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Deep diving a dumpster in Seattle. (photo: sea turtle via Flickr)
On October 23, 2010, WikiHow offered an excellent and comprehensive article on dumpster diving technique, so this diary is not a rehash. I only add a few of points: 1. Never dive a medical or hospital dumpster 2. Never dive a compacting dumpster (I do occasionally but do not condone it) 3. Dive in quadrants. This way, you never have to throw anything outside of the dumpster in order to get at the contents at the bottom. 4. Double your configuration, like a cave diver, and carry two of everything, except your wallet or money, which you should not take with you, into a dumpster and 5. If you dive as a couple you tend to appear pathetic (which of course you are) rather than menacing (which you are not).
Today is January 5. Between us, my husband and I have about ten dollars to last us until the end of the month. So, for the moment, it is all about aluminum and copper. Aluminum brings $0.45 to $0.60 per pound in cash at recycle, and insulated copper (cords cut from appliances, telephones, or anything that plugs into a wall except for cable) brings $1.00 per pound. Add another dollar per pound if you are willing to strip the cords. January is the best month of the year for divers because Christmas is now a disposable holiday and Christmas lights are, quite literally, the gift that keeps on giving. We will keep eating this month because we know how to dive for survival.
What I really enjoy, however, is diving to observe economic and sociological trends. I find it absolutely fascinating. Pushed, years ago, to this strange, stigmatized hobby by need, I inadvertently discovered my real passion of looking for things that tell stories (divorce trash, death trash, the end of the WWII era trash), solving mysteries, and learning about people. I am, at times paralyzed, or at least stopped short with soul-gripping nostalgia or sadness, and at other times hit with irony, hilarity and coincidence the likes of which I could never experience (or make up) in the surface world. What other people want you to see is on the surface. If you want to know about the real world, look at what people throw away. In fact, here is an ice-breaker if you are dumpster curious: You can approach a diver and say, “Amazing what people throw away, isn’t it?” . . .
I am a baby boomer, born in 1960. Christmas was sacred, special, even magical for as many years as I can remember until recently. We hand-made many of our own ornaments ( remember felt, glue, sequins and styrofoam?) and saved everything from year to year. My mother kept our precious ornaments in the same box that I, unaware at age 6 of the double meaning, labeled with a black marker “Good Balls.” Each ball was carefully wrapped in newspaper and saved.
To this day, my parents have the same strings of lights they had, bubble lights and all, when I was a child. Because the lights are so old and inefficient, not to mention hazardous, this was the very first year they did not use those same lights.
That doesn’t happen anymore. Christmas is made in China, sold in the big box, and disposable. All ornaments, lights, fake trees, nativity sets, and gifts, including toys and clothing are made in China now. People apparently begin shopping on black Friday, and some unwritten universal rule drives them to get a tree up shortly thereafter. Late November/early December dumpsters may deliver insulated copper in the form of last year’s lights that have been inexplicably replaced by this year’s model, a few fake trees and even Christmas wrap, tape, bows, ribbon, lace and tags, still new in packages as though people are actually afraid to use anything from last year, God forbid.
December 26 through the New Year are generally cardboard box days, and although cardboard brings $60.00/ton at recycle, we do not have the resources to store or transport great volumes of cardboard. After the first of the year, the land of dumpsters is a cash cow. Lights out the ass. Rejected presents, New With Tags. Fully decorated trees. Appliances, if new gifts replace the old, and even furniture, again if old must be discarded to make way for new. We have not been to the mall in years. Every appliance we have was retrieved, new, boxed, and never used, from dumpsters. Same with all of our furniture and all of our clothing, much of which, BTW, is vintage and more valuable than what is available at the mall or in the big box.
If you live in a redneck area, where people don’t take down their trees until February, you can vicariously celebrate the holidays for two or three straight months. These same areas, generally without bottle bills, also deliver a huge amount of aluminum in the form of empty beer cans, at the side of the road. Even with bullet holes, it’s $0.60 per pound, all day long. It is amazing what people with a BAC of 0.100 will throw out their windows, driving down the road.
I have never written a diary, or even a comment before because I am still ashamed to be unemployed and unemployable, despite having college degrees, looking for scrap metal and fantasizing about by great big dumpster-to-eBay Forbes success story. Anybody else out there educated, broke, looking for a niche?
cross-posted at:
http://dumpsters2011.wordpress.com/
89 Comments
Never went dumpster diving, but I have scavenged things on bulk garbage day. Also once scavenged a whole truckload of firebricks(for a ceramic kiln) from an abandoned factory. Those liner bricks are very expensive, and there are plenty of abandoned smokestacks around.
Anybody else out there educated, broke, looking for a niche?
