The Scavenger's Manifesto: Why Dumpster Diving Can Save You from Going Off the Deep End

Every time, the council points out that this rubbish
is council property. Each time, this is totally
ignored because it just makes sense for gleaners to
take what they can before the trucks come.

I got a picnic table and several drawers in good
condition (for underbed storage - guess I don't have
to buy plastic bins now!)

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The next step is making things and fixing/upgrading your own things and to get things that are fixable in case of breakdown. Which means your sort of have to expand to things that were designed before 1960 throwawayculture sets in. Which I did and today I drive nice Oldtimers everyday, play a saxophone from 1923 and design many more things with low carbon-footprint and multi-generational use.

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posted on a telephone pole in an alley, someone had written:

It's not garbage-picking
It's recycling!

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Next step: Scavenge re-usable items and donate them appropriately. In many areas, completely usable, sometimes even new "stuff" is thrown away only because the owner didn't have the patience/time/energy/initiative/whatever it took, to find an alternative. people throw out refrigerators because they have changed their kitchen colors.
We can be the missing step that diverts this "stuff" from the landfill, even if we don't "need" it ourselves

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Methinks the dumpsters are going to get crowded--and emptied out soon.

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Like the SPANKING brand new Jesse Steele hostess aprons we rescued from the top of a neighbor's rubbish--and sold on Ebay. Or the DVD players a friend got, or the frozen foods (still sealed and frozen). Three cheers, recycled for we who rescue plants and other items. Ah yes, my now 9 foot palm--I rescued when it was a one foot mess of a plant.

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if too many people do this the big corporations cannot pay millions to the CEO and the stockholders.

if to many people recycle we need no war for oil anymore.

anyway the Superrich always kept old things in the family and called it ANTIQUE

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I've seen where lately my local supermarket
is packaging good food that might be getting
a bit close to overriping on a special table
in the store on most days. If I get there
@ 9-10 a.m. I can buy bananas for 10 cents
a pound, tomatoes, red peppers, squash for 15
cents/pd, plus canned food with a torn label
for 75% discounted, etc. So many great
bargains for the early shoppers. Since I
ride a bike daily, a trip to the store doesn't
cost anything, so it's all "profit."

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Thanks for the pointers, and for dressing up the scavenger way of life as a lofty pro-environment philosophy. Now please tell us where Tarcher Press has its Dumpsters so we can "liberate" the damaged but legible copies of your "Manifesto."

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I have belonged to CamLETS ("Cam" for Cambridge, England) for over ten years. We write each other "cheques" for Cams, our currency, for goods and services. There are no penalties for being "in the red" though the idea is to keep your balance close to zero by both spending and earning. We have a standard rate of 10 Cams per hour for services regardless of what the service is. An hour of digging or oven cleaning is paid at the same rate as piano lessons or translating documents. We can sell goods at social and trading events, via an email service or in ads in our bi-monthly newsletter. See camlets.org.

Freecycle is newer and probably closer to the ethos of this article. It's a local internet-based system where people simply offer what they don't want to someone who wants it.

The 20th century was madness, by and large--much invention and much destruction. Let's hope for an outbreak of sanity in the 21st.

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Heirlooms, my good man, heirlooms. Rip Tragle

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In hard times dumpster diving will help balance your budget. It can save you lots of money in food and clothing costs. But most good things are not free. Some of the best dumpsters are controlled by gangs that charge you a fee for any of the goodies extracted. Even if this seems to be unfair you still get a bargain. A bag of twenty slightly spoiled donuts can cost you only 50 cents. Good winter coats can be purchased for only two bucks. If you are looking for low cost housing, there is nothing less expensive than living in a sleeping bag. A home next to a dumpster gives you the best of all worlds. Call it utopia.

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... it still astonishes me, the expensive stuff Americans buy and throw away. As if they don't have to work at jobs they grumble about, in order to have it. If I hadn't been rescuing almost-new shoes and such over the years, I would have a real problem right now.

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that I lost in the Tucson airport last month. It was warm, reversible, well-made with pockets, it fit, and I bought it for $12 at a local thrift shop, brand new. It can't be replaced by anything in the stores! When I was 19, my mother bought me a beautiful, hand-made wool coat for $2 -- I had more compliments on that coat than any since, even the ProSpirit. Great article, and thanks, tho I wonder, do you have a clutter problem?

