What do you look for when staking out a dumpster?

I just saw a whole twin bedframe in their dumpster. If I'd had an allen wrench on me we'd have another bed now!

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US Army veteran, military retiree spouse, and military; civilian; British NHS; and VA doctor.

Ha! Isn't that the truth. You don't even have to be a Vet; just have the word get out that you're a sucker for animals.

Jill, were you living in IL then?!

that nobody has been mentioning TIRES here. They are most of the problem. Most trash haulers do not want them because the landfills charge extra money to accept them. Lots of extra money. Most of the reason is the fact that they are ugly.

At any rate I think that the OP is attempting to use the unused space in dumpsters in a thrifty way. There are a number of ways to do this.

One is to get permission to dump a few things in someones dumpster. Just ask. This usually works best in the "one man shop" type of business and if your bag is small. keep the bag small. Ask ahead of time so you can line up a few places where you can drop off a few things, now and then. You will then be using up excess dumpster space that has already been paid for, with permission of the business person. Avoid tires, nobody wants them without cash to boot.

Recycle everything. In my community there are bins to dump glass, plastic, cardboard, paper and so on. I use them all the time.

Now if you need to dump a little other stuff now and then find a business that has a dumpster that is easy to get to. Keep your offering small, like one of the plastic bags that come from Wal-Mart, drive up drop it in and get gone. If the dumpster is full or overflowing skip that one. No sense putting your offering right on top where everyone can see, or reach it.

I like some government offices for this sort of thing. Government offices seem to have too much dumpster space almost all the time. No government employee would have time to confront you here, because it would interfere with the scheduled, and unscheduled coffee breaks not to mention the granbaby discussions that are ongoing. I see nothing wrong with using up the unused dumpster space that is readily available due to government waste. Don't be a :1pig: about it, just a little at a time will work. We will never run out of plastic bags, small ones.

Just thrifty use of unused dumpster space, that's all it is. Sort of

I know I kind of see things in black and white, but to me, if you don't have permission to dump and are not paying for the dumpster, then it's theft of services. If you were dumping in my dumpster, it would be trespassing too.
Just my opinion.

I think I mentioned getting permission in my post.

I have also been known to barter in some cases. A couple of dozen eggs for the "one man shop" owner sometimes is well received.

Of course barter profits are taxable. We would not to be caught cheating the IRS, now would we?

Sorry. I misunderstood the last couple of paragraphs. They looked like options other than asking permission, which I did see earlier in your post.

Do not dump any personal trash in the state park dumpster.We went to the day area to swim and picnic while there I cleaned out my car and there was a couple of things with my name on them a box I had gotten some shoes in I filled it with trash from the car and put into trash can a few days later I got a call and told them yes what I had done while the kids went swimming and got a $200.00 fine I should have just burned it even the food wrappers which where camping foods items which showed we had hot dogs and burgers,chips.

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'It Is A Wise Father Who Knows His Own Child'
Shakespeare
A WOMAN MUST NOT RELY ON A MAN TO PROTECT HER, SHE MUST LEARN TO PROTECT HERSELF.
SUSAN B. ANTHONY

Oh don't get me going on all the animals that are dumped out here in farmland!! It seems every year we get a new bloodline introduced in our cat population!! Of course they get driven off by our other cats or don't survive as we don't pamper our mousers! They have to learn to hunt or find other digs although we do feed them just enough... if they're scrappy enough to get in there. -Catherine

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Our Diversified Stock Portfolio: cows and calves, alpacas, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, cats ... and a couple of dogs...
http://springvalleyfarm.4mg.com

The nearest dump to me that allows public dumping is 50 miles away.
I have used a strip malls dumpster and a construction site dumpster on a weekend. I never leave enough in any one to make much of a difference, and only if I have something that won;t fit in my regular trash can

It's just as illegal to take that cool stuff home from someone's dumpster as it is for you to dump your trash in that same dumpster. So.... shame on you for doing either.

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Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD

Appreciate all the comments, very interesting, especially this one above.