You will fit right in here whats your take on what people are buying and throwing away this year vs other years? What the latest consumer trends there is a lot we can learn about our society from what we throw away.
I regret your situation but I applaud your honesty and your strength. You certainly prove that Americans are the most wasteful people on earth. I wish for you full employment and a good future. Take care of yourself and be careful.
Hello ThingsComeUndone, Love your name. Television sets are generally over, unless they are flat screen, as are tower-style computers and old, heavy monitors. For a while, about three years ago, you could have your pick of television set. Flatties have not yet hit the dumpsters. Also, our WWII veterans are dying.Families estate-sale what they can and then donate (or think they are donating) the rest to charity (I dive the major charities)where they are dispatched on a daily basis. Books, love letters, pictures, clothing, maps, cookware, toys, just everything you could imagine being in a home during WWII is now hitting the dumpsters.
Charities have no idea what they are throwing away, or they do not care. I have even found wedding bands. So, a couple of years ago, electronics were popular. Now there is a tremendous amount of clothing, especially children’s, much of it tagged and new, dishes, silverware, appliances, bedding, and lots of vintage stuff. Things that plug into the wall are less common now at the charities, not because charities no longer discard the stuff, but more due to competition. More and more people scavenge to survive nowadays. I have a group of friends that I have met this way. I scavenge but I am also curious, so I will dive even after a dumpster has been hit, to pick up China, crystal, vintage watches, vintage encyclopedia sets, rare books, often unavailable anywhere else, such as a rare, beautiful and early edition of Manley Hall’s Secret Teachings of All the Ages, 100-year-old maps showing only railroads and utilities, Lladro porcelain, and other collector items that do not interest the aluminum/copper divers.
Rather than cut into their territory, I get my own cords from my own dumpsters: we live in an apartment complex that is next to a storage unit. No one can afford to move anything now, so at the end of each month everything in the home ends up in the dumpster, where I wait. I once pulled computer equipment out and only stopped because I was physically exhausted. Sitting on the recycle scale it looked like I had robbed a Best Buy. I mean, if you want it it’s out there, and that includes food. I have not purchased shampoo, toothpaste or other hygiene items for more than a year because they are new and readily available in any number of dumpsters. To furnish a place, hit a University town at the end of the year, and like, just drive down the street. Don’t even have to go to a dumpster.
We are disposable just like the big boxes and corporations want us to be. We discard enough for all to survive on, hundreds of times over. None of this stuff should ever be thrown away, ever. But big corporations do not want these things to go to the hands of people in need. They want to villify and marginalize.
So I see selfishness, apathy, an out-of-sight-out-of-mind attitude. I see a war on the poor. Why would a major charity not put things at the curb with a ‘free’ sign, for example? There were no dumpsters during the depression. People did not do this to each other back then.They helped each other. Why can’t we do that now? What do you think?
Hello, Karin, Had you not scavenged and retrieved, those items, many of them valuable, would be in landfills today, and I believe that is not only wrong, but actually crazy. So I am happy that you did that. Wish we had bulk garbage day here. Next best thing is yard sales. Those bricks are probably better than anything you could buy today, am I right?
Thank you, Twain. It is mind boggling how wasteful we really are. I am curious, why Twain? You must read. Or write, perhaps?
I hope you will share more about your experiences here. It’s important that some of the folks who read our site — like members of Congress and their staff — are aware of how truly desperate things are for many Americans.
If I can make a suggestion: as you noted, some charities don’t even know what they are throwing out. Actually, some do; you may find that you can donate time working at a charity and find out in the process how they handle their discard of excess goods. I’ve worked as a volunteer with my kids at a charity and been heart-broken as I watched staff encourage my son to toss books and all manner of clothing and other household goods in dumpsters. But if they can’t move the goods in a reasonable period of time (like one month) and they have more goods donated, they don’t have a lot of options for reducing excess and are worried about liability if they let people pick through excess content without supervision.
Be careful, and may your gleanings be fruitful. Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Crane-Station, we have become a thoughtless society. People just don’t want to be bothered. Twice a year I box up things that I no longer use and call the charity to come and pick them up. That includes everything – clothing to kitchen stuff. I’m not a pack rat and want someone to have the use of usable things. I never include anything that is broken or dirty. I know that most charities sell at least some of the things but that’s okay because they then have money to spend on the needy. I hope everyone will think about doing this although I guess it might cut back on what you find.
