Dumpster Diving

[DenisG]

someone wrote a book all about dumpster diving. he makes his living doing it. i dont remember what its called... very interesting though.

"The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving" by John Hoffman:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1581605501/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Anyone who has read it will probably remember the story about drinking fermented (mildly alcoholic) juice from bloated fruit cocktail cans found in the dumpster.

 

[brentmc]

Lots of valuable and cool stuff thrown away...picked up a Honda Pressure Washer that started on the second pull, nice bikes for my boys, found rifles in their soft cases, etc.

That said, our local landfill posts people at the dumpsters now to stop diving--a guy stepped into the dumpster to get something and the trash collapsed...he hit his head...and he died.

Wife sued the county, but by the time folks when to take pics of the scene, the landfill manager had posted handwritten "do not enter the dumpster" signs. She lost the case.

Fortunately, folks will leave good stuff outside the dumpster that we can still snag...

 

[mtmgtz]

That said, our local landfill posts people at the dumpsters now to stop diving--a guy stepped into the dumpster to get something and the trash collapsed...he hit his head...and he died.

Wife sued the county, but by the time folks when to take pics of the scene, the landfill manager had posted handwritten "do not enter the dumpster" signs. She lost the case.

And she deserved to lose the case anyway. Common sense tells you that it is risky climbing into heaps of garbage. It's rather pathetic that we have to post signs anymore stating the obvious. She may have lost a source of income but it's her own husband's fault.

 

[Weekend_warrior]

I usually drive around the hood on bulk pick up day. Lots of usable stuff. I pulled a few rolls of pine bed slats out of the trash months ago. They are held together with cotton cord stapled to the boards. They were from IKEA. I pulled out the staples and cords. They hung around for a while. I needed a spice rack for the new house we moved into.... A little time on the table saw... six bucks in dowels and some leftover stain and bamm... custom spice rack to mount the length of the pantry door.

I found some cool chair bottoms that were painted. A stack of pallets to make tops for them and I will have some cool looking drink tables for the chairs out back.

 

[egnorant]

Our local Honda motorcycle place did a bit of reverse diving once. I showed up with a 1978 50cc Express for a tuneup and the mechanic told me he had just cleaned the back room and put 3 of these in the dumpster. He yanked one out to get an air cleaner box for mine and charged me $14.70 total out the door. I told him that the air box he put on sells for around $45.00 on EBay and he BOLTED to the dumpster to save the rest!

Bruce

 

[Lippyp]

Just been diving in the bin at a local carpet shop to salvage a load of the big cardboard rolls that new carpet comes on as I'm in charge of building a float for our local carnival for my scout group. I have a 45' lowloader semi trailer to turn into something from Star wars!

 

[rustynbent]

I worked for the Navy 40 years ago and they were having a command inspection. The Captain was up for promotion so he had the whole base cleaned up. I worked in the machine shop and we threw away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tools and bar stock. One piece of brass weighed nearly 10,000 pounds and was sent to the scrap yard. I "salvaged" thousands of drill bits and still have quite of few today.

 

[go4donuts]

... I once found about a dozen brand new uncut 2x4s laying in the scrapheap and threw them on my truck before I left the dump.

Yeah, I was watching the local news a few years ago and they were doing a report about recycling or some environment-related topic. They had the reporter doing a stand-up report from the city dump and in the background there was a guy, probably the clean-up guy from some construction company, who was tossing lumber onto the garbage pile from a pickup truck - 4x4's, 2x6's - all in very usable lengths of 4-6 feet. I laughed at the irony of the story and was disgusted by the waste.

 

[PFSard]

I worked for the Navy 40 years ago and they were having a command inspection. The Captain was up for promotion so he had the whole base cleaned up. I worked in the machine shop and we threw away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tools and bar stock. One piece of brass weighed nearly 10,000 pounds and was sent to the scrap yard. I "salvaged" thousands of drill bits and still have quite of few today.

Now that's the kind of dumpster diving I should be involved with. LOL

 

[outdoorspace]

I work for a company that the builds police interceptors. I came in one day to them loading a 32 foot enclosed trailer with hundreds of brand new police push bumpers, interior prisoner cages, and trunk mount locking gun racks. A few hours after they left with the trailer I asked what they were doing with all of it? I was told that they were for older model vehicles that police no longer use and they went to the DUMP! I said you mean scrap right? and they said it would take too long to take them out of the box so they just go to the dump.

 

[bczygan]

Found a 3 ton jack marked "Property of The City of Detroit, in the bulk trash at the curb 3 doors up. It was missing a nut.

It must have been a good find, as someone stole it from under my trailer a year later.

 

[casetractorfarmer]

Sometimes Ill take a cruise to Downtown Chicago an scope out lower Wacker drives docks for construction open top dumpsters.
Those commercial office buildings usually get me high end lighting, good quality remnant rugs, cabinets, all kinds of office equipment, fixtures...just incredible stuff.
These corporate gurus are always remodeling....there is one building I am eyeing for antique paneling, crazy antique kitchen equipment, and furniture...I have the inside scoop that a lot of the pristine antique stuff is being chucked to modernize the space on the upper floor. This stuff should be in a museum!

So how do u go about doing this if u dont mind me asking do u just grab and go or ask first

 

[TractorJeff]

No, if you ask, they'll say No, its an Insurance liability or they get paid for the scrap. Better to just take it and go!

 

[Lippyp]

Back in the mid 80's I worked as a van driver/goods inwards clerk for an electronics company that made all the British armies radio systems (Clansman is the one that springs to mind) There was a room that literally had pallet racking in front of the only door into it. Whilst I was there they decided they needed the space. In this room there was a complete prototype military radio system that presumably didn't make the cut as it was but clearly some of the technology had made it on into newer systems. The management decided to scrap the whole lot but it had to be certified as destroyed. I spent about four days ferrying loads to a junkyard that specialised in destroying classified/sensitve kit and had to watch the whole lot go through the worlds biggest shredder, it went in whole, backpack sized radio,s vehicle installations and base stations and came out shredded to small flakes. No chance of dumpster diving there!

 

[Stevedore]

The closest thing to actual dumpster-diving for me was my 1946 Delta 14" bandsaw. All cast iron, including the base. I spent about $100 replacing some worn parts (bearings, tires, etc.), and it was like new. It was behind the dumpster at a local place that makes prosthetic arms & legs. A little surreal walking through there to find the guy to ask if I could take it.

I've had some good finds during cleanup weeks in nearby towns. There was a nice library table we saw while we were out for a walk, so I humped it home on my back. I cleaned up the finish a little, & we used it for a few years before selling it to a used furniture place for $75.

Others include a few electric motors, and about 150 lbs of York barbell weights. I was sort of into weightlifting back then, so I added them to my collection.

 

[nmpontiac]

A few years ago I had a shop two doors down from a NASCAR engine builder and made it a point to hit the dumpster early every Saturday morning-got lots of developmental stuff, raw material, fasteners, etc.

 

[cdestuck]

Just this evening at a campground we have a seasonal site at, wife and I were cruising on our golf cart in the mobile home section of the park. Someone has set a black aluminum garden bench beside the dumpster. Checked it out, a 1 shape and now is ours.