Dumpster Diver Message boards

[maddythebeagle]

http://www.dumpsterworld.com/

I think there is a message board system for just about everything. I saw on 20/20 the other night about folks making enough money from aluminum cans to send their kids to school...and went searching........I dont see John Galt on this one though

 

[cube_rat]

I saw this site a while ago. Peek into the general section and you'll find such topics as: Dumpster Diving and the Cost to Gas, Edible Dumpster Diving ; Dumpster Diving at an Adult Bookstore

 

[youbet]

Fantastic site!  Thanks for pointing it out!

I must lead a sheltered life.  I thought the references to "dumpster diving" on this site where just jokes.  Now I know differently!  Since RE for me is only nine weeks away, I'm double checking the spreadsheets.  You're not going to see my rear end sticking out of a dumpster behind Walmart!

 

[mickeyd]

Pretty interesting site, thanks for the link.

I don't know if I will ever need to DD as a regular part of my weekly activities, but I'm not adverse to scooping up an item or material that I see in a trash heap and putting it to use.

It's just an inexpensive way to shop, isn't it?

 

[cabbage]

My 25 year old son took up dumpster diving last year. As the product of two hippies I am not surprised. Last week he came home with 50 rolls of wrapping paper from the Hallmark dumpster. All were still in their plastic wrapping and uncrushed...perfect in every way. We truly are a wasteful society!

 

[Outtahere]

Cabbage a lot of time they stores are told to dispose of items, they would rather see them go in the trash than give them away. I never understood the mentality of doing something like that.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

I just turned my apartment into a "Dive Only" Dumpster. I told all the maintenance guys and my neighbor across the hall to come on in and take anything they wanted out of the living room.

Boom, all gone. Lots of Office Depot furniture, tools, books, clothes, etc.

Even 2 Chicago policemen showed up (they moonlight for my neighbors business).

I was sweating a bit cause there may be porn left in my apartment by some former tenant of course.

 

[Nords]

I don't know if I will ever need to DD as a regular part of my weekly activities, but I'm not adverse to scooping up an item or material that I see in a trash heap and putting it to use.

Our neighbors up the street are building a two-story addition and they've had an open rollaway dumpster parked in the street for two months.

We have all the spare lumber & concrete landfill we can handle. Picked up the occasional five-cent recycle can, too, and a wheeled file cabinet for the kid's desk.

The nice thing about an open rollaway is that you can climb right up its ladder and not have to worry about lids, or critters hiding in the shadows!

 

[BUM]

There is a construction boom going on in the hood. Each lot has 2 containers - 1 for trash and 1 for recyclables. To date here is a short list of items I've rescued from the landfill:

25' tape measure
electricians long drill bit 3/4"
a few 2X4s
6 ft. pressure treated 2x8
Coleman 2 man tent

Whats next?

 

[yelnad]

The best time and place to go diving is in a university town the couple of days after all the students go home in May. You'll find televisions, computers, stereos, video game systems...you name it. All practically brand new.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

yelnad,
living on a Military base in England was like having a Dumpster-Mart. Those young GIs got new orders and everything went to the dumpster.

Computers, TV's, expensive stereos, furniture, millions of children's toys.

If I ever needed anything say over $50 dollars, I would just drive by the huge opened end dumpsters and sit in the car looking in.

What a wasteful group we are.

 

[Andre1969]

I tried recycling aluminum cans to see if it was worth it. Saved them up for about a year, and also raided my grandma's recycle bin and my neighbor's from time to time. In the end, I had a full-sized pickup truck (8-foot bed) worth of them. It came out to 100 pounds, even though most of the cans were crushed down. They were paying 40 cents per pound at the time, that little effort made me 40 bucks.

It takes something like 33 cans to make a pound of aluminum. So basically, each can you save will get you about 1.2 cents. If you can recycle about 429 cans per hour, you'll actually make minimum wage! Or have they raised it from $5.15 per hour yet?

 

[Nords]

It takes something like 33 cans to make a pound of aluminum.  So basically, each can you save will get you about 1.2 cents.  If you can recycle about 429 cans per hour, you'll actually make minimum wage!  Or have they raised it from $5.15 per hour yet?

Oh, you're forgetting the government subsidy.

In Hawaii we pay an extra 30 cents a six-pack to support recycling. We get it back when we actually do the recycling.

Or at least our kid does.

 

[Andre1969]

I kinda wish Maryland had a deposit on bottles. We mainly drink bottled beer these days, and 5 cents per bottle or whatever the return usually is seems much more lucrative than 1.2 cents per can!

Now that 30 cent per 6-pack charge would definitely make it more lucrative. That 100 pound truckload I had, which represents about 3300 cans, would have been worth $205 instead of $40.

 

[Cool Dood]

Er, that's not good for you -- it's just your money, which you gave them when you bought the beer, that they're giving you back for the cans. You don't actually make anything on it unless you go around picking up other people's cans, like the homeless do. So, no, you probably don't wish they had a deposit program in your state.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I kinda wish Maryland had a deposit on bottles. We mainly drink bottled beer these days, and 5 cents per bottle or whatever the return usually is seems much more lucrative than 1.2 cents per can!

Now that 30 cent per 6-pack charge would definitely make it more lucrative. That 100 pound truckload I had, which represents about 3300 cans, would have been worth $205 instead of $40.

You could always do what kramer and newman did, use a postal truck on a holiday and go across the state border

 

[yelnad]

This story was on 20/20 this week. It was interesting.

Putting Three Kids Through College by Redeeming Cans and Bottles

 

[Gpax7]

The money is not in an individual running around like a mad fool trying to find all the can and bottles he can. The money is in having people BRING TO YOU the recycleable material.
When recycling first hit our town in the 80s, there was an old Farmer John looking guy who opened a recycling center. Each morning he'd come out in his bib overalls and talk about how we all had to save the environment and recycle and one day he was gone." Where'd he go?" we all asked. The reply was, "Oh, he sold the business for $1.8 M and bought a Greyhound bus motor home and is touring the country."
We had the problem where people from out of state would bring in non residential recycleables and that got to be a real fistfight
with the additional recycling values and such. Then they wanted a name and address to go with the redemption. Then they stopped giving out cash and issued checks. The owners probably get real mad at being the tax police for the IRS, welfare administrators, and the SS disability bean counters.