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Charlie Rangle, Democrat, the New York congressman, is blocking Obama's plans to eliminate tax cuts for the rich. We need to speak out. Other Democrats are blocking healthcare reform, the capping of carbon emissions and making college affordable so we can compete in the world. These things are for us and we can't let lobbyists override the most important things on the table.
Call or email you senator. 202- 224 -3121 Electing Obama was not enough. We need to keep it up. These Democrats are still on the take from special interests and are sellling our nation down the drain in the midst of a depression.I live in New York and Rangel must go. We need people who will work for us. Not keep transferring our tax dollars to the rich.

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As they are spending i0 billion of our tax dollars for the Iraq war, Charlie Rangle, Democrat, the New York congressman, is blocking Obama's plans to eliminate tax cuts for the rich. We need to speak out. Other Democrats are blocking healthcare reform, the capping of carbon emissions and making college affordable so we can compete in the world. These things are for us and we can't let lobbyists override the most important things on the table.
Call or email you senator. 202- 224 -3121 Electing Obama was not enough. We need to keep it up. These Democrats are still on the take from special interests and are sellling our nation down the drain in the midst of a depression.I live in New York and Rangel must go. We need people who will work for us. Not keep transferring our tax dollars to the rich.

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What's missing in this Scavenger's Utopia is a conversation about why we need so much stuff at all. Consumer's houses are stuffed to the brim with crap from the mall, scavenger's houses are stuffed to the brim with crap from the trash. I'm all for freecycling, thrift store shopping etc, but does it really make a huge difference if we just move the obsession from buying new goods to scoring used ones?
How 'bout we take this one step further and just say "enough is enough" I simply don't need any more stuff!

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and thanks to him, we have 2 largish tvs, several armchairs and a huge coffeetable that we have kept, plus numerous items that have gone into garage sales. when he is home form university, we cruise the neighborhood pre-pickup on garbage days. we aren't alone - there is competition for the good stuff, which is heartening.

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Not only is free a good thing for all the points the author mentions, free is simply fun!!! Last week I went to the St. Pat's parade. I was right in front and the game became getting as many green beads as I can for my students. Now, I could have went to the party store and bought a ton for cheap. But it just wasn't as much fun as snagging them. I kept nothing for myself. The free Nestle ice cream bar sample went to people several rows behind with an explanation of what a unethical company Nestle was (I am really a fun person at a parade, I also thumbed down all MSM floats). I didn't even keep the nifty penlight key chains which were also saved for students. It was just the thrill of the hunt that was fun!

p.s. Anyone in Chicago, on Pulaski and Ardmore there is a compound with a nature center (you can see deer) and a recycling center with a stuff exchange. It is very cool!

p.p.s About that firefighters have longer hoses sweatshirt. I date a ff off and on. It's true :)

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After reading this, I must go get dressed and hit up some garage sales!

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I can relate to this article, my humble diving experiences started back in the early 70's in Houston. We furnished our apt. with furniture and throw-aways from the streets of Houston.
I taught my kids that no matter how much you spend on clothes, once you wash them, they are used. You might as well get 2 pair of jeans for your money at the thrift store.
I stop to pick up items, freecycled, shopped at thrift stores and barter my way thru' life. I just don't understand why more people don't do it. It's so important for some to keep up with the neighbors, your worth is your material worth? Stupid way to think, you can't take it with you when you die, only leave it to clutter the landscape.
Peace,
Katt

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I just thought of a symbol/logo for the Scavenger Movement. The Japanese Koy - a beautiful fish that just happens to be a bottom feeder.

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every year, my sister and I were up at the crack of dawn in the upscale neighborhoods with my pick up... we always filled it to the brim... a few favorites:
a full dresser refinished, gorgeous and still in use many years later...
2- $500.00 suits that are still classic and in style... perfect condition...
assorted mismatched perfect dishes including several pieces of depression ware and fiesta ware, still in use...
my favorite is a tattered, semi-upholstered, circa 1970 folding aluminum chair, that still sits like a dream...
a set of storm windows that made a perfect cold frame with a few hinges screwed in...

it's a matter of finding what you will use and continue to use, not just digging through junk and dragging it home...

miss heavy trash days... it isn't done anymore because 'riff-raff' comes through rich neighborhoods and spoil the Utopian aura... now you call and make an appt for the trash truck to come by... no curbside dropoffs...