Thank you Rayne. I understand the charity’s limited space and overwhelming amount of stuff. However, there are also people in dire need: homeless, or near homeless children without bedding or footware or clothes, for example. Plus, some things should never go to the landfill. If nothing else, it’s bad karma. Books should, at the very least, be recycled, but only after jails, prisons and all other institutions have rejected them. The Salvation Army where I live instructs two guys on forklifts to, get this, destroy furniture that it cannot, or will not, sell. Broyhill, Sherrill, Ethan Allen, all manner of handmade, vintage, and antique items…are purposefully destroyed on a daily basis. The same place regularly discards walkers, even as ads run in the local paper, ads from disabled people who need walkers. They throw away car seats, bike helmets, strollers… This is borderline criminal. Why not, for example, take the guys off of the forklifts and put them on ebay? Why, oh why, with the soaring value of scrap metal, does a single piece of aluminum or copper ever end up in a dumpster? When people are broke, disabled, hungry? How is this possible? If the charities would allow it, hundreds of people would be happy, willing and thankful to get these items to a recycle center or to people in need. A win-win, if you will. Rayne, we cannot possibly be this stupid and apathetic in this country. So, thank you, I will continue to post because I want people to know about this. I want to do something to change things but I need help. BTW I have photographs.
Excellent point, Twain. I was selfish and reluctant to post for a long time…because people would realize…and then hesitate to, ‘donate’ or throw things away. But the situation is way beyond absurd. Many are unemployed, disenfranchised, ruined, while others are still able to ‘shop until you drop,’ then ‘just get rid of the stuff.’ Surely there is a solution. As I pointed out earlier, there were no dumpsters during the depression. Can we not ever learn anything?
The evidence is that we learn very slowly.
Give me an example.
I think it’s going to take more subversive activities on our parts to fix this situation. My mother and father both have worked for a charity as volunteers for years now; mom has been able to hook up a Catholic church which helps migrant workers with the cast-offs from the charity. T-shirts, for example, which don’t sell but are suitable for working in the fields are bundled up and sent to the church. Blankets and sheets which don’t sell are also bundled up and given to the migrant families. (Of course the problem is the government — at what point will they butt in and claim that my mom or the charity has been aiding illegal activity? Talk about criminal…)
Having met the folks who run these charities and hearing my folks’ frustrations, the real problem is that nobody with serious business experience and strong networking skills ends up running these places. Therefore the limitations of storage are answered in the stupidest fashion possible. I hate to say this, but I do hope that given the need for employment of any kind that smarter folks do end up managing these places.
Don’t get me started on the boards of directors for these places, either; it’s a different kind of stupid, the kind that comes with careless wealth. They don’t demand better because they don’t know to expect better; everything is disposable.
Crane-Station, knowing that people like you are out there and determined to make good use of what I might throw away is going to make me feel better about doing it.
I so appreciate this diary. I don’t dive much anymore but have done it throughout my life since college. Many of my friends do it still and the best stories start with ‘You won’t believe what i found!’
Please do come back and write again.
Catholics. Trust and believe, they truly minister, nowadays. Here in the South, however, how do you go up against old white money? I mean, Bill Gates is no good here. He’s too new. What are we going to do?
We make good use of things, and never leave a footprint, Phoenix. BTW, I lived in that dirty little secret south of you for a few years, Tucson, and loved it! Is Arizona okay now?
Or, Joycake, ‘It started off innocently enough…’ Right?
Great post C-S, the way things are going many more people may need to learn your skills. It is a crime that Amerikan Consumer Capitalism demands that people must be this wastefull and distructive to perpetuate the system. It is bad enough that we consume and waste much more than anyone else in the world but our consumption and waste is destroying others future needs.
I saw a PBS show recently that exposed what happens to much of the clothes that people think they donated to needy Americans. The donations are sold to traders who ship and sell tons of clothing to Africa. These donations end up being sold there and destroy the local clothing industry.
Boo-yah WOW, Thank you, C-S.
What the heck… ashamed? As I write this am listening to Buena Vista Social Club – who hail from sunny Cuba – a country where making do is TRULY and art… and guess what… best medical system in the world, happy people who live to 80 years or more… so I’ve heard… have never been, but seems consistently correct.
I say you are probably something of a reluctant pioneer – didnt’ the “go West, young man” pioneers who built the West with their blood sweat and tears start out similarly to you? (pity the poor Native Americans but that’s a whole other story…)
Like someone above commented, I can see it – a future in which we are all, or many of us, reduced to what you are experiencing. A lot of the world does already. Certainly a lot in this country. Unless a truly social democratic upsurge allows technology to be used FOR the people (AKA 4th Revolution – Hermann Scheer/german flick, check it out) instead of … well … what we see.
Look, a change is coming. A huge paradigm-shifting, life-bending change is coming. We all know it, we can all feel it. You bring to your article the perspective of how, only one generation ago, Xmas was completely different. Less stuff. More ingenuity. Just think about what being a human being has meant for centuries, and how this college-job-mall-rat-race monstruosity we call our lives is and will be the merest of blips in the radar of all of humanity’s experience…
BTW we here are also overeducated, broke, and soon to be out of house and home. Very, very sad. But what can you do, right? Either you will pull through with a jobbie or whatnot or you will continue paving a new road for us.
