Dumpster Diving...
Inspired by Red's blog, I'm a few blocks from a music store. When they changed ownership lots of things ended up in their dumpster. Musical instrument cases of all sizes. Some were new in their original cartons or sealed in plastic. Boxes of 'off brand' guitar strings fed me and a friend for a long time. I found a microphone in a box of a different brand. I'm guessing someone traded it in and they tossed it out. I opened it and the only thing wrong was a loose wire that I reconnected and it worked great after that!I've said this before... "One man's trash is another man's treasure"
In my neighborhood, appliances put to the front for garbage day rarely stay around more than an hour. I am irked that I put a cabinet with glass doors out expecting it to be recycled, only to find someone broke the glass making it useless. Bastards...
The bad part of dumpster diving is the opposite. We keep a 30 cubic yard dumpster in the back warehouse lot at work and often by Monday it's partly full with furniture and appliances people have tossed out over the weekend. I'd like to put a sign 'NO dumping' and setup a camera to record video and license plates to turn over to the police. I'm told we're paying $2,000 a month to have the dumpsters emptied every week. Maybe those who visit us in the night would like to contribute to that expense.
Comments (6)
having said that....
i met a well known vancouver artist while i was IN a dumpster...lol.
while looking out my window i noticed someone putting a brand new padded executive chair into the dumpster down below.
i quickly headed down the back stairs, and i climbed into the dumpster to get it.
what i learned...
i am toooo short to get out of a dumpster.
after a few failed attempts to stand on the chair, jump and haul myself over the side while grabbing and lifting the chair with my toes...
i was just sitting in the dumpster on the chair..trying to solve my predicament, because i wanted that chair.
....when a man leaped into the dumpster!
he was a well known artist and he had seen the same thing from his studio window across the lane from me. i just got there first.
soo... yes, he helped me get out, and i did get the chair.
There are few things more "green" than picking something useful out of a dumpster and getting it to someone who'll use it. That's real boots on the ground anti consumerism/environmentalism.
I've watched this couple a bit. They know more profitable ways to source inventory for resale, but seem to spend most of their time dumpster diving. They complain regularly about the wastefulness of throwing still useable(often brand new) items in the trash.
I can't say I'm into it, but I do dip behind a couple local stores for boxes and shipping supplies.