TIP to scrappers- DO NOT rip into peoples garbage bags!

I have been a recycler for 26 years!

Today was my trash day. I set out all of my normal weekly household trash.

I awoke this morning to my lids on my cans tossed on the ground and all of my cans had been rifled through. Not only that- they RIPPED OPEN every single bag that I had either on the curb or in the cans- hunting for "whatever"

My lawn clipping bag was ripped open, my household trash bags were ripped into and they put items from one can into another while they buried their heads to the bottom of my cans looking for a score!

Being a recycler for as long as I have this made me FURIOUS! People need to have some respect! I mean come on- hunt the stuff sitting on the ground, see a piece of metal sitting on top of the cans- but really- digging into every can and ripping open bags hoping I was dumb enough to throw out my stash of gold bullion? Give me a break!

Next week I'll be putting every nugget of my St. Bernards "deposits" into each and every bag hoping they come back!

This happens to my trash also.

I said it in another post about plastic dishwasher tub out front and this guy looks at it durring the day and comes back at night thinking that the steel, wires, motor ect are in the garbage can. This is one example.

One night i went out there to confront him. Said there is no scrap in the can. You can have whatever is outside of it but i dont want you looking in my garbage can.

He said "we will see. im looking for metal."

I said im calling the police and he bursts out "If your garbage can is on the curb its public property."

I said no its not, and then said brown jeep with head light out, liscenes plate # out loud. He left in a hurry and that took care of it for a few months. Now hes back again. These tweekers give us bad names as scrappers. Im sure he is one of the tv bashers as well.
-end of rant-

I know what he was after last night.
After I sorted that huge bunch of boxes of transistor and electrolytic load that I got in last week- I took anything of value and have it set to scrap by whatever means is most profitable. The rest of it was worthless stuff- all had metal wire, no PM value in it- and it is so old that chances are they have gone "bad" anyways.

I tossed a bunch of that in one of the cans last night and he probably thought he found a goldmine of stuff- so once he found that- he figured "there must be more" so tearing he went!

I told my wife "I wish I had a camera that aimed at the street" so that I could see who he was. This is a small town- I would have found his sorry arse and told him to bugger off!
As I said- Next week I will fill bags on the top (where he rips) with Dog $hit.

With that being said- early in my career I did my fair share of "Curbco" shopping too- but I NEVER opened peoples cans, ripped into their bags and left a mess. I'd really like to throat-punch this scumbag!

punch him in the face!

We were young 19 20 year olds a lady always went thru the garbage can to get out all our beer cans. Well we had just come back from fishing on Sunday well when she opened up the can with 20 trout heads and guts that sat out in the hot garbage can until Tuesday AM, that was it did not come around here no more!

up here in gooberville I had a similar problem with my regular household garbage bags being torn open in the can and inspected. this was being done by the workers on the garbage truck itself and they were playing recycle police.

on more than one occasion something was either left on the curb or tossed back into the empty barrel that they deemed should be in the recycle collection.

my cure for this behavior was very effective. my 133 pound german shepherd was pleased to offer all of his backyard landmines scooped and dumped directly on top of the last household scraps and the bag was securely twisted and taped shut like always.

being at work I was unable to witness the reaction but NEVER had another problem with the junior detectives or trash left in my barrel.

I would fill a VCR with the poop, cut the cord and place it inside your can. This would be great if the guy was scrapping in a car. I agree ripping open the bags is not cool, and they are too stupid to realize they should not leave a mess. I scrapped a computer that I had found that the people dumped the cat litter box on top of LOL It had the memory and CPU in it LOL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sledge

I have been a recycler for 26 years!

Today was my trash day. I set out all of my normal weekly household trash.

I awoke this morning to my lids on my cans tossed on the ground and all of my cans had been rifled through. Not only that- they RIPPED OPEN every single bag that I had either on the curb or in the cans- hunting for "whatever"

My lawn clipping bag was ripped open, my household trash bags were ripped into and they put items from one can into another while they buried their heads to the bottom of my cans looking for a score!

Being a recycler for as long as I have this made me FURIOUS! People need to have some respect! I mean come on- hunt the stuff sitting on the ground, see a piece of metal sitting on top of the cans- but really- digging into every can and ripping open bags hoping I was dumb enough to throw out my stash of gold bullion? Give me a break!

Next week I'll be putting every nugget of my St. Bernards "deposits" into each and every bag hoping they come back!

---

lol omg yeah go for it=) i agree going through someones trash and tearing bags open is bad for us all. but looking in the bin if anything is on top and not digging through it is fine i think if your not making a mess. we want to clean the environment not add to the mess and not to mention animals eat plastic and die=( i dont look inside bags if its sticking out and its metal or electrical its good.

