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.

 

[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

 

[two_bit_score]

One of the dumps I go to actually has a 'Dump Store' which they operate and sell discarded items from loads brought in by customers who are paying them to get rid of it.

They are always busy every time I have been there.

TBS

 

[teejk]

One of the dumps I go to actually has a 'Dump Store' which they operate and sell discarded items from loads brought in by customers who are paying them to get rid of it.

They are always busy every time I have been there.

TBS

You have just described "capitalism"!

 

[two_bit_score]

You have just described "capitalism"!

These days a business has to do everything they can to make it. Besides, isn't it worth a little bit to not have to dig it out of the trash and garbage?

TBS

 

[ultrarunner]

Unfortunately I do spend time picking though trash each week and hate it...

My city has mandatory recycling and at a minimum includes the following...

Landfill Waste
Household Recyclables
Green Garden Waste
Motor Oil Collection
Battery Collection.

Since it is mandatory any fines and service charges fall on the property owner.

Many are very careful to sort... some could care less... or less than less.

It got so bad at several locations I removed the Green Yard Waste containers because they always had "Commingled" trash mixed in... not that there isn't room for confusion.

A pizza box goes into yard waste... cardboard goes to recycle.

Wood goes to yard waste... painted or treated goes to landfill...

Plastics have to be of the acceptable kind to be recycled...

Bacon Grease most go into a cardboard container like a paper milk or juice container and goes to yard waste.

Bacon Grease is not allowed in a glass or metal container.

We do have garbage police but they go after the property owner and not the user...

Even poor Mom gets confused at times...

Put dirty diapers in the Yard Waste that I have to pull out and I take the container away forever... one warning and that is it.

It sure was a lot simpler being a residential property manager when I started...

 

[jerrybob]

I know a guy who works at a dump...........he's never hungry.

 

[Einthewoods]

My property is on a private road out in the woods and I have ten or so neighbors on the same road. Most of those neighbors are city folks from downstate that use their homes up north as weekend base camps for all the idiot things they do (sorry almost went on a rant there).

We don't have garbage pickup service to the houses, rather there is a collection of garbage bins at the entrance to the private road along with all of our mailboxes.

On Sunday, when all the city folks leave to go back downstate, there is often a collection of stuff sitting next to the garbage bins that was too big to fit into the bins. I have picked up all sorts of stuff they think is garbage. Scrap steel pieces, chairs and other furniture, grills ans smokers I have scavenged parts from, wheels and engines from mowers...

It is amazing how the city folks live such consumable throwaway lives whereas up north we tend to try to reuse as much as we can. So what if part of our properties look like Sanford and Sons. It's like a badge of honor

 

[sixdogs]

Someone else got them first but a number of years back someone beat me to some extra wide old boards (18"?) that were cast aside by the heirs to an estate. Looked like walnut and I later learned they were owned by the owner's grandfather so that would put them back into the 1800's. Rumor was he couldn't bear to use them because of the history.

 

[teejk]

These days a business has to do everything they can to make it. Besides, isn't it worth a little bit to not have to dig it out of the trash and garbage?

TBS

Absolutely! That "one man's trash is another man's treasure" has been around for longer than me. A town I lived in decades ago was leading edge on recycling...bins for green glass, brown glass, clear glass, paper and plastic. Household trash went into the dumpster with a tag that cost $1 (having not much money at the time it forced me to minimize the number of bags that went into that dumpster but it didn't take long to get used to it). In the meantime scrap building materials were separated into wood and metal. The guy that ran the dump had first dibs but after that it was "help yourself". In reality it turned out to be a social gathering every Saturday. As a true capitalist I should have offered to open up a bar on the site.

 

[two_bit_score]

My property is on a private road out in the woods and I have ten or so neighbors on the same road. Most of those neighbors are city folks from downstate that use their homes up north as weekend base camps for all the idiot things they do (sorry almost went on a rant there).

We don't have garbage pickup service to the houses, rather there is a collection of garbage bins at the entrance to the private road along with all of our mailboxes.

On Sunday, when all the city folks leave to go back downstate, there is often a collection of stuff sitting next to the garbage bins that was too big to fit into the bins. I have picked up all sorts of stuff they think is garbage. Scrap steel pieces, chairs and other furniture, grills ans smokers I have scavenged parts from, wheels and engines from mowers...

It is amazing how the city folks live such consumable throwaway lives whereas up north we tend to try to reuse as much as we can. So what if part of our properties look like Sanford and Sons. It's like a badge of honor

We only occasionally fill our trash can that is picked up every week. Sometimes, if my wife is not here, I don't even put it out for pick up. Now the recycle container is usually always filled and is put out every week.


.

 

[ultrarunner]

Same here... could go with one pickup a month... 20 gallon landfill plus 64 Green and 64 Recycle...