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I wish people would stop explaining things to death! There has always been an interest in "other people's stuff". When it's displayed on the curb just waiting for a new home, well it doesn't get much better. It can be done for profit or just for fun but it is harmless. I remeber my first trip to a junk yard with my father. Either the bug bites you or it doesn't. I cannot to this day go by a respectable pile of junk without stopping, or at least slowing down. I'm an amateur photographer and one of my favorite collections is pictures I took at a world class junk yard a few miles from where I live. I don't know why that is, but please don't start shrinking enerybody's head who prefers to be a "collector" than to go to Walmart. We're harmless and many of us are resourceful, smart and creative. Thanks, ANNA

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We throw alot of perfectly good product out.
The store I work at has a very liberal return policy. I work in the supplements dept. Many of the returns are still sealed and in perfect condition.

We arent allowed to put these back on the shelf. We arent allowed to keep the products ourselves. We arent allowed to donate the products to charity. We are forced to throw all of this stuff out. Unfortunatly it doesnt go in a dumpster. It goes in a compactor. A total and utter waste.

If I were to try and take any of this stuff I would be fired. I have let leadership know how I and others feel about this. The people in charge dont care. They just dont want to get fired.

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Dumpster-diving is being increasingly illegalized.

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We in the USA take the cake for being the most wasteful people in the world. We're brainwashed into buying the shiniest, most perfect, and most attractive-looking whatever, regardless of its real value. Anything less is routinely tossed. This ensures a continous flow of ever more "goods", most of which aren't necessary for the maintainence of life or health, but are profitable for the retailers. I'm really surprized some enterprizing individual or group hasn't hit upon the idea of gathering all the perfectly good items thrown out daily by retailers and individual people, refurbishing them when necessary, and trading them through a BARTER system-no money involved. Now is a perfect time for this, especially in places like Detroit, where the economy is so depressed, the median price for a house is somewhere around $18,000. Of course, such an idea would be vigorously or even violently opposed by those for whom waste is a (profitable) way of life.

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And I notice that some motherfuckers on this site are getting scared because it seems that they've been used to their comfy lifestyles until the shit hit the god damn motherfucking roof. Well, I'm happy to help save those who'd otherwise settle for the dumpsters and have gladly done so. When all you fuckers out there who think they can have it all so comfy even with the pols giving tax breaks and bailouts to the wealthy/corporate elite and dragging America's young into reckless wars to die for finally get a taste of what countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa in general, etc ... go through due to you all's fucking greed and laziness and laughing at us who are frugal and somewhat-to-fully vigilante minded folks, then you know GOD IS PUNISHING you all by putting your fucking minds into insecurity and possible poverty. Sorry to talk like a pissed off jerk today but maybe it's time to recognize the symptom and get your heads out of the fucking sand.

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And I notice that some motherfuckers on this site are getting scared because it seems that they've been used to their comfy lifestyles until the shit hit the god damn motherfucking roof. Well, I'm happy to help save those who'd otherwise settle for the dumpsters and have gladly done so. When all you fuckers out there who think they can have it all so comfy even with the pols giving tax breaks and bailouts to the wealthy/corporate elite and dragging America's young into reckless wars to die for finally get a taste of what countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa in general, etc ... go through due to you all's fucking greed and laziness and laughing at us who are frugal and somewhat-to-fully vigilante minded folks, then you know GOD IS PUNISHING you all by putting your fucking minds into insecurity and possible poverty. Sorry to talk like a pissed off jerk today but maybe it's time to recognize the symptom and get your heads out of the fucking sand.

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I’m a trash picker from way back.

When I was a kid in the sixties, I remember that my mother was always out to get a good bargain. As well as being a thrift shop habitué, she wasn’t above rooting through people’s trash if she saw something interesting. She'd sometimes see old upholstered furniture in people's trash as we'd drive through different neighborhoods. She'd have my father to stop the car and grab it. Though the upholstery would be stained or torn, the wooden framework would be sound. She ended up having such pieces reupholstered and they'd be as good as new.

By the time I headed off to college in the late 70s, I’d learned that people throw away all sorts of useful items, some nearly new. I regularly checked the dumpsters around my apartment complex, as the population was highly transient. I’d put on a pair of my rattiest jeans when going “dumpster diving” and climb right in. I didn’t care what other people might think.

Many students moving out ditched a lot of good stuff, so they’d not have to bother with moving it. I ended up with lots of clothes, usually neatly bagged so that other trash wouldn’t foul it, plates, silverware, a couch, and some chairs.

