Dumpster Divers

[Mamaw]

I know that I see this post a lot on saving money forums but todays paper said so much has been stolen by thiefs and they were making good money on the items it will now be against the law and will have a stiff penality.

[disneysteve]

That's ridiculous. How can it be illegal to take something that someone else has thrown away?

Certainly, you shouldn't be allowed to trespass in the process. You shouldn't be allowed to damage property in the process. And if you make a mess and don't clean it up, you should be held accountable. But the actual process of taking a discarded item shouldn't be illegal.

[eisor]

I agree that it shouldn't be illegal. One person's trash may be another person's treasure.

I personally only dumpster dive for newspapers so I can get the coupons out. I'd hate to not be able to do that anymore.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Well if it is a private dumpster on private property, it already is illegal. If it is a public dumpster on public property, I agree that is ridiculous. I am happy to see people put good items back into use. If stores need to keep people out of their privately owned dumpsters, I think that is already covered by the law. It is private property on private property--unless your area is providing dumpster service to stores.

[bjl584]

when I was in high school I used to have a part time job at a Kmart, and it was against company policy to take things out of the dumpster that the store had thrown out. Their reasoning was that any products that were thrown away due to returns or defects posed a possible legal liability for the company if they were to be put back into use. For this reason, anything that was to be disposed of was placed into a locked compactor and destroyed before anyone could get a hold of it.

[Mamaw]

because the thiefs not dumpter divers are taking truck loads of newspapers, cardboard, aluminum cans and are making thousands. By it not going to the recylers the recylers for the cities are not making the profit. This was in the newspaper and they said the fine was to be $2,000.00 so I thought I should mention it.

[disneysteve]

because the thiefs not dumpter divers are taking truck loads of newspapers, cardboard, aluminum cans and are making thousands. By it not going to the recylers the recylers for the cities are not making the profit. This was in the newspaper and they said the fine was to be $2,000.00 so I thought I should mention it.

That's entirely different. If you are taking something that ISN'T trash, that isn't dumpster diving. That's outright theft and should be punished accordingly. I'm sure that is already illegal everywhere, so I'm not sure what is different about the new law you are mentioning.

[ActYourWage]

because the thiefs not dumpter divers are taking truck loads of newspapers, cardboard, aluminum cans and are making thousands. By it not going to the recylers the recylers for the cities are not making the profit. This was in the newspaper and they said the fine was to be $2,000.00 so I thought I should mention it.

So they are taking things from recycling bins? Yes that is theft. Or are they picking through the dumpster to find cans, cardboard? I don't believe that is theft. Shouldn't the city have it's on recycling bins at those locations if they consider that theft. What about picking up cans on the side of the road? Is that theft? Community service usually picks up trash along roads. Do they separate the cans at the landfill?

[Cylenchar]

Kindof related: I've heard that alot of builders no longer but the large AC units in the back of the house, they now mount them on the room because they have had problems with people stealing them to rip out the copper cooling coils.

[MiikeB]

I understand the liability issues for large companies like kmart.

I used to live in Germany and there was a couple days a month they would dedicate as 'junking days'. On your neighborhoods day you would put items outside your house such as furniture you dont want, clothes kids grew out of etc. People would then come around and if they wanted something they could just take it. It was advertised in the newspaper and everything so people would know which neighborhood to go to.

My mother would drive around with friends looking for things and would find nice wooden wagons and such that while junk to the owner was antique and original to my mother.

[SusanP]

My sister just acquired 3 free living room chairs this way. A furniture store had set several items next to the road, a couple of them caught her eye as she was driving by, so she stopped to look at them. She went inside to ask about them and was told they'd been placed there for anyone to take until the garbage truck came to get them.

Friends of mine have had similar experiences with items placed by the road in front of residences, they also enquired about the items and were told the same thing: "I put it there for someone to take or the garbage truck to pick up".

Seems perfectly fine to me so long as something is otherwise on its' way to a landfill.

The city I used to live in didn't have a municipal recycling system, there was one independent recycling facility but I didn't know where. My husband had noticed a woman (you might call her a 'bum') looking through bags of garbage from the dumpster outside our building for cans and bottles. Since we didn't turn recyclables in ourselves and this woman wanted to (and probably relied a bit on what she could find), we started putting ours into a seperate bag and setting is beside our dumpster instead of inside it.

[Hannah828]

Ah...Dumpster Diving. I have salvaged brand new carpets, toys, a george foreman grill, punch bowl, paper, envelopes, makeup still in the package. You name it, I have found it. Just be careful and make sure to stay out of trouble. Find out what the laws are in your neck of the woods.

[Hannah828]

We also have trash days in our town, and for a couple of weeks a year, everyone can put out their old unwanted items for everyone else to take. It works out well.