I also like what was posted about using unused space, which sparked a ponder - If someone pays so much for a full load per week and it gets dumped when it's half full, for example, does the garbage company return any money or do they steal it?

[QUOTE][It's just as illegal to take that cool stuff home from someone's dumpster as it is for you to dump your trash in that same dumpster. So.... shame on you for doing either.
/QUOTE]

Once something has been thrown out it is abandoned property. The previous owner at the time they threw it out gave up ownership rights to it. If it is on private property there are trespassing issues involved if the property is posted. A dumpster on a street or next to an alley is on public property. It is a shame for something to be thrown out that can be reused. Also, the government to avoid their agents having to get search warrents to go through garbage decided that it was legal for everyone as long as posted property doesn't need to be crossed.

Throwing away ANYTHING with your personal information on it is foolish no matter where you put your trash. We burn all bank statements, credit card offers, etc.. Before we were in an area that allowed for a burn can, we shredded those items.

As to the original question, it is possible to just rely on fastfood restaurant, grocery store and rest stop trash cans to drop your household trash. Afterall those cans ARE for public use free of charge. The trouble with this is that the receptacles tend to be smallish so you would spend alot of time making regular trips with small loads of trash. Now if this works for your lifestyle, perhaps you pass the receptacle each day on the way to work for example, it might just be a viable option. For us it was just too much trouble, so we pay for weekly garbage service which we hardly need; once a month garbage pickup would be sufficient, but the garbage company doesn't offer that

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"Perhaps I'll have them string a clothesline from the hearse I am in, with my underwear waving in the breeze, as we drive to the cemetary. People worry about the dumbest things!"
by Wendy

I've always cut 'em up at camp and covered the remains w/ a large black plastic garage bag if you do it right one person can swing it into the dumpster. Could you imagind the ruckus I'd get if I cut a deer up hanging on my apartment porch?

We have single recycling dumpsters too w/ a listing of what they want you to recycle. No plastic bags and most of the cans & bottles are in plastic bags from the supermarket. The other day there was a tire in there too!

In New Jersey there are no public dumps. Our high taxes do help, one day a month they will take white goods, two days a month a chipper comes by and grinds up your pruned and fallen branches, one day a month they collect old furniture...even the apartments dispose of large objects left near the dumpster...I don't see much trash dumped in the WMA either....unlike what I see in the Poconos...

We run a garbage disposal business.
One of our customers had some one dumping in their dumpster so they staked it out and caught her. The NICELY asked her to stop doing it and she told them off. So they called the cops and took her to court.
The court awarded them them montly rental on the dumpster going back to her last receipt for garbage service.....60 + MONTHS!

Weird thing she isnt poor and wrote them a check for it in court. Makes ya wonder huh?

That's like sayinig " I only stole a little bit"

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Kind of like a doctor's wife I know. Shoplifted all of the time and she sure didn't have to. Poor husband was always running around town making things right. Anyone else would have been in jail (and divorced!).

Yeah. So there.

Before I would take anything from anyone's personal pile of trash, I always stop and ask. You never know when the bike (or whatever) leaning up against the pile was inteded as garbage or if it's just where the kid happened to leave it.

John, regarding your question about the hauling company "stealing" the money when there is unused space in the dumpster, I would imagine that it is spelled out in the contract that the consumer is either paying by weight or the volume of the dumpster. If it is by volume of the dumpster and they don't fill it, it isn't the fault of the company doing the hauling, so I don't think it qualifies as stealing.

To me, it's similar to insurance. You pay for the potential to use it. If you don't use the service, as much as you might like to think it's the case, the insurance company didn't steal your money.

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Anne
Give me a sweet home set among the trees,
With friends whose words are ever kind and true.
-Phoebe Carey-

LONE PINE FARM
Barnesville, PA
Boer goats, Angora goats, Eclectic mix of poultry

You don't pay for a "full load"
You pay to rent the dumpster, and to have it emptied on a regular basis.
The amount inside isn't a factor in the amount you pay

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