Township dumpster finds

[jim 44-40]

Thanks to the folks that use are township dumpster and burn area,I come home with some goodies today.Found a big box of leather scraps some 1/8 in thick and soft buckskin type leather.Also a rotisserie gearbox with the rod.That brought the Macgyver out of me.I made a lead shot tumbler with it,it's slow as molasses but it works great for small amount of reclaimed shot.

[super6]

I brought a giant fish tank home from our local recycling center, Think 200 gallons! Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. LOL.I have no intention of putting fish in it.

[Winger Ed.]

In the city, we had a transfer sight with big roll off containers we could dump in.
When it was full, the city guys would haul it to the big dump.

I've come home with all sorts of stuff. A few high end duck decoys, some hard wood lumber, a box of vintage 12 ga. shotgun shells,
lawn mowers I'd rebuild, even a almost new washing machine one time. I used it for a few years before it died.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Got our dump and remote sites locked down pretty well. Pretty sad what goes in the ground…

[MaryB]

We have a city burn site and a LOT of nice pines were ending up in it. Then they started to disappear. Turns out a local had the same Idea I was thinking of, he bought a lumber mill and is milling them. Getting some nice knot free 12-16 foot boards 12" wide from some of them! And 2x4's off the edges that may have a little bark here and there... good enough for framing. He just started on an ancient oak, 4' diameter. the straight part of the trunk is 24' long! He had to order extensions for the saw bed to handle it. Beautiful lumber coming from that tree, red oak, he is making me some small strips I need to trim out a rack cabinet edge since he has a nice planer and can mill boards up to 16" wide. Stuff I need is coming from a small branch only 6" diameter, he doesn't waste much. If he can get a 4' board out of it he does it. He is coming over this week to skid a large boxelder branch out of the yard(went down this winter) after seeing a cross cut with the reddish "flame" effect in it. He will mill that into a square then cut it for turning blanks... guy is really creative and keeps a lot of good lumber from just being burned.

[Winger Ed.]

We have a city burn site and a LOT of nice pines were ending up in it. Then they started to disappear. Turns out a local had the same Idea I was thinking of,

Sharp guy. That reminds me:

A neighbor wanted/needed several big end over truck loads of dirt.... Until he got a price for it.
He went to a road building crew, found out they were being paid to haul pull out dirt for the new road bed,
and haul it to the city dump about 35 miles away. The truckers were paid by the load.

He offered to let them dump at his house a mile or two away for free.
They got paid by the load to make the 70 mile round trip, no matter where they dumped.
Dumping at his house, they got paid for a few more loads per day,
and passed the savings in fuel along to their self---- everybody beat the system.

[Plate plinker]

We have a city burn site and a LOT of nice pines were ending up in it. Then they started to disappear. Turns out a local had the same Idea I was thinking of, he bought a lumber mill and is milling them. Getting some nice knot free 12-16 foot boards 12" wide from some of them! And 2x4's off the edges that may have a little bark here and there... good enough for framing. He just started on an ancient oak, 4' diameter. the straight part of the trunk is 24' long! He had to order extensions for the saw bed to handle it. Beautiful lumber coming from that tree, red oak, he is making me some small strips I need to trim out a rack cabinet edge since he has a nice planer and can mill boards up to 16" wide. Stuff I need is coming from a small branch only 6" diameter, he doesn't waste much. If he can get a 4' board out of it he does it. He is coming over this week to skid a large boxelder branch out of the yard(went down this winter) after seeing a cross cut with the reddish "flame" effect in it. He will mill that into a square then cut it for turning blanks... guy is really creative and keeps a lot of good lumber from just being burned.

Great to here not everybody is a wasteful person. I like this! We waste SO Much in this country it is disgusting.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I brought a giant fish tank home from our local recycling center, Think 200 gallons! Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. LOL.I have no intention of putting fish in it.

If it is a saltwater tank, it is worth big bucks.

[jsizemore]

Waste Management contracts the public dump sites around me. Once your stuff is in the container it's theirs. They got you on camera and your subject to prosecution if you take anything from the container and banned if you put the wrong thing in the wrong place. If banned, you have to go to a pay site.

[georgerkahn]

Waste Management contracts the public dump sites around me. Once your stuff is in the container it's theirs. They got you on camera and your subject to prosecution if you take anything from the container and banned if you put the wrong thing in the wrong place. If banned, you have to go to a pay site.

EXACTLY the same scene in my neck of the woods. Recently, a friend's wife stood a usable door adjacent to a dumpster, and (video cameras :() in addition to being fined by the city, she had to remove it and then return it for "proper disposal" which included a $22.50 fee on top of the $14.00 they got to take the door. The fine was $25.00 PLUS a $50.00 sur-charge. Over $100 to throw out a GOOD -- solid wood -- entrance door. (And she was mortified fearing her name would appear in the local "newspaper's" "Police Blotter" column... )
Productive entertainment for us way back when was a mid-afternoon trip to the dumps; find all sorts of marvelous items to take home; and then watch the bears come in to forage and play...
The Good Ole Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
geo

[Winger Ed.]

a mid-afternoon trip to the dumps; find all sorts of marvelous items to take home; and then watch the bears come in to forage and play...The Good Ole Days!!!!!!!!!!

While on active duty, there was one guy from way up there in the far Northern unexplored regions of Not Texas.

