Dumpster Diving

Discussion in 'Living on the Earth' started by scarlettchasingroses, Jan 19, 2009.

  1. scarlettchasingroses

    scarlettchasingroses strawberry tart

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    thank you all for keeping this thread going... i'm LOVING all the responses.... :)
     
  2. Natures Love Child

    Natures Love Child Member

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    Wasn't able to make it tonight. Dad took me for dinner, was content with that.
     
  3. fuzzygreen

    fuzzygreen Member

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    I love dumpster diving, haven't done it in a few years though. This thread is inspirational! :O)

    Trader Joe's was a great place to dumpster dive when I was into it. They throw away stuff for really silly reasons, like a ripped or stained label. I even found a nice bottle of wine with a ripped label once. And a lot of their vegetables are very packaged (bad for the environment, but keeps them nice and clean for dumpster diving).
     
  4. yonosoymedico

    yonosoymedico Member

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    yeah, it is a fun time.. i wouldnt worry about the time of day, most people wont really worry about a person walking around looking into dumpsters..BUT if you have a HUGE find that may take a while you might want to be a lil more stealthy about it... I used to work near a liquor store and they'd throw away skunked beer on wednesdays, about 90% was fine to drink after fridging it, most of the others probably tasted like shit anyway...so i always made good on it....

    and I dunno if its any use to anyone but blockbusters throw away like 100-300 empty dvd cases a week...if you have some art project in mind or something id hit that up

    good divin!
     
  5. doghairshirt

    doghairshirt Member

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    Aw man this is a great thread. Most of the furniture in my house was found either on the side of the street or alongside a dumpster. I honestly don't think we've paid for any furniture except for our futon!
    I've had some great dumpster finds: 2 eddie bauer sleeping bags in perfect shape, my snare drum ( I spent $6 on new snare cable and viola, all fixed!), 2 dog harnesses for our pups, sheesh, lots of things!
     
  6. Piney

    Piney Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    My neighbor works a moving van company. People always gift him old furniture. He is constantly re-decorating and doesnt need to be too careful with his stuff cause new items always come along.

    We have a monthly curbside trash day here. plenty of good stuff on the curb.
     
  7. la Principessa

    la Principessa Old School HF Member

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    i dont really dumpster dive but my sister got a bike from a dumpster (perfectly good too!) and a gumball machine that we rubbed down with alcohol to make sure it was clean. lol
     
  8. Venatrix

    Venatrix Member

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    I got a video camera from a dumpster the other day, although I've never really gone dumpster diving. I want to start--my friend got a laptop from a dumpster once.
     
  9. Spookytheferret

    Spookytheferret Member

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    Once you get over the fact that it's out of a dumpster - it's just food.
    I've found tonnes of good food out of dumpstas, not to mention art supplies, some home decor, and one time a new George Foreman Grille.
    And when I get too much food from a dumpster that I can't eat it all myself, I cook it up and give it away at Food Not Bombs. And if any of yaz don't kow what that is, it's an anarchist /freegan organization who give out free food in major cities to anybody who wants it - yet most participants tend to be homeless.
    http://www.foodnotbombs.net/
     
  10. mastercylinder

    mastercylinder Banned

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    heres a fucked up story---i knew a guy who they called maggot mike---never knew what that ment till i was eating a pizza with him and he said it came out the dumpster---hell i always ate pizza with him cas i liked pizza but i never knew it came from the dumpster--lol---we used to dumpster dive at a place called glass head--it was all bongs pipes and shit with small flaws--we made futuristic smoking shit with that stuff
     
  11. dabla

    dabla Member

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    Ive been dumpster diving ever since I can remember. Never for food though, ive always lived in rural areas. But ive found some really cool stuff, once a solid quartz jewelry box when i was 8. I gave it to my mom lol. Idk if I'd ever eat food from a dumpster though.

    Where I live now there are signs warning of fines for "stealing" garbage. Is it like that in most places? The sheriffs office even put up nigh vision cameras to watch the green boxes once, but somebody stole those to lol.

    Might just be because people around here like to take stuff out and shoot it, then just leave it lying there. There are some really fun targets in there sometimes. At least I put the stuff i shoot back in the trash though...most of it;)
     
  12. Carlfloydfan

    Carlfloydfan Travel lover

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    I had a room mate who introduced me.

