One mans trash . . .

[Gold Winger]

People in my area tend to throw out perfectly good stuff like laser printers, big screen TVs, dining room sets, etc. .

 

A friend owns an antique store so I keep my eyes open for good stuff as I drive around.

 

The other day, I spotted a house with what appeared to be a bunch of nice maple furniture sitting on the curb. Evidently the owners had moved to an assisted living facility and the kids were clearing out the house. Unfortunately, they hadn't treated anything with care. Beautiful 1940's vintage bedroom furniture had just been thrown to the curb and was broken. :-( There was a barrel full of broken glassware and plates, looked as if they just flung every item into the barrel.

 

However, sitting ontop of the pile of broken crockery was a solitary coffee mug. I picked it up and took it home. It is a mug from an area camp that no longer exists. It is obviously well used but unchipped and the embelem is still intact.

 

It's sitting on my Scout mug shelf now. I won't use it but I will look at it and wonder about the Scout or Scouter who brought it home from camp and what memories may be embedded in the ceramic of that old mug.

 

********

 

For some really strange reason I couldn't post this message when the title included "man's" with the apostrophe. So I had to remove the apostrophe. Very strange.(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

[insanescouter]

Its amazing what one can find if you just open your eyes. I managed to drastically improve a place I was living with just stuff I found trash diving ... Good thing Scouting taught us to be Thrifty and to recycle ...

 

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

Helping leaders one resource at a time....

[allangr1024]

One day I was looking thru the salvation army thrift store and found a prize.

 

I was the leader of the last Philmont trip, and was wondering how I was going to afford the gear my son and I needed. Finances were fearfully low. At the thrift store I found a pair of Asolo boots that had been worn a few time, and were badly scratched on the outside. They looked bad. I tried them on, and they fit me perfectly. The souls showed they had not been worn much. And best of all the price: five dollars. I wore these for the 10 day Philmont trek, the 3 practice treks and 5 day hikes we had in preparation, and 3 weekend backpacking treks since with the troop. I still am floored by my find.

 

 

[Gold Winger]

Gee, I thought that I had found a bargain with my $99 Asolo boots. That's incredible.

[kraut-60]

I can claim the best boot deal so far here. A pair of mens size 8.5 Vasque hiking boots that were nearly unused for the princely sum of $1.50 at a yard sale. No. 1 son fits them well for now and uses them a lot...but I doubt he'll still fit 'em when we hit Philmomt in '09. I guess we'll find a scout to use them when he out grows them.

[GernBlansten]

I thought I hit the Philmont jackpot when an ASM gave my son a pair of very nice boots that fit him perfectly. He did all the prep hikes in them with no problems. 3 weeks before the trek, he grew out of them. Luckily, he became the same size as me so I went to REI and bought a real nice pair of boots for me and let him break them in at Philmont. He has grown out of them now and I have a very nice set of broken in quality boots. HoooRAH!

[Eamonn]

One mans trash . . .

Another mans infection!!

I don't think I'd take the risk of wearing shoes that others have worn.

How do you clean the inside of a pair of boots?

Removing things set out on the curb, without the permission of the owner?

I wonder if this might be considered stealing?

Just because it's there really doesn't give someone the right to remove it and lay claim to ownership of it.

I would hope that people would ask the owner before they remove anything.

Eamonn.

[Gold Winger]

I don't know about other jurisdictions but around here, if it's on the curb on trash night, it's fair game.

 

One place that I lived, the county tried to argue that all stuff on the curb belonged to them since they provided trash pick-up. The judge said that was silly.

[GernBlansten]

Eamonn,

Ever go bowling?

[Pack378]

Eamonn........

 

Once it hits the curb it is fair game!!!! In the state of Louisiana 5 foot from the street is public property. So no it is not stealing.... Personally I use freecycle a lot. I try to leave stuff on the curb in best condition that I can because I would rather someone take it and use it rather ending up in a landfill.

 

My best haul.... A North Face backpack that retails for 500 bucks. All it needed was a little cleaning and some tears sewn up...

[insanescouter]

Here is Nevada, same thing on if with the garbage on garbage night at the curb its fair game ... I have had cops drive by see what I was up to smile, wave, and keep on driving... I think my best hauls were a perfectly good treadmill, a reasonably good couch, mess load of good folding chairs, and a table top (had the legs needed the top) .... dumpster / trash diving is great way to stock a house when on a fixed budget...

 

as a kid I once picked up a large addition to my HO Train stuff ... around $125-$150 dollars worth of train gear (cars, locomotive, track, buildings, board, etc) for like $15 - of course at that time that was like 2 or 3 weeks allowance ...

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

Helping leaders one resource at a time....

[GernBlansten]

I don't know the local ordinances here, but when people put things on the curb, they will put a sign "FREE" on it. Usually gone by the next morning, the stuff not the sign. I've recycled several computer monitors and TVs this way.

[FScouter]

Of course you heard about the guy that had a usable sofa he wanted to get rid of. He put it out on the curb with a sign "FREE". After several days no one had taken advantage of the offer. So he put out a different sign "USED SOFA, $25, INQUIRE WITHIN". It was gone the next morning.

[Eamonn]

From what I have read, which isn't a lot!

Ownership of Trash seems to fall into a legal "No mans land".

Police who have gone through someones garbage looking for evidence have been accused of violating defendants Fourth Amendment Rights.

While I'm sure that the Dumpster Divers we have in the forum are not the type that go through peoples garbage and leave a big mess. It does happen at times.

Of course where the trash is placed is a big consideration, going on to someones property to go through the trash might be an act of trespass.

In these days of identity theft, going through someone else's trash might not seem as harmless as maybe it once was. At home now we take great care to shred all papers that might provide this sort of information.

I still think asking the owner for permission is the best way to go.

Our Township has two days a year where you can place big items out for collection. There is a list of what they will and will not take. One year we found someone trying to load up our old picnic table!! Even through it was in the back yard and no where near the stuff we had put out for collection.

Eamonn.

[Pack378]

I don't condone going through somebody's trash but if it's not in a bag or trash can it's fair game