A few years later I regularly went dumpster diving with a friend, who knew all the “good dumpsters” in town, usually in affluent neighborhoods. We usually checked the Salvation Army and Goodwill drop boxes as well, because the law stated that items placed around the box, but not inside, were fair game. We’d regularly come home with a good haul, either to keep or to sell at the flea market.

I’ve not done any trash picking in years, but not too long ago when out driving, I passed a house that had several pieces of furniture put out for the trash. I was especially interested in a bookcase and a couple of kitchen chairs. I made plans to come pick it up later, as I didn't have the time to do it just then. Unfortunately, when I returned, someone else had already gotten to it.

Damn.

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That dumpsters end up being sources of goodies otherwise unaffordable sure speaks billions of the crap our unfettered capitalist system yields.

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into "raw" materials...while i agree that (most) bottled water is wasteful, the brita commercials are misleading...(30 min on the treadmill forever in a landfill)...NOT if that bottle were recycled into clothing, building products, carpet...yes, i realize there are other problems with plastics (such as they are currently a petroleum product) but if they were made with hemp, that problem too dissolves...

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and then wake up standing in a strip mall or Wal Mart I will know I have been dispatched straigt to hell.

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Do we cite findings by the Clean Air Council that every American alive discards fifty-six tons of trash per year?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This can't be right. There are 52 weeks in a year. If my husband and I were each discarding 56 tons of trash per year, that would mean that every Monday when we took out our trash cans, we would be hauling over 2 tons (4000 pounds) to the curb. Even if they are including other forms of trash than what I put in the trash can, this seems off by orders of magnitude. I'll believe maybe 100 pounds a week. But not a ton per person per week.

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Stupid fucking hippies.

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First rule of Dumpster Diving:
Nobody talks about Dumpster Diving. You're gonna ruin it for the rest of us. Sshh!!

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...that all you global warming retards have the arrogance to believe that man is more powerful than nature. I am all for improving our habitat, but call it like it is. You global warming fucks really chap my tits. When the planet is ready to clean the shit stain that is the human race off its face, then all the stupid fucking recycling in the world is going to stop it. You are the new religion...I hold you in the same distain as all the other water heads that believe in a god. Do the smart people a favour and eat a high speed bullet. You are bringing the curve down.

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Be careful that any items of furniture, (especially that made of wood) couches and mattresses are not infested with bed bugs.

People discarding bed bug infested items should destroy them before they discard them. Slash your mattresses, mark your furniture.

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Good and/or cheap things have a way of being ruined by "Yuppification," marketing, or becoming the latest fad. In the '70's Coors beer was made popular by poor college students who went to Colorado. It was a cheap local beer they aquired a taste for it, and then the marketing kicked in and it became expensive. The same thing happened to Corona in the late '80's it cost about $6 a case to Texas spring breakers who went to Mexico, then became a fad and cost $28 per case in Philadelphia a year later. This was an excellent beer at $6/case, but a ripoff at $28/case. Only stupid rich people and people with more money than brains bought it. It was forever ruined for the poor seeking a cheap buzz.

Work clothes such as dungarees (originally used for shoveling shit) and painter's pants were cheap until they became trendy.

If you enjoy Dumpster Diving, then please shut the fuck up so that the marketing profiteers don't catch wind and ruin it for everyone.

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know your risks
...just say'n...
its great until it isn't...


yellow!

its the NEW GREEN!





perspective, people.


Perspective.

The Jeff Farias Show: streams FREE & LIVE Mon-Fri, 6-9pmEST

FREE podcast

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I, too, have picked a fair amount of stuff from other people's garbage including--this amazes me, I'm not sure why--THREE beautiful, handmade afghans picked from three different sites in Cambridge, MA. You'd think that someone would need these in our winter weather. I worry though that while a lot of cheap stuff if being created, imported, and sold in this country, we are too big to have the small agrarian communities that people seem to be dreaming of. There are over 300,000,000 Americans. Many of us do not live near our jobs. In my case, my job is in semi-rural area and I live in the city. I would go crazy living near my job--it's too rural, provincial, and white. Try living in a place where you stick out like a sore thumb; the cops eye you suspiciously, and people avoid meeting your gaze. I am a city person especially for the racial, ethnic and cultural diversity that the city offers and what I do for a living--university teaching--can't be easily transferred, especially halfway through a career. I know I'm not the only one in this fix. Moreover, bus service for me would make my commute 3 hrs. a day, not to mention wearing me out in the process. I have been looking for a ride-share for at least three years, in vain. The fixes we need are far more complex than what I'm hearing. Dumpster diving has its place but come the new economy, everybody isn't going to be able to work in a "green industry." Everybody isn't cut out to garden; some people aren't physically capable of it due to age or disability or simple dislike of the activity. Some people don't have land to garden on and there is only a small amount that can be raised on patio containers and not every community has community gardens available. It makes me crazy to hear the oversimplified and often self-righteous solutions to very difficult problems. 300,000,000 people--and that just in the U.S.--to be fed, clothed and employed; given a paycheck; provided with health care. I believe Obama is a very capable and visionary leader but he has his work cut out for him. It's all a lot more complicated than what is talked about here.

