Ever pick through someone's weekly trash?

[teejk]

I have observed the life cycle of the treadmill and exercise bike, a couple of weeks in the house, a few more months in the garage, a couple of weeks advertised in community newspapers, a week advertised on ebay then off to the final resting place after a few days on the curb (we call them nature strips).

Actually the "in-house" time is generally a little longer. A few weeks in use then several weeks as a clothes hanger. When somebody stubs their toe in the middle of the night is when it heads to the garage.

 

[jerrybob]

Years ago......found a Western Auto Revelation 22 single bolt action rifle and a bamboo fly rod still in the case in a trash bin.........still have both......the little rifle is fun to shoot.......a friend says they are both from the 1930's.......don't know for sure.

 

[ultrarunner]

Not quite the same... but a few years back I was told to trash the Hospital Christmas Tree... we had it for 7 years...

I didn't say a word and packed it up as usual and continue to use it each year keeping it to myself.

The same individual who told me to trash it says the new tree looks so much better...

 

[JRobyn]

We have a terrific "attendant" at our extremely rural trash "transfer station". He keeps an eagle eye out for anything unloaded that might be of some value, and stacks them all neatly to the side for "shopping" by other citizens.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

My treadmill just fried a board, no replacement parts available. 14 yrs old and was used nearly daily. I hate to trash it, but because of 1 circuit board, the whole thing is toast.

 

[disney]

I don't 'pick' through trash, but do have a story. I needed a new plexiglass piece for sandblaster, and passed by someone that had a (very dusty) framed poster/painting out front. I thought I'll just use that, turns out it is a professionally framed, limited edition print from a some-what famous artist. I dislike it, but Mom sure loves it.

 

[4570Man]

The local trash dumps are ran by a bunch of Nazis. No scavenging “trash” under their watchful eyes. That doesn’t mean I still don’t smuggle out the occasional piece. Especially if it’s cold or raining. I saw a 20 hp Kohler in the trash not long ago. I couldn’t get that one out.

 

[Oaktree]

The local trash dumps are ran by a bunch of Nazis. No scavenging 鍍rash under their watchful eyes.

They've made it more difficult to scavenge here as well. Normal household trash needs to be in special bags, and the metal pile (formerly a great "resource") is now a 30 yd dumpster roped off in such a way as to make it difficult to fish anything out. Town road agent (under whom the dump operates) told me it was for insurance reasons. There is a table in the building where all the recycle bins are where you can put stuff that someone else might use, plus there's almost always a good selection of old window sashes, storm windows, etc. as well as some electronics.

Country people tend to be thrifty by nature, ditto for New Englanders. Combine the two and pickin's tend to be slim. It's not like city or suburbanites who seem to toss perfectly good stuff just because they're sick of it.

 

[teejk]

The local trash dumps are ran by a bunch of Nazis. No scavenging “trash” under their watchful eyes. That doesn’t mean I still don’t smuggle out the occasional piece. Especially if it’s cold or raining. I saw a 20 hp Kohler in the trash not long ago. I couldn’t get that one out.

First rule of those that man the local dump is that they have "dibs"...no coincidence that they all have pickup trucks.

 

[Budweiser John]

I never really had time to trash pick but over the years remodeling houses i ran into some treasures mostly in the form of architural salvage. One most noteable find was a stash of 2x8 ceiling joists that were rough sawn clear cherry. Since there was nothing nailed onto the top I was able to rip a couple inched off the bottom edge and ended up with 15 or 20 full 2x6s 16’ long that were eventually re purposed in to some beautiful table tops.
Another dumpster find was a Miller hand held spot welder discarded by a local school district. Recovered that baby, put a new plug on the cord and new contact tips and have used it off and on for the last twenty years.
B. John