I unfortunately don’t live in a state where you can trade in scrap metal for money. At least I have not seen. Pity.
Very interesting post, thanks for sharing.
I can relate to the big box full of Christmas decorations, that’s the way I was brought up too. Every year, out comes the box and it’s like seeing your old friends again.
Great diary, CS. Interesting and nicely written. Don’t hesitate to write more.
The stuff I have seen set next to the dumpster at apartments is amazing. It’s hard to understand how they couldn’t be bothered to take it to good will. I’ve grabbed a few things I’ve seen sitting out too.
Thanks for your diary. It’s not to write about something that might stigmatize you.
People in other countries make their living out of doing this. They ship our our old computers and monitors to China where the poor melt the metals off the boards, and they pay for it with their health. We are a disposable society in every sense of the word it seems.
Thanks for this great diary.
I wish FDL would front page your diary.
A friend works at the landfill driving one of their big machines. He told me that most stores dump all their returned items at the landfill because it’s more cost effective for them than doing the paperwork to resell or donate the returns; consequently, most of the landfill employees don’t have to buy anything from a store. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough employees to take everything salvageable that shows up.
Great diary. Thanks. But what do you do with all that vintage stuff, collectibles, etc that you find?
>I wish FDL would front page your diary.
Seconded with extreme prejudice. Thanks for this eye-opening, captivating post, CraneStation.
Rayne, I also wanted to agree with your point about a need at the charities for someone with serious business and networking skills to manage inventory. Not only would needed items actually get into the hands of those in need, such as the migrant workers or Haiti earthquake victims, but the charities would bring in a lot more money for their own operations. Is it not unusual at all to see gold, silver, and currency on its way to the landfill, not to mention aluminum, copper, brass and scrap metal.
I enjoyed a documentary-type show on the Buena Vista Social Club and will look it up again today, now that you mention it.
‘this college-job-mall-rat-race…’ I used to have a career. I spent a lot of time on the road. While I really enjoyed my job (medical device sales) and would love to do it again (but I can’t, because I am fifty and no one will hire you if you are fifty), in many ways I experience more actual living as a poor person. I notice things on foot that I never noticed while driving.
Thank you for your comment, insight and prediction.
Find your closest recycle center (maybe not in your state), call them and ask if they process metal. If not, ask them what they do take, and what they pay. When I lived in Spokane, the recycle center recycled carpet padding. A guy with a pickup had the market. He made his living by retrieving carpet padding from local sites- and taking it to recycle.
I miss those days: ice cycles (sp), angel hair, even snow, and, of course, the decorations.
I dumpster dived a few times a number of years ago. It’s a totally different experience than picking up something set by the curb on bulk day or set by a dumpster. To get into the dumpster, you have to intentionally climb in. There’s such a strong social taboo against doing that, it’s really crossing a very strong (if invisible) social line. Once in, it was just like other times I’d gone through people’s unwanted things, like at clothing swaps among friends or rummaging through abandoned houses. Then the climbing out part puts you square in the face of the social taboos once again.
Great diary. I’m so glad you posted it. Point taken about how so much is thrown away and destroyed without giving people who need it or want it an opportunity to save it.
I don’t think ebay is the way to go. Craigslist is a better option, but depending on where you are and if you’re as an accomplished urban archaeologist as CS, starting your own second-hand store is the best option. My husband scavenges, but his finds often need some work (e.g., a chair to be redoweled and reupholstered) that we don’t know how to do. A lot of furniture goes to the landfill simply because of some torn fabric. We’re hoarding my husband’s finds until we can design a business that repairs items and then sells them (basically the items that charities send to the dump because they’re more than “gently used”). CS, not to be too forward, but are you near Atlanta?
Thank you. Some of this metal is questionable. There is an alarming amount of radioactively tainted metal in circulation. According to a Scripps-Howard article, thousands of everyday consumer goods in use are tainted. An ECKO cheese grater, made in China mostly of Cobalt-60 with a half-life of something like 230,000 years, was found in a kitchen in Michigan, where it had been in use for ten years. Someone got a lot more chest x-rays than they bargained for. Don’t quote me- I will try to find the article because it is well worth reading.
Thank you grrrlll!
If I worked at a landfill, I would never shop either. BTW there is an excellent book called Rubbish. Some university group, I think, did a research project at Fresh Kills Landfill (If I remember correctly, Fresh Kills is in New York. A fascinating read.
I am hoping to list my things, but have some hesitation about ebay. I have heard that Craigslist and Bonanzyl are good options.
