Zen and the Art of Dumpster Diving (AlterNet)

Interesting article by Anneli Rufus at AlterNet. Comments are priceless.

http://alternet.org/story/37315/

Each night we would stop by the dumpsters to pick up boxes for packing. The stores in this area would set them out so that people could get them just for such purposes.
It didn't take long to discover there is some good stuff thrown in those dumpsters every day. One could eat from dumpsters if necessary and in some cases eat very well. Dented cans, bread that was one day past shelf life, even fruit that if you culled through it could find some good pieces. We actually were eating our supper from dumpsters every night as we went to his parents house to start packing. That lasted about two weeks.

I don't dumpster dive today but if I were ever in dire straights, I know where to go and what to look for. Today we chide ourselves about the items we place by the curb on trash day. If you put it out the night before it will be looked through for what these people find value in. We joke about how long items will last when you set them out. I placed a broken neon beer sign on the curb, it was gone before I got back to the house. Old broken screen door lasted 10 minutes.

I wouldn't make fun of dumpster divers, some of them are making a living from other peoples trash. It is a sad but true fact of America

dumpsters at the end of the year are amazing - when I was in college we always looked; one guy sold 2 lofts he rescued the next fall. Some colleges have started partnering up with thrift stores which provide a semi trailer and haul off the saleable stuff.

The only dumpster diving I do is fishing out the recyclables from the trash and putting it in the recycling (2 feet away but some people still can't figure it out). But I'm not above stopping and picking up something worthwhile that someone has set out alongside their trash, or taking stuff friends/family are replacing with something newer (but usually not better!). 80% of the remainder, I find at thrift stores-getting a dirt cheap price is usually more important to me than getting something "right now".

In the city I grew up in, the city picked up big items annually - people put out all the stuff they wanted to get rid of and private trucks were cruising the neighborhood, taking the good stuff.

freecycle.org and craigslist.com are good ways to get rid of your usable stuff, too. Take it to a thrift store if no one takes you up on your free offer (as long as it is saleable - although with furniture, the Goodwill and others will reupholster, etc.)

Can't say I'd eat food from a dumpster - even sealed in a can; maybe it sat in the sun for a year. I don't even eat leftovers after a few days, and I know where those came from. But I know others either don't have a choice or just aren't as picky as I am!

I swear it better than Christmas

He brings home all sorts of stuff. The appliances and electronic products he refurbishes and donates to charities. Once in a while, we keep something to use. He has found computers, desktop and laptop, jewelry, and bicycles. People throw away unopened items and items with price tags still on them. Sometimes he brings home fabric items. I've helped him recover some pretty decent bedding--which I launder and pass on. There is no reason that we should have landfills the size of mountains here in the midwest.

Personally, I don't think any industry should be developed which does not have a corresponding reclamation or recycling component as part of its plan.

it wasn't for food though. Her thing was plants, she used to go through flower shop dumpsters and collect dying plants and flowers that had been thrown out by a local florists. Just last week I stopped and picked up two beautiful ceramic flowerpots w/artificial trees in them for the deck of my hot tub. I'm sure I would have paid around $200.00 if I had bought them retail. I see no shame in that.

... a reasonably affluent area of north Dallas. Every month, the curbside trash pickup is scheduled to get stuff too big for the normal trash bins.

I have picked up:

1) old timey cast iron bathtub with feet - will someday be used to as a watering trough for goats
2) 50 perfectly good cinder blocks. Useful for all sorts of things
3) assorted lumber, fencing, posts etc.

Routinely, I set out stuff that I no longer need and a good portion of it is scavenged before the pickup crew gets to it.

Someday, we'll be mining old landfills :)