dumpster diving, anyone?

**Stacia** · 02-07-2012, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by nuisance26

~So is driving over the speed limit. What's really crucial is understanding the reason behind the law and then you choose to risk disobeying it.

Exactly! The hospital that I had my girls at did not "allow" for a woman to have a natural birth after a previous c-section. The rules were made to protect the hospital and the staff in case of the worst happening without regard to the actual safety statistics involved.
Same things with dumpsters. Why would you need a law to protect the things you don't want anymore? To keep you from being sued if food eaten from your trash makes someone sick. Dumpster diving and trash picking has been going on for 100+ years. People are rarely known to get sick and I've yet to see a lawsuit about it.
Sure you can get ticketed or hauled in if you break locks or enter buildings or climb fences but the police are too busy dealing with real crime to hassle divers rooting through open space dumpsters. How can you be down on someone who is getting food out of a dumpster? How do you know that they don't really need it to survive? Personally, I wouldn't go over a fence like a group did in the documentary but I understand why they did.
Some rules need to be broken.
Watch the documentary. It's not about finding a partially eaten cheeseburger surrounded by dirty diapers, it's grocery stores that bag up an entire shelf of celery because one stalk is rotting. It's cartons of eggs because one was broken. It's cases of beer because two bottles are cracked. Food you would eat never even touches the dumpster's interior. I worked in the food industry. Everything had to be bagged before it was trashed. Waste food was trashed at the end of the shift. Divers know the shifts and get the bags almost as soon as they're taken out.
I've been very interested in doing this for many years. I grew up in the country where we regularly shopped at "the dump" when we dropped off our garbage. It wasn't food but it shaped my thinking about what garbage really is. My dad often dropped by a bakery near his workplace after his overnight shifts and picked up the day old donuts. They just tossed them all in a giant flour sack. By the time I worked in a bakery, the owners held everything day-old to give to a pig farmer. Those donuts and breads were still good for human consumption. The waste that goes on in the interest of protecting businesses, without regard to actual statistics, is alarming.
Oh, I had two natural births after my c-section at that hospital, BTW. ~

They are more worried about losing money and protecting their profitability then about getting sued for someone getting ill. Which is ridiculous, all this food getting wasted, really bugs me. Our government would save so much money if they had this food donated to Soup kitchens, food banks the needy..ect

The Food Donation Act, was signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. Which protects large corporations from being sued once food is donated. (These days most people have to sign a waiver just to receive food that has been donated) There is an Abandonment of property law that allows one to take an item once it's discarded unless it's on private property. Curbside/Public property is considered public right of way or Public property. If it's out on public property, it's free for the taking. I highly doubt you would get in to much trouble for taking discarded items. And good for you for taking initiative.

**lex71x** · 02-07-2012, 02:38 PM

one man's trash is another man's treasure. its amazing the kinda stuff people throw away; still functional, mind you:

-toaster oven
-ipod
-iriver
-nintendo ds
-speakers
-small tv's
-cookware

mostly found on top of a full dumpster, if i include all the furniture and appliances i found next to a dumpster (i guess that would be more like donating than throwing away) this post would get very, very long.

just thinking about it the desk and chair i'm sitting on right now were found by a dumpster

**Stacia** · 02-08-2012, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by lex71x

one man's trash is another man's treasure. its amazing the kinda stuff people throw away; still functional, mind you:

-toaster oven
-ipod
-iriver
-nintendo ds
-speakers
-small tv's
-cookware

mostly found on top of a full dumpster, if i include all the furniture and appliances i found next to a dumpster (i guess that would be more like donating than throwing away) this post would get very, very long.

just thinking about it the desk and chair i'm sitting on right now were found by a dumpster

I have never bought a new or full price set of furniture, TV ect.. Except for my sons play station 3 and my coffee maker/microwave.

**oheoh's momma** · 02-08-2012, 07:40 PM

I want to see this documentary... we are a wasteful nation.....I have never got into the dumpster. I picked up things beside it... Like greekislandgirl very smell sensitive also germ phob...

**leighcat** · 02-08-2012, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by oheoh's momma

I want to see this documentary... we are a wasteful nation.....I have never got into the dumpster. I picked up things beside it... Like greekislandgirl very smell sensitive also germ phob...

It is on Netflix if you have it. Also, there is a site somewhere online if you google "free documentaries" I am sure they have it to watch on your computer. I watched it and it was very good. It is so sad how much food goes to waste. Not only that, but how many animals die that are never even eaten. Lives taken for nothing.

**Mr Fixit** · 03-07-2012, 05:10 PM

I met a super hot homeless girl by a dumpster one time, but I wont tell that story

, but seriously, that is one thing I'm not doing until it is absolutely necessary! It sounds like a good place to get mugged!