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I refuse to buy furniture. I wait until I see what I want on the side of the road within walking distance from my house.

I feel sorry for people that are too proud to dig through the crap (pun intended) and find the thing that saves your day from certain lameness and mediocrity. There is nothing like the feeling you get when you save something from the landfill. I'm particularly fond of the super sturdy hand crank items you find now and then. My grandmothers house is full of stuff that she swore we were going to break as children but are perfectly functioning to this day. They don't make it like they used to.

I decided to use old t-shirts cut up into little squares (well not too little) to clean myself after eliminating my bowels... I thought that if I could have used diapers for quite some time as a child that using re-usable (and recycled!) cotton fabric on my butt couldn't be any less dignified than wiping my ass with 200 year old trees. Try asking your guests to humor you on that one.

I do have a reputation for making people think about what they are doing here.

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Re-using and re-purposing, however, are pretty much still off the radar screen. When I was young everybody — well most everybody, reused and re-purposed and wore ‘hand me downs’. A much more advanced system than is the fad, recycling!

Approximately 30 years ago a young friend, an unmarried mother, asked me to go scavenging with her. I was walking past the piles out on the footpaths for collection, pronouncing ‘junk!’ While she was like a terrier ferreting out useful bits and pieces. I relearned from the experience.

As I type this my computer desk, not a ‘make do’, but that is a closer fit to what I wanted than anything I have seen anywhere since, I picked up off the side of the road.

As I look around my office/bedroom 60 percent of what is here is scavenged.

In the main I scavenge, clean up and donate to charity shops. I would much rather see somebody getting use out of something than to see it in landfill.

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In areas where people freecycle freely, there may be fewer opportunities for freeganism, but both strategies are workable.

If you aren't already a freecycle member, search on yahoo in recycling for lists to find your locals. You may do this from freecycle.org, but most of the lists are on yahoo still, and the process can be confusing if you start from freecycle. If your local list has moved, their list will say so, and if you just can't find one on yahoo, starting from freecycle.org may do the trick. This is an international project, and there are now freecycle lists operating all over the world. If there isn't one in your area, why not start one?

The Freegan link is to information on dumpster diving, so more info on this article in particular. Googling dumpster diving returns a substantial list too.

Have fun!

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Thank you for such a touching, moving, entertaining, surprising, exhilarating, transforming paean to the missing part the economic cycle. Bottom feeders? Maybe. But take them away and watch the system collapse.

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Prophit,

I thought you were a bit of a loon what with your Virus thing

But I searched what you said - thinking I would find nonsense

And I find from the Chechoslaviakia and The Canadian Press that what you were saying seems to be Completely TRUE

But there was and is a Petitition that has been signed by THOUSANDS of People from all over the World

All The Signatures Have Been Deleted

Its gone from Several Thousand to 35

http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

35 Total Signatures


I just ask Every Good American And True To Fight For Your Constitution

It Is All About FREEDOM

Not Tyranny

Love & Peace,

Tony

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Every month-end, several people move out, leaving usable stuff: furniture, dishes, clothes, books etc. Management in our apartment building is strongly motivated to minimize the amount of stuff that goes into the dumpster. After all, they PAY by volume, but OTOH they can't afford the liability of someone getting hurt while diving.

So we have a silent arrangement. Management tacitly leaves this on the loading dock for about half-a-day. I like to let the street people have the first shot. They need it more than I.

Whatever's left, I bundle into my car and periodically drop off at my favorite thrift store (...retaining anything that suits me, of course, but I don't need much...).

This makes everyone happier. Management saves money, the thrift store resells the stuff to people who get a bargain.

Try to work with your building management, strike a similar deal. You'll be a hero!

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to consume.

