxes in the dumpster, not even broken down. I tossed them in the back of my pickup and then thought that I might as well check the other dumpsters in town.
My current town has only about 200 people, maybe 100 if you don't count the people who reside here every other week to work in the oil/gas fields. Still, I guess because it's so soon after Christmas, I found about 20 boxes total, and that's not even counting the ones I left because they were a little torn up or buried under a hundred pounds of other garbage.
I also found an old space heater that looked halfway decent, but didn't get it because it looked pretty old. Also a good lamp that just needed a shade, and a gun cabinet with a glass door (not broken) that someone's dog chewed a corner off of.
The last two I would have taken, but I didn't see the point of amassing more stuff that I'll just have to move in a couple months.
Oh, I also found a frozen baby goat.

[hillbillygal]

I have never gone diving in other people's dumpsters and such but I do go through my family's trash. My mom throws stuff out all the time. I got a great bread machine not too long ago. Someone had given it to her but she was offended because she makes her bread by hand. I scooped that up real quick. She replaces the small rugs through her house about every 3 months so I grab the old ones for hubbie to use in his truck for mats or in the garage to keep some of the oil dry out of the house. My brother and his wife buy groceries and things they know they'll never eat and occasionally they'll clean out their freezer and bring me bags of stuff to try. I don't mind to try new things when they're free! Now my family know to ask me before they throw anything out. They'll bring it over here and if I can't use it or it's not worth trying to save hubbie hauls it off when he goes to the transfer station for us. My mom's friends have even started giving me stuff. One of her friend's mother passed away and she had gotten a foodsaver with all the attachments and rolls of bags with it. It look like it had only been used once or twice and the instructional video was still in the box so I watched that and went to work! It's good being known as the packrat/poor person around here!

[flatwater]

I like that , the pack rat poor person. I have been called a number of names from my friends. Here are some of them Scrap man , Crapola collector , packit and sackit man , Scrounger , You name it he will claim it , fixer upper guy , and he's back. I can see something that I don't need but know within a year I can use it or use it to make something else. It's like one big treasure hunt. It's a good thing I have two big barns. Some of my friends know they can come over and usually find what they need at my place. I pay for very little and usually give it away for free. Sometimes I can barter it or trade for something else.
Flatwater

[onelook]

We used to have a bread store that sold day old stuff for pennies on the $$. Well, they also had barrels in the back with moldy stuff called 'dog bread'... about $3 a barrel. I guess folks would feed it to their dogs, pigs, etc. Anyway, we had a lady in our town that bought it and picked through it to eat the unmoldy stuff. OK I guess, if you want to eat that stuff, but one year she gave out packages of donuts to the kiddies... and you know, they were MOLDY!!! That's just wrong!!! (I know for a fact that she was doing just fine financially) I'm all for being frugal, but I won't knowingly give bad food to anyone...Especially KIDS!!. ??? :o

[hillbillygal]

That's just wrong. :o

[shellbug]

The Art is not lost! I am a practicing dumpster diver. Have found electric typewriters, working fax machine, 8 tiki torches with wicks and oil containers, name brand clothes for my kids large bouquet of flowers, magazines, and - if any of you need a Father's Day card this year - I have HUNDREDS!
I think I need to get off here. This town is small and not many dumpsters. I still have time to make the rounds!
Michelle

[Mr.B]

Let me tell you about dumpster diving. Well Im only 29 years old. But I grew up in a town Next To Dartmouth College. Those Ivy league folks throw everything away. We and pretty much everyone else in the area would hit up the college during summer time break and make out like bandits. Well seems the upity folks in the college town thought it was making the town look bad. Now its illegal to dumpster dive there.

It wasnt uncommon to find and older motorcycle that was left by a dumpster by a student with the keys in it. Cars have been left, also computers.

[Dawgus]

I dumpster dive all the time on construction jobsites at work. Its amazing what gets thrown away. Last week, I pulled out a decent pile of NEW 8 foot 2x12's and 2x4's. I've seen full boxes of drywall mud, screws, tape,electrical connectors.......all kinds of stuff just tossed away. I have two 4x8x2 ft shelf units (also taken from a dumpster from an old shoe store that was being gutted and remodeled) FULL of coffee cans of misc. screw, nuts, bolts, washers, nails all scavenged from jobsites and dumpsters. Last fall, I got enough trim & moulding to do my living room and kitchen with plenty to spare. Perfect timing since I had just bought the new flooring for both! The building owner decided he didnt like the color of the stain (luckily before it was cut or installed) and it was just piled by the dumpster for the taking. Even the steel office desk this computer sits on came from a job dumpster. The worst I have ever seen though was 2 years ago on what was a $6m home and was being converted into a country club. A new unused (never even hooked up) 16ft hot tub was just tossed out the window. Also there was a cherry and oak spiral staircase, sawzalled to pieces and tossed.

[Mr.B]

Construction sites rock to dumpster dive at. Some of the sheet rock guys get paid by the sheet and waste big sections for small patch jobs.

I just remodelled my bathroom and did a little dumpster diving on myself. With the wood from the ripped down walls and the trim I made a gun rack, and also repaired my back porch.

[mimipaula1]

My kitchen/dining room floor came out of a dumpster! I wanted a mosaic floor, so went to a local ceramic tile places for broken tiles. The manager said, "We don't keep the broken pieces; we throw them into a dumpster in back of the store. Take all you want!" I brought home a full pickup bed of ceramic tile--lots of small lots with nothing broken, just not enough tiles to cover a room completely. Two of my sons and I color-sorted pieces into light-dark piles, then utilized about $50 worth of mastic and grout to lay floor. It looks beautiful and I get compliments on it ALL THE TIME!
Hope this tip helps someone to bravely "dive" in a dumpster! Miss Paula in Texas

[rae-dean]

theres a wonderful book i love it and keep it and read it over and over.it is called" mongo."
it is on dumpster diving and trash.it is such a good book.i use to do alot of it when my kids were little .i would take them with me.we lived near a shopping center back before they closed up the dumpsters.i got so much all the time.the stores threw out drapes still in the plastic pkg.from the store.i got all kinds of patterns they tossed out.all kinds and all sizes of McCalls and vogue and butterwick patterns.i got tons of make up they had tossed by the boxes...sold those at a yard sale.sure was fun and sure helped.boy-the 3rd world countries would be able to live off the dumpsters here and find new stuff tossed out.rae-dean