**valerian** · 03-08-2012, 09:32 AM

Our local dump won't let anyone take anything away from there which irks me! Our dump consists of various types of dumpsters. A few years ago they would allow people to get things, but not anymore. My front porch furniture came from there! My Mom saw this like new, white wicker furniture and she grabbed it and now it sits on MY porch...lol! I got two rocking chairs, a loveseat, and a table for free!

As for stores wasting products...an elderly friend of our was a greeter at Walmart and he told us about how they threw tons of rotissere chickens away every day. He asked them to give them to the soup kitchen or someplace like that and they wouldn't do it. He then asked if the employees could take them home so that they wouldn't be wasted and they said no. These chickens were perfectly fine to eat! It was ridiculous! Anyway, he'd sneak some to eat once in a while. It really bugged him (and us) that they just threw them in the trash.

**Spirit Deer** · 03-08-2012, 12:41 PM

We can salvage from our solid waste transfer station here. No food items, but we recycle a lot from the appliances and the metal pile.

We get trays and drawers from the appliance area, plus wire racks for various purposes. I picked up a 'new' flatware rack for my dishwasher there to replace the one that kept getting holes punched in the bottom, saving us from having to buy one. I got a washer tub once that we use now to grow potatoes in. I wouldn't mind a half dozen more of those.

We got a great steel cabinet we use for tools in our garage, and a big steel exam table from a clinic which we'll be putting a saw on. It has lots of drawers and storage and huge wheels so it's easy to store along a wall but move to the middle of the floor for use, and the wheels lock, too. Great score. I pick up odd pots to use as planters, and bits and pieces of things if I need to fabricate parts and can't get what I need anywhere else. I find stuff like pot lids with removable knobs to replace broken or missing knobs on other stuff I've bought secondhand. I picked up a broiler tray to make a Dutch oven table out of a camp stool:

Perfect size, and I just love the finished result! Almost every time we go out there, we find something we can use.

They make us sign a waiver of liability and have some rules about salvaging, but nothing we can't live with. I hope they don't change their policies.

**kindra68** · 03-08-2012, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by valerian

As for stores wasting products...an elderly friend of our was a greeter at Walmart and he told us about how they threw tons of rotissere chickens away every day. He asked them to give them to the soup kitchen or someplace like that and they wouldn't do it. He then asked if the employees could take them home so that they wouldn't be wasted and they said no. These chickens were perfectly fine to eat! It was ridiculous! Anyway, he'd sneak some to eat once in a while. It really bugged him (and us) that they just threw them in the trash.

my boyfriend works on the ovens and fryers at wal-mart. when he came home and told me about that, i was flabbergasted! he said the chicken can only stay on the heated shelf for an hour or two and it's thrown out. no matter what. NObody can have it. it's thrown in. the. trash. boyfriend says the hot food waste at wal-mart is outrageous. it makes me sad.

**shoiji** · 03-08-2012, 01:32 PM

Yesterday I picked up a step for step aerobics. Have been wanting one but refused to pay for one since I know I will only use it occasionally. Am more into walking but sometimes you need to change things up. Was really excited when I saw it next to the dumpster. Brought it home and cleaned it up.

**livinggreen** · 03-10-2012, 07:13 PM

dumpster diving is fun as long as its not cold at night...lol

**madjen** · 03-11-2012, 12:36 AM

I have dumpster dived for coupons in the past but not recently if that counts.

We have found a lot of goodies on bulk trash day... Outdoor toys for the little one, dressers, bikes, lawn mowers, weed whackers, etc.

**josantoro** · 03-11-2012, 09:39 AM

Where we stay in the south is a big apt.complex with several dumpsters. Someone was throwing out 4 stacking metal deck chairs, a bit rusty but in good shape otherwise. I am taking them home as I have room in the van. Up north I have a big deck but it is very windy, folding lawn chairs blow off. SO these will be great as they are sturdy and heavy.

They were beside the dumpster, not in it, so technically not "diving".

**Spirit Deer** · 03-11-2012, 11:43 AM

Josantoro, there's a product I forget the name of, that will turn light rust into a hard black primer. It makes it fast and easy to re-paint metal that is lightly rusted (not flaking). We buy ours at our local NAPA auto parts store and it works great. It comes in a spray can. I'm sure if you describe it they'll know what it is, if you're interested in it. (We don't have any right now so I can't look at the label.) We've used it with great success on our campers when the frames started to rust.

**annymoll** · 03-11-2012, 06:11 PM

I dont Dumpster Dive but I have learned to Curb Shop. I just saw a twin size aluminium camp cot by the side of the road waiting for trash pickup. The mattress is of course ruined but the frame cot looks fine. I am determined to get that cot.Yesterday I saw a high chair, one of those roller buggies for babies and the frame of a childs bed(metal) by the curb. I was upset because surely someone, somewhere in the area could use it.I hope someone picked it up.