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But I grew up that way. It was considered normal to use hand-me-downs (shared across families) and to take very good care of the things you did have. My parents grew up during the depression. We had a summer garden and always had wonderful fresh veggies in the summer. I never really thought about it when I got older and left home to be on my own. It just seemed logical that if I could acquire something I could use that no one else wanted, that was less pinch on my budget. I once raided a carpet store dumpster for a carpet remnant to replace the one in my car - that was a fun project.

I have gotten alot from curbside and dumpster raids in my life - but even more from thrift stores. I am a member of a freecycle group and whatever I can't get rid of there goes to Good Will or if not there, then hazardous waste (they take things like half-used bottles of shampoo and the workers get to scrounge).

I never thought of it in terms of shameful or whatever - it just seemed practical and helped the bottom line. I wasn't even trying to be green. Of course, these days, I see the green bennie from it, but mostly it was just not to waste things - which seems horrible to me.

My other half and I are also very handy and fix everything we have whenever possible or buy replacement parts for larger appliances instead of dumping them. I drive a 17 year old car by choice (I could afford a new one), shop at Big Lots and Ross, Good Will, etc. I can afford not to do these things but it's habit and it saves money that I can then save for a house - something you can't get curbside.

It would never occur to me to look down on someone who dumpster dives - seems practical. But, I guess I didn't grow up in Disneyland, so I have different attitudes.

I hope this idea catches on in various forms. Americans do waste alot of very usable stuff.

Books go to the Public Library or Good Will. Magazines to Doctor's offices. Ink cartridges and toner to Office Depot. Hazardous waste like batteries and florescents, old glue, paint, chemicals to hazardous waste at my local waste vendor. All glass, paper, aluminium, plastics to recyclers - except for shrink wrap/saran wrap - not recyclable at this time. Peanuts to a local packaging shop that takes dirty mixes. Cardboard to recyclers. Old clothes to good will unless it's underwear/socks which go to recyclers in another town who take cloth. Old computers and all electronics to a computer recycler. Yard waste to recyclers/composters. Shoot - there is not much I don't recycle or give away. Two of us create one 5 lb. bag of garbage per week. If I had time I'd recycle kitchen scraps too but don't have time/room to compost.

Anyway, it didn't start out being a green thing for me - just a "hate to waste anything" thing that came from being poor. Now it's in vogue. Funny. How times change.

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"Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." That old pioneer saying must sound strange to the neocons.

The belief that limited resources will never run out is yet another crippling delusion of conservatives--on a par with the belief that Israel is righteous and DDT is good for you.

As you know, conservatives believe what they want to believe from birth to death, no matter what happens along the way. If things don't go their way, they will hire people to cook the stats for them rather than change their thinking. For me, this is one of the wonders of the age we live in.

How many times have you heard a Pub--usually without a degree in petroleum engineering--tell you there's "plenty of oil"? They have literally hired people to tell them this is so, over and over again. They will still be saying there's plenty of oil when the cars have turned to rust. In Winger World, there are always unlimited resources, with no consequences, and no strings attached.

Verily, today's Republicans are among the strangest people ever to walk the earth. No wonder they futzed things up so thoroughly.

Forgiving the Neocons. Yea, right.

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step 1; make dumpster diving illegal
(hire a democratic Senator for that)
step2 start a limited company ask subsidy from Washington.

step 3 ; hire weed addicts to find the products
pay them in food stamps and free medical marihuana.

step 4 sell your company

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to appear on Alternet in long time.

'nuff said.

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I just want to give a shout-out to Craig's list and Amazon and Ebay and the classifieds in local papers. It's nice to see people putting a price on their old crap and relocating it into the possession of people who actually want it and are even willing to pay. We're all more inclined to reuse and resell before sending our things to the landfill when we're aware that our things have monetary value.

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I've been at it for over twenty-five years. From clothing to Lps, sometimes even antique furniture. My home decor is what I lovingly refer to as "twentieth century thrift store".

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.....in most of the world. It's just novel to we conspicuous consumers............

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I once lived where from April through October on one certain Saturday morning each month a Community Swap Meet was held in the multi-level parking garage of the county courthouse. Anyone could drive his car in, pay $1 that went to a charity, park, unload, and set up his own little Persian bazaar, at 7 AM. At 7:30 the gates were opened to shoppers, and from then until about noon hundreds and hundreds of people streamed through just salivating to buy your unwanted stuff. This was win-win for everybody. You could clean out your basement and reliably go home with $200 cash. Shoppers loved their finds and treasures. The charity made money. Why not start this in your community?

