Dumpster diving; have you done it? Would you do it?
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I have a couple times. With my hippie aunt, at work where it’s not food, just books and cd’s, and a business where I know the owner. I’m such a tightwad I can’t resist free good stuff when I know people who can use it.
So I’d do it again if it benefitted someone. Once I got a brand-new pink scooter with ribbons and everything for a little girl who was poor, and it was a huge hit.
I haven’t, but my mom did when I was younger. She saw boxes of old clothes poking out of the trash can of one of our neighbors and yoinked them. She dumped everything into the wash and then gave them to us (mostly socks with characters on them like Snoopy and Woodstock.)
She is pretty big into recycling and thrifting. It used to embarrass me when I was younger, but I appreciate that she tried to cut expenses when we were kids.
Once. In a dumpster full of clinical waste. Due to the fact one of my colleagues was unable to tell the difference between waste and £120k of medical equipment.
I used to be a very avid collector, and my brother actually made a living at it. I don’t do as much now, but I still pick up furniture that I see from time to time.
Definitely. I taught my kids the fine art of dumpster diving. The things people throw away! My son pulled a triple paned room divider out of the dumpster once, gave it to me for my birthday. It was beautiful! I was so proud of him!
My son also pulled two functioning wheel chairs out of a dumpster once. They had so much fun that summer!
I dangled my little sister head first into a dumpster to retrieve kittens that some ass had tossed in.
Only for a kitten or puppy or abandoned baby, otherwise no, I’ll stick to yard sales and thrift stores.
No and no.
(Unless it was to rescue someone or a puppy)
Gross!! I would never do it.I don’t know about other country’s but here in Dubai it’s just disgusting! People just toss large amounts of rubbish into garbage cans that are meant for light trash. The bins give off such a bad smell! They won’t even spare donation boxes. I was shocked to see how they are being misused. When I go for walks I can see part of the box designated for dropping the items stuffed with rubbish. We can’t even think of taking furniture from trash, because it may be infested with bed bugs which is very common here.
I have. Mostly books and readers. (They just tear off the covers because shipping the entire thing back to the publishers would be too costly.)
My first trip to Taiwan, I nearly had a seizure. We happened to be there on their large item trash day. Every where we drove, there were beautifully hand carved chairs, screens, etc. just thrown to the curb. Items that any antique store in the states would loved to have. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of appreciation for the old there. Machine produced is more sought after than hand made.
Never have. I could never even bring myself to shop in bargain basements, much less yard sales. I’d rather make do without. (And when I’ve been really broke, the only purchases I cared about were life-sustaining ones.)
I know someone who does, though, and who finds amazing things, such as a whole intact computer system and pristine office furniture.
Well, you don’t actually go in the dumpster! You don’t go digging around in undefined piles of gross. You just happen to be walking by, glance in and see something awesome, reach in and pull it out.
I couldn’t dive in for food.
Ew no! Who would? Well…if I was starving, yeah. But I’m not.
Yes, I have! I think it’s awesome! Ok, I don’t go on my own, but my friends from PA are very into it and know all the best dumpsters and times to go, etc. Panera throws at all their bread at the end of the night, so a quick stop there and you’ve got a freezer full of fresh bagels, loaves of bread, etc. It’s all in a bag too, so it’s never gross. As far as fruit and vegetables go, if one cauliflower is moldy, the whole box is thrown out! Talk about wasteful. I have retrieved a lot of good stuff from dumpsters. I got my dog a new bed out of one once before from Petco. No idea why it had been tossed in the dumpster but regardless. I do think it can be gross, if it’s a gross dumpster or if you’re especially squeamish. But who cares, it’s just food, and we waste enough as it is.
No; I’ve never even thought about it but if I were starving I’d consider it.
@Dutchess_III My auntie, the hippie, makes deals with the local shops and bakeries to leave them double-bagged and knotted, so she can feed the hungry in her town, it’s pretty cool. A little gross, but it works for them.
If you are talking about a literal dumpster I don’t think so. But often I’ll take things out of trash that can be recycled or sometimes if they can be of use to me. For instance, someone threw away a binder whose spine was detached. I took it out of the trash, glued it, and now I use it.
About 20 years ago, my husband (now ex, and since deceased) went dumpster diving with a friend of his. They found some cool stuff – most notably a portable dishwasher (I had the local Sears order the part it needed to connect to the sink that was less than $10), and a couple big lawn & leaf bags full of marijuana. Yup. It was dried out, but all still on the stems. It wasn’t the best quality, either.
You just can’t stay away from it today ,can you @KNOWITALL!
@Dutchess_III I just visited with a friend today from Colorado, and asked him about one of the Q’s here awhile back about ‘religious groups’ begging money for the church and using it to buy herb. So I guess you’re right, that’s kinda weird!
