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This was the first time I went looking for dumpsters in my city and most of them are gated off with 10+ foot walls around them. What's the world coming to when they lock up garbage? So whatever my next plan is to look on google maps for dumpsters instead of driving around wasting gas. Using billion dollar satellite technology to look for dumpsters, how ironic. Any other ideas?
Too many people dumping their personal trash in them. That and people getting injured digging in them and suing the place that is renting/owns the dumpster.
Oh I see. People sue for the dumbest things haha. Too bad though I could make a hellovalottamoney from those dumpsters. :)
My observation around here is they lock them down because........
1. people strewing trash all over the place getting stuff out of them.
2. the people that have the dumpster are hiding what they are throwing away.
3. aesthetics value.
Apartments hate dumpster divers and a lot of businesses will padlock their dumpsters, they have to pay to have it picked up and don't want other people using them. You should ask the auto parts stores in your area if you can check their dumpsters for recyclables. The worst they can do is say no. They may be happy to let you. I haven't been scrapping long and I'm still a little uncomfortable jumping in dumpsters but I've heard you can make hellamoney. I have jumped in a few and almost always find something good. Don't give up!
I've seen them locked also and aesthetics plays a role also like dollar says
I do not get in the dumpsters, nooo waaay, I use a broken fishing pole with 3or4 wire hangers tapped together to make a hook on the end, works quite well. Also, a time or two I have done the balancing act over the side, but just haven't had a big incentive to physically get in to the dumpsters. Okay, the real truth is that I am just scared of getting stuck inside the darn things. :)
Headline Flash: COMING SOON TO A AREA NEAR YOU!! Township -and- City Ordnance's & actual Laws that will make it Illegal to dumpster Dive -and- Garbage pick.
Many Towns and Cities have already created laws against Garbage picking, My hometown is a prime example: 2- years ago City & Township Ordinances were created and passed by a over-overwhelmingly vote and within 3-months of the laws enactment the police were actively catching and ticketing people for curb-side garbage picking.
In my area it all first came about when there was a spike in scrapping, the police and city hall received hundreds of complaints per month. Many of the complaints were about garbage pickers making a mess, but many of the complaints were not about the mess factor, the police department even files complaints or reports to the city hall citing that they were either witnessing themselves and/or receiving reports about pickers racing around town from house to house and in many cases there were multiple groups of auto's zooming all around in attempts to beat the other guys thus creating safety issues. Of course at the town hall meetings the police would reveal the worse cases involving mom and dads with small children in the vehicles while they zoomed around town trying to beat out the other garbage pickers etc.
The four main type of complaints were as follows:
(1) Safety Issues on public and private lands or road-ways & streets
(2) Homeowner complaining about strange vehicles and people or Riff raff in the area or Neighborhoods
(3) The Garbage Pickers were leaving terrible messes in many cases
(4) People were worried about their privacy being broken and Pickers obtaining their personal information, old mail, banking statements etc.
I was surprised myself when I heard that although the making a mess factor was big, it was not the main factor for enacting the new laws. The biggest area of concern was number 4. and 1. but as far as the residents they were most bothered by a breach of privacy and strange cars and people in the neighborhoods, they referred to it as the riff raff factor.
Now myself, well I have mixed feelings about it , on one hand I cant stand to see perfectly good things go to waste when other people can use the items. Yet it's really important to respect thy neighbor and their privacy and property.
There is a video I just watched on the forum that relates to picking, as I watched while these people drove up to a home curb-side and apparently they had just been there earlier and they were going back for more, “and that’s all good” but the first thing I noticed as they drove up to this residence was all these boxes and debris all scattered around. I thought it looked terrible, and I thought to myself, wow..... those poor homeowners, Wow what can you say?
So I'm kinda torn, although I don’t do the diving or garbage picking thing, there was a time some years ago when I would approach a homeowner and ask if I could grab this or that, but I would then make sure that I didn’t ever leave anything in messy disarray.