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Laugh out loud funny. Very creative.

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The Spiky Thing I Was Pushing All Over My Lawn To Air-rate It the day this article was posted...

I had salvaged from a Council Tip in Beckenham, Kent, England about 20 years ago

It still works - but is fucking hard work

And sure - I think I should maybe not be aerating my lawn - and instead digging it all up to plant seed potatatoes and carrots and broccoli and tomatoes and stuff

My tomato seeds germinated in about 3 days

But I reckon we will be O.K. if we complain and demand that The War Criminals are Arrested.

WE can do this thing slow and nice and relatively painless

Or we can just STAND UP AND SHOUT

Or lay down and die

These guys in Control are Stupid Tossers

Nothing to Fear except Fear itself

Well

How was the TV tonight?

We went to see a Greek Band

Tony

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Live At The Gods

This Is Fucking Brilliant - its the first time I have seen the video

Tony

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It takes a trained eye. hahahaha. Sometime ago I scored 6 wakefield chairs in need of refinishing, left beside a dumpster... They were sold for $150.00 each.

refinished they went for twice as much,with the table you could almost name your price.

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I just love second hand, used, cast-off, garage sale, thrift shop, flea market. It's like discovering what the universe offers you, rather than looking for what you want, and the stuff the universe pushes your way always turns out to be the best.

A friend of mine lives in a neighborhood where they have a "parade of garage sales" one weekend every April. In spite of being frugal, I always have stuff to sell, so I participate. We always fill a big box with stuff and add a sign, "free stuff". That box is the big draw. It empties out quickly, and brings people up the driveway to look at everything else we have. We refill that box when it gets empty. When we finish on Sunday evening, whatever isn't gone goes to various charities who will come and pick up everything you have left, without picking and choosing. Compare that to the mall, where there is still tons of unsold stuff at closing time every day.

Maybe second hand is dependent on consumerism, but I'm not sure it can be written off so easily. There have always been makers and peddlers of stuff, rag pickers, and uses for things that you no longer need. Children outgrow their clothes before the clothes are worn out. Nobody can stop that. Growing up, my favorite clothes came in a big box in the mail twice a year, from wealthy cousins in Houston who were a little older than me by a couple of years. I had the best clothes in my class, but I bragged that they were hand-me-downs.

The furniture I have that belonged to my grandma is my favorite. Most of the rest came from flea markets and thrift shops. My wicker headboard was leaning against the garbage cans that were out front of a house for the next pick-up. It had nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

I do buy new shoes.

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if you actually own a piece of land where you can actually grow a garden from the seeds you scavenge out of dumpsters and free boxes. I've lived on a sparse income for years, explore free boxes all the time. I've found excellent clothing, even shoes. The only exceptions are underwear and socks.

But I live in a single room, off a busy main street in San Francisco. Not an inch of earth to grow any food. And, on my low income it's a scary possibility I'll eventually become homeless.

I fully support the scavanger lifestyle...which really, was a vital component of the hippie/flower children culture some years back. The idea of recycling your clothing and other material needs and pleasures is nothing new.

But my main point is this: to talk flippantly, like it's just a simple thing to grow some of your own food, as if to say, "But of course you DO own a plot of land" is to exclude the many who are w/o a piece of earth to call their own.

I also don't own a car, or have any friends who do. So it's not like I can cruise the neighborhoods at night, and pick up discarded furniture for a second life. There is poverty, and there is poverty. Your solution is a form of scavenging for those with a enough affluence to still own a piece of land, and most likely, an automobile.

Leaving the rest of us--the REAL poor--out in the cold. Literally.

I'll bet you even have the luxury of still being able to afford dental care.

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It has been said that these behaviors are ADD -like. Or in other words some of us are less "civilized" i.e. we inherently live in a more sustainable mode. So the trick is to make that system work within the system .I am trying:
www.urbanminers.com. I am copying your article and sending to my friends and relatives that think I am nuts. Oh, and also to my friends that think this is perfectly normal behavior- to spontaneously strap things on the side of the road to the roof of one's vehicle. Cheers

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{{ Other scavenging commandments:

Don't break laws. }}

In most places, it IS illegal to extract items from garbage cans and dumpsters. That is a basic truth, and if you pretend otherwise, you are deceiving your readers.

I scavenge all the time; glad to break the law for a good cause. Such as my survival.