OH, HELL YES! I don’t think there’s much I haven’t dumpster dived for. I’ve been known to whip off the road to check an interesting dumpter out, and I certainly can’t pass one without looking in.
I have an auction, so I sometimes go around collecting empty boxes from behind stores. Early this year I pulled up behind Aldi’s and there were trays of perfectly good blueberries and fresh mushrooms laying on top of the dumpster. Of course I collected them and found good homes for all. Amazing that people who wouldn’t be caught dead near a dumpster, will eat that stuff right up from out of my car.
I was raised to dumpster dive. When I was a kid, products like Tide detergent would offer rebates based on the number of products you bought and mailed the UPC in for. My mom would drop me off at one door of the laundrymat and pick me up at the other. I’d collect all the Tide bottles from the trash. 5 bottles might be worth $10–15 rebate. She had 3–5 addresses she could send to, so we might make $30–75 in a couple of hours.
There’s no shame in being thrifty. Found things are the best things.
I like you @ibstubro! So glad you came. Bless your heart. :/
The little Ceasers a few blocks from my house just tosses the 5 dollar pizzas they make “hot and ready” into the dumpster once they are a few hours old. I grab one if I see one. Their dumpster is 95% cardboard and the pizza is in boxes. I have probably eaten about 20 of them and have never gotten sick. Half the time they are still warm.
@Dutchess_III A number of times, I’ve called friends and hooked them up with interesting dumpsters. lol Commercial remodeling jobs are HOT. Cool fixtures and signage. They once stripped the local grocery chain and thew all the fixtures away. I hauled and hauled from that dumpster! Call friends and neighbors and had them haul some of the bigger stuff.
I wonder if there is a dumpster behind The Pancake House?
Good for you @johnpowell! I’m proud of your intestinal recycling and fortitude!
:)
@Dutchess_III I wonder if there’s a dumpster behind any fancy restaurants?
@johnpowell My brother, the professional dumpster diver, used to feed a dozen homeless people every day with food that was either taken out of the trash, or give to him by the restaurant/grocer just before being trashed. He had a regular route.
This all happened in by gone days. Now the stores all have locked gates around their trash because they are afraid of lawsuits from people getting sick or injured going through their trash!
@YARNLADY there is still a lot of stale and outdated food donated to food pantries and charities.
For years I worked in a factory and I had a proposal that all the local factories donate a representative amount of their clean, dry trash to the local school district. The school district could set up a room some place where any teacher could go and take all the supplies they wanted for free, and request more. Example: hollow cardboard cores that flat paper is spun on. 1–4 feet long, about 4 inches wide with ½” cardboard walls. IMAGINE how useful for Homecoming parade floats! Less trash + free school supplies = community service. I never got the idea to float.
I have a vague recollection of a news story (this year) of a restaurant that only served “found food’.
@ibstubro ahh yes Aldi’s! Probably the best dumpster in our area too!!!! Good for you for all your dumpster diving!
Nope, only thing I got out of a dumpster was a baby raccoon. He climbed in looking for food and couldn’t reach the opening to get out. I heard these awful cries and looked out my window and saw him. I put a 2“x6” in the opening on a slant so he could crawl out and got back fast.
Thanks, @deni. Dumpster diving is recycling at it’s finest. If they could call me, I’d come get the crap and find it new homes. I come from thrifty people.
:-)
@ibstubro So you’re a dung diver too ey?
I bet your ancestors burned cow chips. lol
Yup, yup, yup. I have a large percentage of Scottish blood in me.
@Coloma my ancestors traded cow chips for mushrooms…I’m sure.
And @Adirondackwannabe, well, flock yes I’m of Scottish heritage! That was the point!
@ibstubro Sorry. Carrying on the stereotype. Meant no harm.
@fluthernutter What a wonderful woman, thanks for posting the link : ^)
@Adirondackwannabe I find the card funny because that’s my grandpa with the magnifying glass. WE ARE GOOD, you and me. I poke fun at myself more often than other people. Why should you be any different?
Aye, I’m a Scottish wench meself.
Okay you crag dwellers, time to get back in the game
TJBM wears a kilt with no underware
I ate some cake out of the dumpster as a kid once. Then I got some weird skin disorder for like two hours, and my mom didn’t want to come near me.
Okay, kids, it’s not often that we’re able to top our own stories, but I’m gunna.
When I was but a small child, we’d have gatherings at my grandmother/great grandmother’s (they lived together) house during the summer. These consisted of sifting through truckloads of railroad salvage that my great uncle hauled in. For instance, we might have a railcar of Au Grautin potato mixes with weevils in the taters. We’d open the box and dump out the contents. The potatoes probably went feed someone’s hog, the box was flattened for burning, and the powdered cheese was saved to cook with.
I don’t know what was wrong with the Bugles and Pizza Spins, but we ate so many of the damned things for so long that to this day, I don’t like them. Given time, I’m sure we’d eventually figured out a use for the pig’s squeal. :)
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