Dumpster Diving

[puff_not_snuff]

I work for a college. It amazes me what we throw away. This week I tossed 8 or so full body dummies from the nursing department. (No I wont post the pics here.) The whole time driving to the dumpster I was hoping the kids were not outside the daycare as I would be heaving naked anatomically correct bodies into the dumpster. For context the dumpster is within view of their outdoor play area. It is truly insane what we toss out.

Actually, my dumpster find from yesterday was in a dumpster outside a grade school near me but I suspect someone threw it in there from a brownstone that was being renovated. The school though throws away a lot of good stuff, like school desks and chairs from the 60s. Once as they were tossing some in a dumpster years ago a woman asked them if she could take some as she said she didn't have money for furniture or something like that and the janitor said no. I found that shameful. These schools often need to have fundraisers for supplies and such and I'm certain they throw away enough crap over the years (MCM stuff as well) that people would pay for especially knowing where the money went.

 

[Andre_T]

Actually, my dumpster find from yesterday was in a dumpster outside a grade school near me but I suspect someone threw it in there from a brownstone that was being renovated. The school though throws away a lot of good stuff, like school desks and chairs from the 60s. Once as they were tossing some in a dumpster years ago a woman asked them if she could take some as she said she didn't have money for furniture or something like that and the janitor said no. I found that shameful. These schools often need to have fundraisers for supplies and such and I'm certain they throw away enough crap over the years (MCM stuff as well) that people would pay for especially knowing where the money went.

I understand where you are coming from and agree however no one bids on these sales and we can not store this indefinitely.

 

[mso489]

It's the labor of finding the right takers for so much surplus from homes. I inherited large stacks of folded fabric from my late wife. She had a plan for them, but I didn't. I finally placed them with a local quilting group, but it took some time.

I gave quantities of jewelry to her friends as keepsakes, and they really appreciated it.

People have the false economy of collecting quantities of stuff they don't use.

We have a church flea market sale coming up. We'll get together a nice carload for that, but it should be more like an eighteen wheeler trailer truck.

 

[sablebrush52]

It's the labor of finding the right takers for so much surplus from homes. I inherited large stacks of folded fabric from my late wife. She had a plan for them, but I didn't. I finally placed them with a local quilting group, but it took some time.

I gave quantities of jewelry to her friends as keepsakes, and they really appreciated it.

People have the false economy of collecting quantities of stuff they don't use.

We have a church flea market sale coming up. We'll get together a nice carload for that, but it should be more like an eighteen wheeler trailer truck.

I gave away about 30 large boxes of books on art, music, and various crafts to the Brand Library, a specialized art and music library that's part of the Glendale library system. The regular Glendale Library system wouldn't take book donations because they had no room, and because demand for books has greatly fallen. As one librarian put it, "Books are out of fashion. Everyone gets their information off the Internet."

The Burbank Library system was happy to take books and DVDs, so I donated a ton of stuff to them, as well as donating to various charities like the Discovery Stores. It's a great way to distribute my crap treasures.

Still, all kinds of useful items end up getting tossed out because no one will take them, including millions of dollars worth of perfectly good medical equipment, like wheel chairs, gurnerys, etc. That's because the charities that try to redistribute this equipment, much of it unused, can't find any takers.

O suppose there's some utility in all of this waste. Companies make mony by producing unneeded stuff, and people stay employed due to the waste.

 

[bullet08]

A friend of mine used to go dumpster dive every week behind a flower shop. She used to decorate her room with flowers she "rescued". There wasn't much need to dumpster dive in NYC. Everything I would need were already on the street. Mainly beer bottles and wine bottles. Beer bottles break easy, but beating someone with wine bottle is as good as using 2 x 4.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Dumpster diving isn't my favorite. That said, let me see something cool on the side of the street and I'm stopping. Not matter the protests from either Mrs. Rookie or the Rooklets. And when I worked in retail, some of the stuff returned but can't sell, some of that stuff was carefully set beside the dumpster. Sometimes that stuff would find its way to my car.