    Most of the time, the food we get is in a plastic bag in a dumpster without much else in it. The food is in a bag and was put in the dumpster hours ago, how can it be bad??? The food is perfectly fine. We would get day old bread a lot of the time. MMMM, baguettes and croissants!
     
  13. Spirit Wynd

    Spirit Wynd Member

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    Hey everyone, I came across something called "Freegan" which are basically people who refuse to conform to the system and use other methods and spend little or no money to live... here's a link for dumpster diving.
    How to be a freegan | eHow.com

    Just search the web for Freegan living for more info.

    Hope this helps... peace all.
     
  14. Spookytheferret

    Spookytheferret Member

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    i dunno about ehow...but i'm a freegan, and i believe freeganism has been mentioned a few times in this thread before, right on. freegans are like the revolutionary unseen punk vermin of the city; crawling behind dumpsters, scavenging for food, stealing from the rich...it's all very exciting.
     
  15. Sugarmagnolia_

    Sugarmagnolia_ member

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    That would be pretty cool.

    And yea, we do throw out way too mcuh food for no reason.
     
  16. bubbler211

    bubbler211 Member

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    i was watching this show that was taking a look at what Las Vegas does with
    the buffet leftovers they have. they basically throw everything in a giant steel vat and heat it up enought to kill the bad germs,then for the most part it is fed to some of the local swines,pigs americas best recyclers he hehe
     
  17. sayoni

    sayoni Guest

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    that´s why my friend can´t stand hippies. the content of the label doesn´t match the inner being. "gross?" a person who loves this earth and has solidarity with the less fortunate in this world, should respect people like scarlettchasingroses. throwing away tons of edible food is "gross."
     
  18. SandDollar

    SandDollar Member

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    I agree.. one of the reasons why I went carnivore from the vegan lifestyle I was raised was I'd see so much food being thrown away. What's worse, a chicken got slaughtered for food or the fact that 20 of those chickens are in the trash cause nobody ate em and they went bad? Justify that you vegans...:)

    I recently acquired a dumpster key for Amerikan Locks. It's my holy grail of items now... found on top of a dumpster that someone locked up and forgot to grab. Most dumpsters that are locked use Amerikan Locks as their lock, and well... this key has been fail-proof on all the locks I've been in to.. even trash compactors, though that was just for shits and giggles. I got a couple copies of it to trade or hand out at Nationals this year...

    Oh, also.. a little good law to post, which I don't think has been mentioned. Don't go digging in CVS, Wal-greens, or those sorts of dumpsters.. being the fact that their main purpose is the pharmacy, and it's a felony to go into a pharmacy's dumpster, even if you're not looking for thrown out pills. A good friend of mine is sitting with a nice fine and possibly probation due to the fact he wanted a few candy bars and a shitload of chips. And I thought it was law that pharmacy's burn their expired pills...
     
  19. cherryberry

    cherryberry Member

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    My son used to work at a Dollar General store .He would call me on the days they threw merchandise out .Sometimes ,they would throw stuff out that just had a damaged box .I got a blow-dryer ,clocks ,baby clothes ,a box fan ,spices ,towels just oodles of stuff .Also, my hubby works for our county road dept. and every year we have a bulky item pickup .He has brought home a persian rug , an antique copper tea set , a 1976 edition set of stone wine goblets ,an old vintage record player ,numerous hard cover books and on and on .He also collects scrap metal and makes about 1000.00 a year off recycling it .I have also went to our local produce market and have gotten loads of veggies and fruits that they set out .Anything we didn't eat we fed our hogs who loved it .There should be no shame in doing these things .To me , it is a worse shame that these kind of things are thrown away instead of going to those in need .
     
  20. melo85

    melo85 Guest

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    I love dipping! I've gotten many clothing items (which I wash before wearing for obvious reasons) I do eat food from dumpsters but only packaged non perishable items and produce that isn't too far off it's prime. NEVER eat meat from a dumpster (if you are a meat eater that is) bread items are generally safe (again if packaged in some way.) And don't forget coupons! So many people throw away coupons that you can use when you do need to buy something at the grocery store. By using coupons we get from dipping, my hubby and I have a monthly food bill of around 15 dollars :)
     

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