We wear a fair amount of it, and I give things away. My mother collects dolls, for example.For Christmas I gave her a beautiful porcelain doll with a certificate of authenticity, straight from the dumpster. That Shirley compo doll that got away from me is a different story.
For current items, I have spent a fair amount of time authenticating things, especially women’s handbags, which are, apparently counterfeit much of the time. I have one legitimate and two fake Coaches, a fake Chanel, and a fake Dolce and Gabbana. This was all news to me, I never dreamed that people would sell fake things. (as real)
Vintage stuff is not so fake, but I only recently realized its value. Although I have been diving for years, I have only been collecting vintage for about a year and a half. It started off innocently enough with books because I like to read. Now, of course it is an obsession. My current favorite pass-time is going through the vintage and seeing what it’s sold for online. Some of my books are unavailable on Amazon.
Bottom line is, I have not done anything yet because I did not know enough. I am getting there. Plus, I am a great starter and poor finisher, brimming with great ideas and unrealized potential, among other things that my shrink wants me to work on but that’s another story.
Vintage toys are a trip. Did you know that there are some really, really strange toys out there?
I take them to an antique/collectibles store that specializes in whatever type of goods I have. You might get less than selling them yourself, but it’s the easy way to go, if you need quick cash.
For books, I would list them on half.com.
Well, actually bricks are bricks, but for my friend who is a potter, it would have cost him $100′s to buy new bricks to construct a kiln.
Hoarding. That’s the word. I do the same thing. My dream is to open my own shop that does exactly what you just described. I often go to the furniture pile at the charity with tools and try to teach myself woodworking. Many things have very slight damage, but enough to warrant a shop and tools nonetheless. If something is ruined, I remove the ceramic, brass drawer pulls. Move over Restoration Hardware.
We live in Kentucky. But my father and brother went to medical school at Emory and my mother went to Oglethorpe. Atlanta is beautiful, teeming with possibilities, I imagine.
Yes, Fresh Kills is the giant landfill on Staten Island.
I did not know about half.com. Thank you, and I will go to their site today.
See what I mean? I did not know enough when I started. I am glad I did not start in when I was an idiot.
There. I justified my procrastination habit.
Ebay reads like a J Peterman catalogue. Everything sounds the same, and wonderful. But it’s like online dating where people post pictures of other people, or of themselves- 20 years ago.
Many people will not climb in for the very reason you described. I am not as shy as I used to be and even occasionally dive in the light of day. If there is too much actual trash in the dumpster I will not climb in. At most I will use an improvised hook.
The Lowe’s guy was onto me one night when I showed up in a head-to-toe nylon outfit and said, “I’ve lost my lineman’s wire cutters again.” He said, “I get it.”
Getting into a good dumpster is rewarding. I have found intact China and crystal at the bottom of a dumpster.
Are you a Judge? An attorney?
This is a great tip. Thank you.
My experiences were all during the day! I didn’t have the courage to go into a dumpster at night.
Goodness, no. Just riffing on (and twisting in positive direction) the old Vietnam-era phrase.
I just read Wiki about Fresh Kills. Apparently, it is now closed. It was used as a sorting area for some of the 9/11 debris and is suspected to have particulate human remains beyond what was salvaged. The garbage is now compacted and transported by rail to South Carolina.
At one time, Fresh Kills, visible by the naked eye from Space, was the largest landfill in the world.
In one of my next lives, I will be an archaeologist there.
The plan is to turn it into a park.
I love this post!!
I have not been a dumpster diver, but my father was, on occasion. We have a photo of him, getting out of a dumpster, not sure who took it. He did it out of a passion for recycling.
And he had a passion for that.
Thank you so much for your insights. You have done a great service here today.
My grandfather made a great deal of money in retirement collecting cans, metal and recycling products. I loved going out to the park and around town with him. Someone’s trash was his opportunity to save.
Let me sidestep for a moment and add a caution. We use to have a developmentally challenged adult neighbor who loved to dumpster dive at a nearby shopping center. He was a successful diver. Managed to find all his Christmas presents diving. One store changed their dumpster capacity one day. He fell in and could not manage to get out of the bigger dumpster. Mr. Klynn and I found him in there because we heard faint whimpers when we got out of our car and followed the sound to the dumpster. We managed to get him out and to a hospital just in time. Otherwise, he would have died in the 10 degree winter weather. He had been in the dumpster for over four hours.
