Ever pick through someone's weekly trash?

[sixdogs]

Picked up a great kid's metal ride-on, pedal farm tractor in excellent condition. Ford TW series. Probably got a new one for Christmas.
I didn't want to stop but how could I let it go?

Once, I found some bedding bushes that had been ripped up and thrown out. They were never planted right and the roots just grew in circles in the hole for years. I cleaned them up, pruned the roots, planted them and people often say how beautiful they are. Occasional good stuff at the end of the driveway.


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[aczlan]

How about a Craftsman toolbox, a large handheld box with 20 or so Craftsman, SK and Proto sockets. That was this fall.
A few weeks ago, it was a nurses roll around computer cart (should make a great grinder cart).

Aaron Z

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Picked up a great kid's metal ride-on, pedal farm tractor in excellent condition. Ford TW series. Probably got a new one for Christmas.
I didn't want to stop but how could I let it go?

Once, I found some bedding bushes that had been ripped up and thrown out. They were never planted right and the roots just grew in circles in the hole for years. I cleaned them up, pruned the roots, planted them and people often say how beautiful they are. Occasional good stuff at the end of the driveway.


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Yea, been there... My boys used to tell me... "You know your're a redneck when you go to the dump and come back with more than you took!" ... I've got a lot of good stuff from there!

 

[dieselcrawler]

I'm a proud 'dumpster diver'.... drives my wife nuts. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure!

 

[Industrial Toys]

I once found a whole lot of brand new Ford 917 Flail knives at the dump.

As a favor, I removed the garbage of weekly renters for a cottage I looked after. Talk about waste. Some people need some real hardship in their lives!

 

[TnAndy]

Yea, been there... My boys used to tell me... "You know your're a redneck when you go to the dump and come back with more than you took!" ... I've got a lot of good stuff from there!

Our county uses several dumpster sites (manned, fenced, posted hours) to shuttle from there to the landfill. They used to let you pick thru the open top ones and take anything you want....but no more....Big signs "NO removal of trash".....which is sorta stupid since they are always complaining about the amount of trash going to the landfill.

 

[newbury]

It's a female problem - Called Sue.
Before everyone would take you to court for letting them get hurt while they trespassed it was a lot easier to "repurpose" at the dump.

 

[sixdogs]

Years back, I also found a nice Craftsman toolbox and a whole set of new cultivator shovels worth maybe $150.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... and mostly not by choice.

I can sum it up this way...

How is it a homeowner family of 5 can be perfectly fine with a mini 20 gallon weekly trash tote and a larger recycling tote where as a tenant on assistance in a two bedroom overflows a 44 gallon tote?

In 35 years what I typically see is a ton of trash after Christmas... boxes, wrapping paper, packaging for plastic toys, made in China Bikes... by Easter most of the gifts are trash and I end up hauling it away...

Trash equates to a flat tire on a new Christmas Bike... had this discussion TODAY with a tenant... she is taking the bike back because the tire is flat... I asked her if she pumped it up and she said it is new and she shouldn't have to do that meaning take it to a gas station to put air in it.

We really are a land of abundance judging by what some of the poorest toss out...

 

[Industrial Toys]

My friend manages condos and one fellow that does waste management makes a killing at christmas. Gift cards and cash left in cards!

Yesterday. I was just sorting stuff out and found fifty bucks in a card from 2012!

 

[teejk]

Back in NY the town did a "big pick-up" day once a month. The night before the trucks started roaming/picking and I was always amazed that nobody got hurt over "turf". When we left that place we rented a dumpster to get rid of the unneeded stuff. That turned out to be the equivalent of a road-killed deer and buzzards. Of course they didn't bother to put back the stuff they didn't want and scattered it all over the lawn. So if you are into that type of thing please help yourself but clean-up after yourselves.

 

[TheMan419]

Friend of ours owns a glass shop. They make windows for hotels and what not. They have people get into fights over the pallets they are getting rid of.....

 

[oosik]

Yes - unfortunately. Helped a couple find the wife's engagement ring. REALLY NOT that much fun. We did find the ring.

 

[PILOON]

Yep.
Got a great vacuum cleaner that needed a wheel and new plug.*
A snow blower that simply needed a tune up.*

Each and every steel framework for beds that I see. Great for projects and the price is right.

*In both cased I knew the owners and their lack of mechanical abilities and gambled right. (some folks simply replace and don't repair)

Also twice collected extension ladder sections that once I cut away the one damaged leg end made handy 'fixed length' 12 ft ladders, very handy!

Not exactly trash but was given a 12 hp 32" Ariens snowblower that only needed a missing bolt and minor tune up. Sold it on KIJJI for $600.
It came from a hotel that only used it occasionally and were tired of annual tune ups and went to a contractor instead.
The specific model was listed at $1300.
I did really clean it up that it looked like new and performed like it as well.

 

[aczlan]

So if you are into that type of thing please help yourself but clean-up after yourselves.

That is one thing I always try to do, no sense in making a mess all over the lawn of someone who did me the "favor" of putting something I need in the trash

Yea, been there... My boys used to tell me... "You know your're a redneck when you go to the dump and come back with more than you took!" ... I've got a lot of good stuff from there!

I often end up with at least two things coming home with me when I go to the scrapyard, the best was a fully functional 5000# pallet jack which cost me $0.25/lb.

Aaron Z

 

[PILOON]

Years back when I moved to my present location I did a major clean up as I packed to move.
I had a line of trash for recycle 3 ft high by about 10 ft long on roadside.
In the evening we heard a bunch of noise and out front were 3 pickers fighting over my trash, LOL.

As it was I had a large lot of power transformers and mechanical odds and sods that I did not wish to move.
With copper prices today I probably could have made a serious contribution to my pension.
Majority were 25 amp 24 volt units and heavy.
In fact I recently made up a small AC welder using one that I had kept.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Yep... and mostly not by choice.

I can sum it up this way...

How is it a homeowner family of 5 can be perfectly fine with a mini 20 gallon weekly trash tote and a larger recycling tote where as a tenant on assistance in a two bedroom overflows a 44 gallon tote?

In 35 years what I typically see is a ton of trash after Christmas... boxes, wrapping paper, packaging for plastic toys, made in China Bikes... by Easter most of the gifts are trash and I end up hauling it away...

Trash equates to a flat tire on a new Christmas Bike... had this discussion TODAY with a tenant... she is taking the bike back because the tire is flat... I asked her if she pumped it up and she said it is new and she shouldn't have to do that meaning take it to a gas station to put air in it.

We really are a land of abundance judging by what some of the poorest toss out...

I have seen the overflowing garbage cans of rentals as well. It tells me a bit of why they are renters and not homeowners: Most of their trash is expensive fast food wrappers and wrappers of frivolous purchases.

As to the flat tire on the new bike: The cities and suburbs are becoming "idiocracies".

 

[flyerdan]

Just the other day I noticed a vacuum cleaner sitting beside a bin when I went to the mailbox, put the grabbus on it for the cord. Turns out it was a fully functioning Dyson ball that is just missing a cover and needed a cleaning as it appears someone ran it through something a bit damp.
Had a friend that used to live in an apartment next to one of the bin enclosures, I was always finding good stuff that just needed a small fix.

 

[PILOON]

In districts that house college students there is more trash out there than the city can handle.
When students move they only move their body, the rest gets heaved onto the street, well perhaps the take their clothing and laptops.
Every year the same cycle.
But then looking at what is heaved I don't wonder why.

 

[sixdogs]

Around here, the first few trash pickups after the weather warms up is great with lots of good stuff tossed out that other people just got tired of looking at. Bicycles are a common item and all things gardening related.