As a scavenger, I'm already out of the status quo loop (including our laws). Don't hand ME any list of Do's and Don't's about HOW to scavenge. Who the hell do you think you are?

Oh, I get it: you're just trying to make big bucks by selling a book. You're not a REAL scavenger, you're a phony. I doubt you've ever done an ounce of scavenging in your life...or if you do, it's a lark, something fun to pass the time, definitely NOT a matter of survival.

The only satisfaction I get from your flaky little article is this:

One day, your book on scavenging that you hope will turn you into a (non-scavenging) millionaire, will be discovered in garbage bins by REAL scavengers, to be used as kindling for their campfires. (Sooner than later, I hope.)

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I loved this. I completely agree that the making due attitude behind scavanging and dumpstering is increadibly freeing.

I have one little quibble though, dumpstering is in fact illegal.Most places you can be charged with criminal tresspass, theft (for taking stuff out of the garbage, I know, ridiculous) or both. Human history is riddled with laws ranging from the unjust to the senseless and I see no reason that the other rules stated here should not be guidance enough.

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A poster upthread spoke of the abuses of Whole Foods upon it's employees & community. I worked in the vitamin dept. of a really great locally owned natural food store that was taken over by whole foods back in the '90's We always wrote off all the returns & put them in the "free box" in the cooler that also contained all the short-dated produce, shelf goods, cold case items ect. We were allowed to take them home, put them in the store medicine cabinet, give them as generous samples to customers who couldn't afford to buy what they needed. That store was a FAMILY. No one ever stole or abused any one or any thing-- and if someone came on who did they were just sort of spun out of the place within a few weeks w/o any fanfare. we used to say that those folks were just not "karmically compatible" with the rest of us. It was a truely wonderful place to work even tho' the salaries weren't all that great--the atmosphere and the freebies made up for a LOT. Then here came the Corporation- hiring old dinosaurs from Albertsons and Safeway while still spewing the"community & family" lines to the public.Dumpsters were padlocked, perfectly good produce, vitamins, you name it went into them & the compactors were installed. Nearly all the original employees quit or were replaced from the "headquarters" & our wonderful store-which had grown by at least 15% each of the 11+yrs. it was opened - was out of business withing 2 yrs. as the good ol' hippies of the small town Northwest just wouldn't shop at such a desecrated place.
Now I live in an apt. complex w. a whole lot of dumpsters & discovered for myself the joys of taking a "walk by" a couple of times a week. I'm uninsured- have some heavy health issues, over 60, & have to take expensive meds- I can't work any sort of reg. job & exist because I have a remarkable & loving family who helps out w.rent/ other necessities. I lost most of my belongings along the way but am currently sitting in an apt. rather beautifully furnished almost exclusively w. dumpster finds- a solid oak dresser in perfect condition w. new hardware- a computer desk and chair -- that still were boxed w. price tags (over $400!) an oriental area rug, lamps & shades, 6 bookshleves, a convection toaster oven (also brand new) a lovely set of tableware, all kinds of kitchenware,Iron & ironing board, a handmade stained glass window hanging, a solid wood round table w. chairs, file cabinets, a dressing table w. antique mirror,- have also found 3 television sets w. remotes in perfect condition- one for my bedroom, one for my grandchildren, one donated to a friend ( the thrift stores / Sal. army won't take them anymore) a computer w. brand new innards, an also- brand- new dvd/vhs player, a digital camera and the device that creates the physical pictures from it, Beautiful pottery planters ( were still wrapped in tissue & in the box when found in the dumpster) 3 rose bushes in big planters... and on and on. And on top of all this bounty I found a discarded box of someones "left behinds" that included, hand blown perfume bottles & candleholders, 3 leaded glass jewelry boxes that contained 2 14kt. gold rings (one pearl & one diamond & tourmaline)3 watches, 4 sterling silver brooches, 3 sets of gemstone & silver earrings ( amethyst, peridot, citrine)& a pearl & silver bracelet. There's always skis, exercise equipment of all sorts (treadmills incl.) and all this is just what I've personally found in the 2 yrs. I've been here. I've also made a serious effort to take whatever I can't use or know who can to the donation centers-- I make 3-4 trips a mo. It boggles the mind that if I found this stuff then what else must be out there??!!To be found by others on the days I don't take my walks! ONE NEIGHBORHOOD, folks! ONE apt. complex.I also belong to 2 local Freecycle groups, a Freegan network,Reuse, Recycle & live a better, longer, healthier life...

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