I admit I waited to comment because I’m a guilty sales gleaner and pack rat. I own clothes that I wore in HS, and only occasionally go on a real crusade to make myself get rid of them. This Xmas I made myself take a collection of new, still price-tagged, clothes I had gotten either as gifts or because I was intending to use them next season, to a resale shop. I was turned down. For one thing, I was supposed to have twenty items, something I hadn’t known. Then, much of what I had was from places like Lands End and Penny’s that the lady in charge told me, “doesn’t move” there. Velour was described as ‘sweats’, and some was ‘out of season’. Since here, it goes into the 70′s in midwinter, I don’t think of t-shirts as being another season’s wear.
I am shocked to know that our cream of society must do their shopping at resale shops – but somewhat reassured.
Also, at a time when my children were growing up, they collected papers from neighbors and we drove them to the recycling center for the $.10 a pound as I remember, which was a nice piece of change for them.
I am sorry to hear you say:
“I am still ashamed to be unemployed and unemployable, despite having college degrees…”
Please know that I do not hold you in any less esteem because you are unemployed and unemployable. I applaud your resourcefulness in finding a way to support yourself by pulling reusable and recyclable items out of the waste stream. By doing so, you are performing an important and needed function. If this society was truly based on environmental sustainability, we would honor the work that you do.
The more that Americans disengage from the phony consumer hype and reuse and recycle, the better it is for the Earth. I urge you to give up your shame and be proud of what you do.
Yes, unfortunately people have died in dumpsters.
Resalers such as Buffalo Gap are very picky, and they do not pay well. Consignment shops seem to be even more picky…and expensive. I would rather take the time to go through the Goodwill. Yard sales can be amazing also. Even if you use the stuff as rags, you cannot buy a bag of rags for a quarter.
Thank you, I agree that we should live off the grid a little more. Plus, I’ll take true vintage craftsmanship over particle board big box any day. Ever tried to move an IKEA desk? I think it is impossible to do.
And what about spinning, weaving, quilting? It seems that the precise arts are being lost in this country. I was happy to hear that canning is enjoying a comeback.
Wonderfully informative and moving diary. Thank you so much for sharing. I look forward to seeing your by line again.
(I dive the major charities)where they are dispatched on a daily basis. Books, love letters, pictures, clothing, maps, cookware, toys, just everything you could imagine being in a home during WWII is now hitting the dumpsters.
The charities can’t donate the books to schools? Schools could give the books for kids to read!
Aloha, C-S…!
Mahalo for writing this diary, I hope it will be the first of many…! Being under-employed I’m a casual DD and avid recycler I fully empathize with ya…!
Could you imagine the economic impact of this if it happened here…? 8-(
Why does Israel ban Gazans from recycling?
Crane-Station, thank you for a remarkable diary. I have a question, if you have moment: for the benefit of a novice, how does one distinguish a compacting from a non-compacting dumpster? Is the compacting part really big and obvious? Is this question really too stupid for words?
CTuttle, I read this very disturbing article that you posted and then I read many of the even more disturbing comments. It seems that Israel is so hateful toward Gaza that they have lost their business sense. Scrap metal is very lucrative for the recycler (Israel). It provides minimal basic survival needs to the collector (Gaza).
I cannot even stand to read this stuff half the time. It makes me sick.
It is tragic, no…? 8-(
Exposing the Palestinians’ woeful plight is one of my main passions in life…! My humble apologies for depressing ya…! *g*
arherecadesproject, There is no such thing as a stupid question.
from Wiki:
“Compactor”
“The modern rear loader usually compacts the waste using a hydraulically-powered plate that scoops the waste out from the loading hopper and compresses it against a moving wall. In most compactor designs, the plate has a pointed edge on its leading edge (hence giving it the industry standard name packer blade) which is designed to apply point pressure to the waste to break down bulky items in the hopper before being drawn into the main body of the truck.
The wall will move towards the front of the vehicle as the pressure forces the hydraulic valves to open, or as the operator moves it with a manual control.”
So, a garbage truck is one example of a compacting dumpster.
Compactors are often attached to buildings, or close to buildings because they require a power source, such as the ones you see at WalMart, for example. In general they are impossible to enter. If there is any opening, it will be very small. Usually there is no opening. At the back, there is large, obvious machinery. The ‘hopper’ is the bin that items are tossed into, before they are scooped into the container and crushed. Sometimes, items are inadvertently left in the hopper or dropped on the ground around the perimeter of the container.
Ordinary dumpsters are open containers with no possible power source, like the ones you see at small apartment complexes.
This is an excellent question, because people have been killed in, or can easily be killed in, compacting dumpsters. They are no joke. They can turn a sofa into something the size of a postage stamp, or at least it seems that way. It is impossible to move or remove compacted trash.
