ATS Dumpster Diving Thread....

I used to do quite a bit of dumpster diving around London, my job was pretty much to roam around in a van in all places day and night any way, so I got a few good things, pulled 2 DVD players out once, fiddled with the first one discovered it was only the power cable that had a break in it - didn't bother with the second, left it in the under stairs cupboard of the shared house for someone else to fiddle with.

Errrm felt a wee bit bad about the next one, it was a safe with a digital combo pad and also the key in the lock! Nothing in it, it needed my mate to help me lift it into the van... He was a goody 2 shoes and would not help me, so for some reason I removed the key and threw it as far as I could! Bit of a dick thing to do, but I was actually interested in the scrap value more than anything - nice looking safe really, solid, from the 1980's I'd guess, - Also out with that same guy, he was driving this time tho, we found a home made monkey bike!! (Americans call them pit bikes I think) - again goody 2 shoes moaned about taking it out of a skip, he reckoned that it would have been stolen and dumped? I pointed out there are 2 skips here for one property, they are clearly gutting the place and throwing everything out (and literally there was the kitchen sink in there too lol)

Never gone dumpster diving for food though, I wouldn't rule it out though... Used to strike up conversations with the 'pros' at the old diving, they say they eat really well from the stuff that is a day or 2 out of date, I can believe that if your careful what you will and won't eat.

Keep a lookout for roll off dumpsters at home that have been foreclosed on.

These can be a gold mine for almost anything. They are trash-out dumpsters.
www.walletpop.com...
getting on one of these crews or forming your own to sell your services to banks and mortgage companies is a great way to make money.
You get payed by the bank or mortgage company and you can collect idems that you can sell under the table on EBay or Craigslist.
A friend of mine does this and makes more money on what he sells then the bank pays but the extra money is tax free.

I have found that with EBay you can make money on many idems that get thrown away.

I am on a fixed income due to disability and finding things to sell is a good way to make a little extra income for those extra things i want or need.

Apartment complexes by colleges are by far the best sites to investigate, for reasons mentioned previously.

A pile of rubbish looks like just that to most. However, if you haven't eaten in a couple of days, you might as well be in canned food heaven. When it comes to surviving, this is probably the least offensive of methods when you consider other disaster scenarios.

You might as well leave an advertisement with paper tabs with numbers to tear off, directing those throwing away much needed resources towards you, instead of the designated location.

My son-in-law works at a grocery store and it's insane the amount of perfectly good food they throw out daily. We tried to get it to homeless people and shelters but the manager said it's actually illegal to give it away so my son-in-law has it set out separately from the other "garbage" and leaves it in a box next to the dumpster for easy pickins.

I have seen a perfectly good hot tub thrown out/set by the curb because the owners wanted a bigger/better one. I already had a hot tub but I mentioned it the next day at work and one of my co-workers said she had snagged it. LOL.

Even in my ratty neighborhood I see perfectly good furniture, appliances, exercise equipment and even crafting supplies and tools set out by the curb for pick up. I got a bakers rack from a neighbor who was throwing it out. Didn't even need a paint job. I washed it for hygienic reasons but it didn't really even look like it needed that.

I'd be leary of eating a food courts unless I was sure it hadn't been touched at all. You can get some nasty germs from eating half-eaten burgers and such. Yuck!

I once lived next door to a computer business and their dumpster was always full of functional computers that they'd tossed to get in the latest/greatest. We steadily gathered them and then one month we had a yard sale and made a fortune. We did thank the business for allowing us access by bringing them bagels every morning for a week. We could afford it after the haul we got from their place.

In the town I live in the waste management has a "Large Trash Pickup" day once a year that rotates between neighborhoods. These are a closely guarded secret and only people who live in the neighborhood are notified a week or two in advance. Essentially everyone is allowed to place all big items in 5'x10'x6' area in front of their house for pick up.

People always set out good furniture, exercise equipment, appliances, and pretty much anything you can imagine! The sad thing is all of this is picked up with large equipment that destroys and smashes everything it grabs and anyone caught pilfering the piles gets cited and arrested if they don't stop.

Either way there is an underground community I heard about (of course I know nothing of it personally) that keeps up an encrypted message board in the area where all the pick up sites are indicated as well as other good salvage that might become available.

So for anyone in a metropolitan area keep an eye out on the web for something similar in your area. Ask around the local punks and assorted antisocial kids I'm sure they could point you in the right direction.

reply to post by dominicus


Holy diver lol
The first time I ever went dumpster diving was with my cousin in Washington State ..

It was in the back of a K Mart and I suspected that someone at that particular store was like throwing stuff out for them selves to claim after they got off of work..

Reason I say this was because, there was stuff in that dumpster nothing wrong with the stuff like dolls and sets of Christmas tree lights just stuff and nice stuff curtins ect ect. Ok the Dolls that were being thrown away were marked up with a washable ink they had on them some stuff had no flaws what so ever.

I just know these stockers or truck un-loaders for the store have been doing this for themselves only thing is we would beat them to the stuff ..lol

My cousin was really into this I went a few times with her but lost interest .. but I have to admit that I have found some TV's VCR's DVD players .. and miscellaneous stuff around my own dumpster.
I dont know it just gross's me out tho to dig in a dumpster unless it is outside or in the recycle tub which is where they put most of the electronic devices by me ..