Why I Love Dumpster Diving, Garbage Picking, and Other People's Trash
A few days ago, I stepped into the alley behind my apartment and beheld a wonderful sight: a pristine, white dish drainer sitting atop my neighbors' garbage can.Heck yeah! This was a clear message from my neighbors. It read, "Hey everyone. I'm throwing this thing away, but it's in perfect condition, and I know one of you will want it."
They were right.
Immediately, my natural instinct to acquire perfectly usable stuff that other people are throwing away took over. I snagged the drainer and brought it back to my house, where it joined all the other things I've gained from garbage picking.
As I stowed my new-to-me contraption away, I happily thought, "How perfect! I really needed a dish drainer." (I'm moving to a cozy new apartment on July 1. The place doesn't include roommates with useful kitchen gadgets.)
Yep, because of my find, I was enjoying a nice little high--like the one you get when you chance upon a dollar bill on the ground.
But then all of the sudden my high started to wear off. And I got annoyed.
I got annoyed because people look down so much on dumpster diving. They think it's gross and dirty, but what these narrow-minded people don't understand is that it almost never is.
Just like my neighbors, many people leave the "good stuff" outside their garbage cans, making it clean and easy to grab things. That means you don't have to do anything untoward, yet you still get to enjoy all the benefits:
- You prevent the pollution and resource waste that results from making new products
- You divert "good stuff" from landfills
- You get cool shit for free!
Below are pictures of things that were all once trashed. They are now my treasures. I hope they'll inspire you to do a little alley hunting yourself and to always leave your "good stuff" on top of your garbage can.
Isn't my coffee table gorgeous?
I keep this chair on my back porch.
I potted an aloe in a pretty dish I happened upon.
This antique wooden crate was a true find.
Comments
I'm in the middle of moving and I'm currently obsessed with Freecycle. Every single thing I've posted has gone very quickly, with the exception of a giant bag of takeout containers. But they still went eventually! I'd much rather do this than put things in the trash if I can help it.
Now, what do I do with all of the bottles and jars of over-the-counter remedies that I used a tiny bit of and now I don't need? Drag them across the country...?
In terms of alley shopping myself, however, I once roamed miles and miles of alley trying to find stuff--to no avail. How do you find stuff without spending hours in alleys?
I just googled "freecycle cleveland", & found our city's page (ours is on Yahoo Groups).
Carrick, try going the day before garbage pickup, and maybe try a student neighbourhood (they might be less likely to dispose of things properly). It could be that people in your neighbourhood/city do things the responsible way, which is good, but not for dumpster diving.
Your post brought to mind a short piece by Lars Eighner titled "On Dumpster Diving" that I read for a literature course several years ago. It's an interesting read - check it out if you have the chance: http://www1.broward.edu/~nplakcy/docs/dumpster_diving.htm
Also, I love the blog - great work!
I donate or freecycle everything! It's not that hard. With freecycle you don't even have to take the items somewhere.
My apartment is probably 80% stocked with dumpster/street, Craigslist (Free section) and Freecycle finds. Our bed, clotheswasher, couch, bookshelves, area rugs, tables, desk, chairs, armoire, and fishtank were all found for free. So were many of our clothes, dishes, plants, and art. We're always finding all this awesome stuff that we wish we had room for, too.
I've kind of gotten to the point where I'm astounded when I hear that someone I know bought something new, when I know they could have found something very similar for free or very cheap secondhand. It just makes me feel like they're suckers, honestly.
I wrote an article about this too....
http://theinformedbeing.blogspot.com/
I agree- I do get annoyed when I see perfectly good things thrown out. Perhaps if people had to actually make a trip to the landfill and see how their trash doesn't really ever go 'away' it would make them think twice... maybe. :)
Glad to have found your blog (from greenspell.wordpress.com) :)
in my last flat in london we had a computer chair, a TV and DVD player all from freecycle and we left them there when we moved out.
if you no longer use it, pass it on! less trash & more cash for other people :)
My husband often comes home with things he has found curbside the night before garbage pickup. A lamp, suitcases, chairs, televisions and more. You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure :)
http://dumpsterdivetreasures.blogspot.com/
George Carlin did a funny comedy routine about “stuff”, and how we need to get a bigger place to put all of our “stuff”. Before going and buying more, which is the American way, perhaps we can think about what we can do without?!
One of the greatest ways of feeling like you’re getting new “stuff” without creating a need to produce new “stuff” is to use Craig’s List, or Freecycle. Both of these free services keep tons of “stuff” out of landfills, AND SAVE RESOURCES because we are reusing a product that has already been created.
Do you want a new look in your house? Why not sell your things and or trade using Craig’s list. You’ll have “new” stuff, but it won’t contribute to the depletion of the environment!
So, remember, we don’t NEED a lot of stuff - think before you buy something that’s essentially depleting the limited resources of our planet! I'm www.SustainableBags.NET. Although we don’t sell used bags, we are still doing our best to limit the manufacturing of excess plastic bags by encouraging the use of reusable bags. Once you have these, they will last for years. Think of all the plastic bags you will NOT have used! Less STUFF in the landfills!
I got a kickin' pair of summer shoes from it last week - and gave away some kid clothes.
My fantastic rocker on my front porch is from the curb - and I'm happy to find things when I can.
I am one of those people who winces when I hear "dumpster diving." Let me tell you the two main reasons:
One is the fact that I feel I should do it (and more thrift shopping, etc) but am so overwhelmed by it. I often want something particular and get very frustrated at the idea of having to "keep an eye out" (assuming I can even remember at any given time), and return time and again to the Goodwill/drive up and down streets randomly looking for what I need. So that's partly impatience on my part, which is obviously not a good thing.
The second reason I wince is because I have relatives (and I have this tendency myself, which makes it doubly scary) who are huge packrats (by which I mean - has an (extra) house completely full of stuff - you can't walk in there) who are completely addicted to dumpster diving - in the most literal sense, as well as the "pick it up where someone has obviously left it to be used by others" sense. And so I wince because I recognize that hoarding tendency in myself as well, and while I hate the waste of perfectly good things going to the dump, I also don't want my house to become the dump. (That's no doubt a "need to reduce" problem, and a personal issue for me, not necessarily a problem with dumpster diving per se.)
Thanks for keeping this blog!
S. of www.academichic.com
-Land Source Container Service, Inc.