Folks, today at recycle:
sheet metal-shreddable (scrap metal that sticks to a magnet. two microwaves, a tower computer, some fake jewelry, screws, a couple of broken tools, a Black and Decker heater, some door hinges and some various metal pieces of things, a couple of decorative metal cans that holiday candy corn comes in):
200 lbs@ 0.11/lb. $22.00
insulated copper (wires and appliance cords cut from the microwaves and computer and other appliances, cable excluded. does not stick to a magnet): 9 lb@ $1.15/lb. $10.35
aluminum sheet-clean (clean aluminum. does not stick to a magnet. foil pans for turkeys at Thanksgiving, 2 sticks from those wet-mop things, a cup, a broken logo (Chevy I think) from the side of the road, a big hunk removed from some sort of electronic sound mixer):
12 lbs @ $0.60/lb. $7.20
aluminum cans (from the side of the road, one almost-full black bag collected during a casual afternoon walk, do not stick to magnets):
6 lb @ $0.60/lb $3.60
Total: $43.15 (off the books, am I even allowed to say that)
work effort: minimal. most items picked off the top of dumpsters or picked up from side of road. about an hour for husband and I to sort, cut, unscrew and load into rubbermaid containers (all from dumpsters) into the back of pickup, a 1994 Dodge Ram, reconstructed.
still at home: we forgot to take our yellow brass (doorknobs, drum parts, various other stuff does not stick to magnet.)and our vacuum cleaners need to be taken apart for the electric motors and cords, otherwise we end up with too many vacuum cleaners. BTW I do not like the bagless technology. It’s nasty.
where the money went: gas at $2.98/gallon, $10.00, food $14.00 (milk, eggs, tomato juice, an apple, an onion, a tomato, a liter of Fanta, a chicken)
We have change.
I would really appreciate it if someone could come up with a month’s worth of menus on a food stamp budget, which I think is around $70.00/month. We do not receive food stamps, but need to use such a budget. Food bank visits here are limited to two emergency visits per year, and when we have money, we donate back to them. Is there any menu plan available out there? A menu plan for a really, really tight budget that involves, for example a crock-pot? I would like the link, if there is.
I didn’t read all of the comments yet so this kind of thing may have already been stated.
Go to affluent neighborhoods or counties (Marin comes to mind) on trash day. You can find antiques on the side of the road. Or fully functioning appliances. It is amazing what rich folks don’t want.
…BTW I do not like the bagless technology. It’s nasty…
Why do you say that…?
As a bagless lady I can tell you it is nasty to breathe even if you are only dumping it in the garbage can.
btw, here in Hawai’i, an intact aluminum can is worth 5 cents each…! ;-)
“It is amazing what rich folks don’t want.”
Yup. And unfortunately we’re on the list of stuff they don’t want.
They don’t know what they are missing. Poor folks can be quite entertaining.
The dust is really fine and when I empty the container an opaque cloud appears, then settles onto the floor, where I have to mop, because the vacuum won’t get it. Or, and this happens a lot, I misfire, push the button and empty the entire contents of the container onto the floor, or worse, onto the carpet. All those little holes get clogged with dust and I always have the thing apart with a wire brush to it. I don’t mind so much if it’s our dust, but other people’s…it’s like, do people live in barber shops or barn stalls or what? There is never anything wrong with salvaged vacuums except that so much hair winds around the roller that people give up and buy another one. The exception was when my husband cut the cord from our own steam cleaner thinking that it was just another vacuum I brought home for recycle- it could not be fixed. Look at high-end vacuums: they are bagged. Kirbys are often solid aluminum as well.
Marin County, isn’t Stanford there? No, Palo Alto, my bad. That whole area sounds mouth-watering. Unfortunately, we live in Kentucky (we’re not from here) and the nearest rich area would be Nashville to the south, a couple of hours’ drive. To the north that leaves Chicago because St. Louis doesn’t look like it counts for rich, and even Louisville, while in Kentucky, is almost a six hour drive from us. I mean we live with corn, tobacco liquor and chickens out here.
I lived in both Knoxville and Memphis so I understand where you are. Marin County is (I think) the second richest in the nation.
Rub it in. In Oregon I think they’re 10 cents, so you never see a can by the side of the road there.
Maybe we should get the list of foreclosures so people could go by the houses to get things that are tossed out. Sometimes people walk away and leave the house full of their things. The trick is to find out when the people come to clean out the house.
Spend a few bucks to buy some face masks used by painters to avoid breathing in dust, along with inexpensive safety glasses or goggles. You can find these fairly inexpensively at hardware stores and they may reduce risk of respiratory and eye irritation which would cost a lot more money to treat (you should be wearing the safety glasses whenever doing aggressive tear down on machines, too).
Next time you run across an empty spray bottle from window cleaner, flush it with water and then fill with water. Make sure it’s the kind that can be set to Spray/Stream/Off and that the spray is a fairly fine mist.