Mike1:
For sure we are all trying to help the environment by what we do in regards to recycling. I just think "How desperate are you to have to rip and tear into garbage bags- HOPING to find something?"
As a recycler- and a pretty darn good one- it was a waste of his time. If there is $ to be made off something. Sledge has already made it.. and what is on my curb.. is literally.. trash!

He may make a few bucks off the resistors that he found in my trash, I doubt it highly- because I researched and checked ebay listings, basically ran the gamut if they were worth anything. My personal stance- if you had a bag of 100 and just 1 was bad- on ebay- guess what- you are refunding the entire amount back to the buyer, you lose product, you lost shipping, you are actually "in the hole" now. Wasn't worth the risk for me.

Took the copper and tantalum and pitched the rest!
:)

I could take pics that would make you cry like that Indian dude on those commercials back in the 70s.

Tweakers (I refuse to call them "scrappers") around here will rip into trash bags & basically make a huge freakin mess anytime there's curb trash pickup.

I WILL NOT dig into a curbed pile unless I can and will leave the pile in neater condition than I found it.

This deserves a not just a face palm, but an epic one...an of course it's directed to the trash bag ripper.

http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/up...tivational.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E08WPgZhfW...255b1_255d.jpg



Stupidity and..well...we're a family friendly forum I'm told so I'll filter myself, and end with...the gift that keeps on giving. ;)

*note this day, I used a filter, it won't happen again for a good long time.


Sirscrapalot - Just...wow..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sledge

Mike1:
For sure we are all trying to help the environment by what we do in regards to recycling. I just think "How desperate are you to have to rip and tear into garbage bags- HOPING to find something?"
As a recycler- and a pretty darn good one- it was a waste of his time. If there is $ to be made off something. Sledge has already made it.. and what is on my curb.. is literally.. trash!

He may make a few bucks off the resistors that he found in my trash, I doubt it highly- because I researched and checked ebay listings, basically ran the gamut if they were worth anything. My personal stance- if you had a bag of 100 and just 1 was bad- on ebay- guess what- you are refunding the entire amount back to the buyer, you lose product, you lost shipping, you are actually "in the hole" now. Wasn't worth the risk for me.

Took the copper and tantalum and pitched the rest!
:)

---

yeah agreed though i dont know about tantalum i hear you have to have lots of it though. me ill just stick with what i know the copper/heat sinks/transformers but my yard does not take the boards so i just toss em in recycle bucket maybe i should save them and someone will buy em.

I just sent off my first load of tantalum to the buyer here on the forum. Along with what I found in this "lot" I got recently, I sent off every piece of SMD (The small yellow and black rectangles) that I have every gotten off a board (3 years worth)
Figured the time was right!
;)

If you are seeking a board buyer- we have a reaaaallly good one here on the forum. Pretty simple process too. Head to his site, register, box your goodies, get a pre-paid label, ship, wait for sort and get a check or Paypal.

Confession: or two confessions. I dig out of peoples trash cans. But nobody knows because I am careful to make certain that I do not leave a **** mess. Confessions number 2. People would come around our place as a teenager and look in the trashcans. I did what any antsy self respecting and questionable teen would do on a farm. Hide in a tree and shoot them with a bb gun. (no one was ever seriosuly hurt I aimed for their bodies not their faces.) Got in quite a bit of trouble, but strangely I think it was worth it. Makes a funny story. ha maybe I should quit being a scrapper and become a trash can gaurd. Should be interesting.

Dude. DANG! Just shoot up the neighborhood next! Geez. But I see your point. I knew kids when I lived in VA that would do that. Never got shot at myself, but have been stopped by police twice. Both times I showed them what I was doing. When they saw my car and found what I was doing, they really did just say "You're all good. Have a good day, son," and left. No questions asked. Apparently it was just concerned neighbors who didn't know scrapping was a thing in the neighborhood. I liked my area in VA. A relatively new and expensive neighborhood, so lots of good things to pick from. House count as just over 1300 homes. I could cover every street and house/apartment in about 3 hours walking with my hand truck. I only took that at the time, partly because I didn't drive yet, but also because there was never enough on one night to make it worth taking a car. Anyway, the weather was almost always good, and it gave me exercise.

Agreed number one dumpster diving rule is dont make a mess.
However youve got to remember that there are many folks out there to whom your trash means the difference bewtween
money for eating and not.
Whats a plastic garbage back when it comes to that?
And people DO throw out some valuable stuff.
Thrift stores near us throw out brass silver plate etc regulalry.
This is only destined for landfill.