Oh by the way, the old argument about not wanting to see this or that get buried in some land-fill, you see it in peoples ad's quite often, Well now days that argument is quickly countered by the fact that the vast majority of waste managements are now mandated to go through and recycle anything that can be recycled. Even if a garbage truck / recycling truck picks it up, it's eventually sorted out and the recyclables are taken out and recycled.
Lol! And I love the idea of using a fishing pole and hangers!!
Not here. As soon as it comes off the truck the dozer buries it. Rather unfortunate as I see a lot of salvageable/scrap items.Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenTruckR
As for the ordinances enacted in your area, it goes back to a few making the rest of us look bad. Really irritates me.
Well thats why I wrote the majority. There are still many communities and area's that are not fully inundated into the recycling process. But thats a good point you brought up Idahoscrapper.
I wonder if anyone could start up a service, call it 'SkipBusters'.
Where you get into the skip, remove whats recycleable & restack the rest of the waste so they can fit more waste in the bin.
That'd save them a few $$ & give them more space to dump more rubbish in.
I know I got into a full waste bin once, from a shop refit, ended up with heaps of 150watt Metal halide bulbs & ballasts, flouro transformers, copper wire, wood & metal & odd stuff.
I sorted & repiled it all, gave the bin 'hungry sides' & by then it was only 1/3rd full.
No idea what hungry sides are, nor do I have a desire to stack trash in a dumpster. Then again I suppose it could be a life size game of Tetris, trying to get it all to fit just so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eesakiwi
:confused:
If its a 'Service' you can get permission to get in there, get the keys to the dumpsters & save the owners $$ while you get first & only access to the rubbish.Quote:
Originally Posted by injunjoe
'Hungry sides', sliding sheets of waste vertically down the sides of the skip to increase the amount of waste that can be put in the skip.
Stops stuff sliding off the top of the skip when its in transport too.
I did a few skips like that for a while, got lots of metal halide bulbs & ballasts, flouro ballasts, mirrors, copper cable, metal shelving & odd metal, fiberglass (rockwool) insulation (heaps & heaps of it) wood offcuts, partly full contact glue tubes, TV's, plumbing, etc etc.
Most of the time the skip was over full & afterwards it was 1/2 empty.
nothing fancy, but it does the job:)Quote:
Originally Posted by newattitude
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...achine/003.jpg
Captain HookQuote:
Originally Posted by scrapdollar
They will have to lock in the long run
reasons being
They put to trash so many good working items or good food they can't have to many people catching on to this. I find working TVs computers Vac's and more in curb trash
Stores have NEW trash. I can't let the cat out the bag, but I also have a few store spots & it sure is real. All in All what a waste. Just as we pay for store theft , We also must pay for what is in the trash . It's gota be a part of the bottom line. Since we are already paying forward the trash loss it really is ours any way. Long Live DD
Local governments often pass laws and ordinances that may not stand up to legal challenges. It seems that if it's littering or tresspassing they are concerned about- then that is what they should be prosecuting.
The problem is that people who trash pick and scrap are considered lower class by these officials and therefore are not politically threatening. People like us do not have lobbies that work for us or really any kind of public voice. In their rush to look like they are doing something, they feel safe walking all over the likes of us.
In Cincinnati, council is working on an ordinance that would require anyone selling scrap to be licensed, it would also require scrap yards to pay for metal with checks. What other businesses have to pay their vendors with checks? Is that legal? What about pawn shops and scrap gold outfits? Like nothing stolen ever is sold there. I really don't see how that would stand up to a legal challenge - cash is legal tender - how can you ban it? They won't mess with pawnshops though. Middle class people use pawn shops and cash for gold places. People they don't want to rattle.
Somehow, we need to come up with a voice - a loud one.
Btw, a garden hoe is also good for getting stuff out of dumpsters.
Very well put scrappette. I tend to believe that's the bottom line, or at least a good part of it.