Put on your mask and safety glasses when taking off the bagless canister, doing this outside; use the spray bottle to spray a small amount of water over the canister to bring down the dust, but not so much that you end up with mud. You should be able to use the spray bottle to spray down the dust cloud when you empty the canister during tear downs. And be sure not to do this with live electrical equipment plugged into outlets.
I recycle spray bottles like this all the time, btw. I’ve spent money on new ones and found they last 6 months to a year, tops; I’ll only buy them for spraying clean laundry before ironing. But for any other household use, it’s recycled spray bottles — I keep one with 3-to-1 water-to-vinegar for household cleaning, another with just water for all kinds of purposes from spraying down dust to humidifying my orchids, and another with 3-to-1 water-to-SimpleGreen cleaner. And when these bottles break, I toss them in the recycling bin.
Check out HillBilly Housewife for a menu/shopping list.
My personal suggestion: use a rice cooker more often. I make oatmeal for breakfast in one and can make rice-based dishes and lentils in a rice cooker as well. When cooking whole grain oats/rice/lentils in a rice cooker, use this rule of thumb: 1 part grain to just under 2 parts water. Be sure not to exceed capacity of cooker. Allow 20-30 mins for cooking.
Lentils are easy to spiff up by cooking in broth or bouillion and adding garlic and herbs like oregano or thyme.
I make a number of semi-homemade rice dishes in my rice cooker, stretching a cheap mix (like Kroger brand Dirty Rice) by adding an extra cup of plain rice and a few extra vegetables like sauteed onion, celery and peppers along with a pound of ground turkey and/or beef (we also use venison here). It’s enough for two dinners for a family of four at a cost under $6 if shopping frugally.
And buy in bulk. In California we have Costco. It is $50 a year but I witnessed to young mothers on food stamps inline the other day. They were talking about how much cheaper it was than the regular grocery store and the annual fee was worth it.
Red beans and brown rice a la New Orleans is cheap and good for you. You can put in ham hocks or smoked turkey if you have the money.
I’ve done one foreclosure and it was shocking. All of the family’s pictures, including ultrasound pictures and wedding photos and kids’ drawings, not to mention the wife’s diaphragm, were, literally, in the street for all of the passing public to see. I salvaged a lot, but felt like I was violating this family. It was very, very sad. How is it possible that we do this to each other in this country?
I thought about the horror of it. One would have to be sensitive to the family and make sure that they were absolutely gone. Most of those things will be thrown away. Imagine the amount of beauty that will end up in a dump.
That is the best web site I have seen for the frugal. (and I thought I was proficient with google) I signed up for their newsletter. A friend of mine from a program that I attend offered a hunter a paid license in exchange for the meat, then filled a freezer with venison for $30.00.
Thank you for the tips with tear-downs and dust. Medical care is out of the question, so best to avoid it.
Next time I go to my ‘mall’ I’ll pick up a rice cooker.
PS Have you read Water For Elephants? I gave it to my mother (for some reason without reading it), who read it and sent it back to me, saying that it is a must-read, one of the most moving books she has ever read. I’m about to start it.
I take my small, focused list to Costco. And next thing I know, it’s six hundred dollars later and a flatbed cart. How does this happen?
Send a friend to do the shopping. They’ll buy just what’s on the list. Works with my spouse, too — he only buys exactly what I write down.
Although he’s bad about buying his own whims. [sigh]
Yeah, Hillbilly Housewife won me over when she actually had dietary info included and cost comparisons year-over-year. Excellent.
Thought of another opportunity for savings — powdered milk. It’s not often on sale, buy just the store brand, but the savings is in using only what you need for cooking if you’re not a big milk drinker. Also prevents last minute gas-guzzling runs to the store when you don’t have a full shopping list. I just made up enough dried milk tonight for the kids’ cereal in the morning so I didn’t have to run out just to get milk; I’d burn more $$ in gas than the milk they’d use tomorrow morning.
RE: Water for Elephants — haven’t read it, but I’m impressed by the fact that the author wrote it as part of NaNoWriMo. Now when I encourage people to try that I can point to that book as an example.
Soon to be added to the list of adjectives describing the poor:
“tasty”
“…just like chicken…”
Disclosure: I believe half.com is owned by eBay, but without the bidding nonsense. I suggest it mainly because that’s where I go if I’m looking for used out-of-print books, at slightly cheaper prices than Amazon.
Unfortunately if you are reselling, collectibles go for a lot more money in the Northeast than Kentucky, that’s why antique hunters roam the South filling up their car trunks and take the stuff up North to sell.(read “Cadillac Jack” by Larry McMurtry)
I used to visit an antique store here that went out of business. I would climb to what was essentially an attic/third floor, root through the dusty, unopened boxes and lose myself in letters written during the depression. Fascinating.