ATS Dumpster Diving Thread....

To be honest, I'm like 10 minutes from Chicago ...and the dumpsters here suck!!!! All the major Grocers around seem to hide what should be publicly thrown out.

Please do share your success in any attempts, tips, and tricks for dumpster diving.

No shame in my game, I do it and am interested in it and have been wearing clothes from second hand shops before it was "cool" to do so

reply to post by dominicus


places that arent chicago, detroit, ny, and basicly all of cali. small(ish) communities have the goldmines. usually even unopened packages where i am from.

on another note, the "good" trash will be thrown away discretely in places that have a high density of homeless. just a little extra tip

I thought I was the only one on here to admit I am doing this,

I dumpster dive for cans and bottles in my area and have found alot of usable things.

The general rules are,

1- Look for is a "NO TRESSPASSING" sign.
2-Know when the dumpster is emptied.
3- Organize it daily,either put down cardboard or just move the stuff around so you know where the newest bags are.Look for what you want and move on.

I love dumpsters! I just found a 42" Samsung flatscreen LCD TV in the dumpster two days ago. The people who had it before got it with the "stand" so they could set it on a shelf, then they got drunk and got in a fight (I live in a big white trash area) and broke the "stand." So, instead of getting another stand or a wall-mount for it, they threw it away and went to Rent-A-Center and got themselves another one.

The TV is now on my wall, hooked up to my computer and works great!

I've found that a lot of people tend to throw their food away in Berkley due to the crazy amount of white people & health food stores. Oakland is not that bad a place either.

Portland used to be a mecca for dumpster diving, but it's since been pretty blown up within the past few years due to stupid people who move there & stupid shows that make more stupid people want to move there.

Food courts are pretty good places to pick up half a meal if you're also down with trash diving. I don't think they can kick you out of a mall for it, but they might try their hardest if they feel like being confrontational. So far I've had amazing luck where I live.

You have to watch what dumpsters you hit in some areas now,

If the dumpster has a wall around three sides and a gate in front you can not dive them.

If the dumpster is not a trash company dumpster you can not dive them. you will be arrested
Some shredding companies are now using dumpsters for holding paperwork behind big businesses and hospitals.

If the dumpster is not a trash company dumpster and is marked metal only. you may be arrested, a few metal salvage companies are now using dumpsters for scrap from metal shops.
A couple people have been arrested in a city near me for taking aluminum from these scrap dumpsters. One was nailed for a felony grand theft.

The cops will look for any way to make a arrest.

reply to post by dominicus


For household items, clothing and misc. the best diving is at apartment dumpsters in college and university areas at the end of semesters. Those rich kids think nothing of throwing anything away that won't fit into their car or on an airplane. I'm retired from what allowed me to do that for several yeas, and miss it. What great finds I've found over the years. And I've collected more milk crates than I can count and didn't steal a single one!

I love the fact that most places with a dumpster have a treeline not far from the dumpster. If you can drag it into the woods and let it lay there till you go back at a differant time with the hands/vehicles needed to pick it up. it's less conspicuious. Pop the hood on your car and make it look like you are boke down and bolt as soon as you've got your pickup.

Love dumpster diving(ok so I call it bin diving because I'm european, lol) I've found some amazing stuff : 300€ worth of soft drinks, tv's.. at one point my partner and I were both unemployed but we managed to get enough fruit, veggies and baked goods from the bin to stop us from starving.
We also go and check bins here for scrap metal and sell it for recycling, I can't stand waste of anything!

nice, i should do more dumpster diving, although i live in NYC....

recently though, i salvaged out some computer parts in the city: just a 40GB HD i later formatted and wiped clean and extra ethernet wires

where would be a good place to dig around though? im definately not the only one in the city digging in the trash lol; even my usual spots around junkyards turn up empty when i need to scavenge for bicycle parts

When was in singapore they threw away all kinds of good stuff.. Near new televisions, furniture, bicycles, electronics.. From what understand talking with an old uncle who was a karung guni (rag and bone man) was quite normal to see stuff like that thrown out there. Wont go to singapore anymore too much a u.s puppet state..

I live right on the edge of Hampstead Heath, a very rich bit of London so the pickings are rich here.
The best things I have found just thrown out to date would be.
A mint condition 1970's mu-tron wahwah peddle (as used by many famous guitarists) that I sold for £350
5 bags full of immaculate atomic era 1960's curtains that are as rare as hens teeth
and a pair of designer 80's minimalist chairs Designed by De Pas, D'Urbino, Lomazzi & Scolari (the same people that made the famous baseball mitt chair)

Edit to add.
I just noticed that this was in survival.
I guess the items I listed aren't that useful for surviving, but I would definitely have the best decorated bunker in town

Originally posted by davespanners
I live right on the edge of Hampstead Heath, a very rich bit of London so the pickings are rich here.
The best things I have found just thrown out to date would be.
A mint condition 1970's mu-tron wahwah peddle (as used by many famous guitarists) that I sold for £350
5 bags full of immaculate atomic era 1960's curtains that are as rare as hens teeth
and a pair of designer 80's minimalist chairs Designed by De Pas, D'Urbino, Lomazzi & Scolari (the same people that made the famous baseball mitt chair)

Hampstead Heath? thats nice Dave! Wanna swap houses, Swansea's very nice this time of year, (apart from the fact that part of the town is the second most crime ridden area in the UK). I used to love charity shop shopping and used to buy clothes and stuff for peanuts, however the shops seem to have cottoned on (not pun intended) and are charging crazy money for second hand stuff. I remember seeing an oval Le Creuset cooking pot in Oxfam once (im a bit of a chef) and they wanted £1.25 for it (these things are 100 quid new) so i bought it, unfortunatly it was cast iron and weighed a ton, and would have slipped through the carrier bag, so i got the baby out of the buggy and made her walk and pushed my stunning new purchase all the way home. (Please dont report me for child cruelty she was about 2 at the time and could walk!)

If you wanna dumpster dive, feel free to do so. But have a little respect for the person your taking from. I have people dumpster dive in my place of business all the time. It really doesn't bother me accept that they leave the garbage all over the place and I get stuck cleaning up after them. That makes me angry. I have enough to do at work besides clean up after you.
Second- don't take you 5 year old child with you. I will call the cops and I have in that situation. That is just wrong.
Third- you jump the wall and get hurt, don't try to sue. That is why most people don't want you to dumpster dive, because (at least here) someone sued and one a case because they dumpster dived on private property and got hurt.

If people would have a little respect for the associates who work at the place (not the company) you would have no problems. But I personally have seen all the scenarios listed above and it is quite upsetting. Especially the 5 year old child thing. The guy literally had the kid climbing the wall and helping him out. That is just sad.

That being said, you can find some good stuff if you hit the right dumpsters. After a holiday is over, they tend to throw away anything that doesn't sell through (about 2-3 weeks after) and a lot of it is good stuff.

I personnaly have resorted to using the trash compactor on anything I throw away. I am tired of cleaning up after you guys and I don't wanna see a child get hurt. Hopefully they will stop visiting once they see there is nothing to get.

Originally posted by dominicus
To be honest, I'm like 10 minutes from Chicago ...and the dumpsters here suck!!!! All the major Grocers around seem to hide what should be publicly thrown out.

Please do share your success in any attempts, tips, and tricks for dumpster diving.

No shame in my game, I do it and am interested in it and have been wearing clothes from second hand shops before it was "cool" to do so

the trick that my former friend and I used to do was we would wait till either night, and then search. we did this because the people where I live always throw everything away at night, so it made sense to look at night

My mom pulls stuff out of the dumpster at the storage facility. She lives on base with an RV, so keeps a storage facility for all of her extra stuff. She is an artist and often refurbishes found things. At storage facilities, if you don't pay your rent they chuck all your stuff away. My mom finds allsorts in there, furniture, clothes, jewelry, books etc..
I found my computer in shopping cart at bestbuy. I guess someone bought a new pc and was too lazy to throw away the old one....mine now!
I shop alot at second hand shops and don't think twice about taking stuff from the trash, as long as its clean. I don't eat food from it, because thats just nasty. Although I have worked at establishments that throw away huge bags of good food.
Its kind of a philosiphy of mine, I live quite simple, almost everything I own is high quality, but dirt cheap. I hate to go to Walmart to buy some piece of junk made in China when I can go to a garage sale or second hand shop and get high quality American/German/French/Italian/British/Irish made stuff. I am also a book collector and have found a fortune in used shops and libraries.
One mans trash is another mans treasure!

I work for a performing arts center during my summers, and just down the road is a very well-to-do gated community, which my crew and I have access to because we work for the theater that is owned by the community. At the end of the summer season (most of the people are vacationers that only live there for about 10 weeks over the summer months), most of these people get rid of perfectly good furniture, lamps, books, and even an occasional flat screen television. This community has a garbage pickup after the season is over, and since my crew and I work for about 2 weeks after the season is over, we go around with a big pickup truck and start looking for "treasures." Last year I was able to pick up what looked to be two very ugly end tables. The paint was a faded yellow with a nasty green trim (something that you would see out of the 60's or 70's). Well, I picked those up and the coffee table that matched and brought them home. I took about a week and stripped off layer after layer of paint and before I knew it, I had three solid oak tables. They were absolutely gorgeous after I stained them, and I ended up selling them for about 75 bucks a pop.

We do this routinely every summer, because these people, being filthy rich, throw away what they don't want at the end of the summer instead of donating them to Goodwill or other such places.

That's about all the experience I have with "dumpster diving," but I can tell you that we have all found some interesting things out on the curb for pickup after the season ends.




Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

Originally posted by blend57
Second- don't take you 5 year old child with you. I will call the cops and I have in that situation. That is just wrong.

Maybe the kid wanted to do it, I would have loved dumpster diving when I was five....
That aside, I did hear of a grim case just before christmas, parents were dangling their child into a clothing dumpster and the child fell in and died. So yeah, dumpster diving is porbably not for little ones.

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The best time to get fresh, warm (most times), food at the fast food places. It works best in smaller towns/cities where the places are not opened 24 hrs.

Every night, the prepared food has to be tossed out. So, what ever is there at closing time get tossed into a bag and taken out. They usually keep the foods in groups (wrapped sandwiches, fries & nuggents, salads & food waste etc.

It has been known to occur that the bag(s) of discarded food have been retrieved before the person who put it there gets back inside-without a clue. (Takes practice).

Also, it helps if you can recognize the evening shift manager. You know when you see them outside the store, it's closed. Bon Appetit. For example, one may wish to stop and have a drink at the local watering hole before heading home. BINGO!!!!

(sometimes you can get lucky and score a very large amount-several bags. Usually on the weekends. Enough food to feed a small house bar full of your druken friends (so I have been told).

Bon Appetit!!!
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It is absolutely amazing what some people throw away. I have was over at a friend's house and his mom was packing up a bunch of cloths in trash bags, so I asked what she was doing. She was throwing them away because he had out grown them (never mind that she has a younger son) so I asked if I could have them (they where my size) and got about 10 free shirts (my mom was thrilled). I am a bit of a pack rat and have a hard time getting rid of stuff, but I have found some cool stuff in my neighbors garbage (including a functional, small TV)