He had a couple of pictures he took in High School of 'dump bears'.
It was a big sport for them to hide on one side of a pile of trash at the dump as a bear would come along foraging.
When it was straight across for them, they'd stand up, then the bear would stand up.
They'd flash a camera to take its picture.
The bear was stunned and razzle-dazzled by the flash long enough for the kid to run away.

I remember telling him I might be crazy,,,,, but not stupid enough to do that.

[rockrat]

Grandad had a guy come mow the lawn when he got too old to do it. Used Grandads Lawn Boy mower. The guy loved going to the dump and was gone for hours. He came back with some good stuf!!! He brought Grandad a broken Lawn Boy mower. Had a broken wheel, so got thrown away. Grandad had an old mower for parts, so I changed wheels, took apart the carb and cleaned it and cleaned out the exhaust ports. Ran like a top for years. Ran better than the newer one Grandad had!!

WM runs the dump here. No scrounging. There has been stuff that has been dumped that I would loved to have had and had a good use for.

[fixit]

We have that situation here.... The city landfill charges by the cubic yard, and rounds up liberally! Consequently, it's worth it to drive twenty miles to a rural transfer station that hasn't charged me more than 45 dollars for my biggest loads, and I tend to load heavy! That said, there is no scrounging allowed, much to my better half's relief!

[jsizemore]

At the other end is an outfit that does electronics recycling. I've gone in there and dropped stuff off for free BUT if I needed a project box for something like a PID, they'd let me dig through the bins for whatever I wanted. They figure it will get put to good use and that's what recycling is really about. I carefully strip the parts that I don't need and return them with a sticker about the test values I came up with. Good Folks.

[Geezer in NH]

I brought a giant fish tank home from our local recycling center, Think 200 gallons! Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. LOL.I have no intention of putting fish in it.
Make a great bait tank if you fish.

[Geezer in NH]

My town dump saves me all the lead and gun stuff. I get rid of all the live rounds that they collect and cannot get rid of.

I also fix their guns when needed. Son and I also bring coffee and' every time we go there.

[Hannibal]

If it is a saltwater tank, it is worth big bucks.

What's the difference between a freshwater and saltwater tank if it's empty and comes with no accessories?

Nothing.

[10x]

The local garbage transfer station here has a put and take section.
One of the local dumps did too until an idiot got hurt scavenging in the metal pile.
I would pick up several running lawn mowers ever spring and every fall. Take the water out of the gas tank, fresh gas, clean the air filter, and they would run.

[yetavon]

It seems I always find something to bring home from our Transfer station. A few years back a guy came in with a load of stuff after cleaning out his Father home after he died.... and tossed a WW2 MG42 into the scrape pile!!!! It was turned over to the Sherriff and ended up in a museum.

[gwpercle]

My wife no longer lets me go to the city dump ... without adult supervision .

She claims you are not supposed to come back home with more stuff than what you leave ...

That just doesn't seem right ... who wrote these rules ?
Gary

[10x]

Years back a school teacher friend of mine lived right beside the local police detachment office. He would search the dumpster there every evening. He got a complete reloading set. Multiple sets of Reloading scales - drug dealers used them for weighing out portions when cutting drugs. Tools of all sorts, This was stuff from evidence that was disposed of after a conviction.

[DougGuy]

Minnesota had the recycling center before the dumpsters, you went in and everything got separated, etc. I would take my beer cans, save up a van load of them empty cans in their 24pk cardboard boxes, they paid cash for the aluminum (and the boxes!) and I would get to go to the dumpsters out back, I never came home without one or two new (to me) computers, and cash in my pocket. I would rework the computers and sell or trade them.

[Rich/WIS]

Township I lived in Wisconsin had "clean up days" twice a year, dumpsters at the town hall for whatever people needed to get rid of that wouldn't go in regular trash. Amazing the stuff that came in, got a lawn mower and a like new stainless gas grill for my son, an antique oak framed mirror for the wife, and stuff I could re-purpose for me. Someone gave me a back pack gas leaf blower that I dropped off, when I got back a half hour later with a second load the attendant told me he had to break up a fight between two guys arguing over the blower. Best thing was a vintage Craftsman table saw, the old good one, that a lady brought in because it wouldn't work. Took the cover plate off the switch, it was packed with fine sawdust, and blew it out and it ran fine. Saw an unbelievable amount of good stuff "recycled" over the years.

[fixit]

I was raised by depression era folks and regularly heard stories about how they got by. My dad explained how, when they needed a replacement appliance, they would go to the town dump, find one in better shape than the one that died, fix what needed fixed, and use it until it died. With that tutelage, I still find it amazing what people will throw into the garbage!

[10x]

I was raised by depression era folks and regularly heard stories about how they got by. My dad explained how, when they needed a replacement appliance, they would go to the town dump, find one in better shape than the one that died, fix what needed fixed, and use it until it died. With that tutelage, I still find it amazing what people will throw into the garbage!

My grandfather would say "If someone built it, someone could fix it, or build another just like it!"

[unclemikeinct]

I really enjoyed reading this. When I worked, the good citizens of our town would use behind the shopping center dumpsters to avoid paying transfer station fees. Sometimes the ground around the dumpsters, grrrrr. Occasionally we could find good stuff. Made Monday mornings interesting.

[super6]

After my fish tank find as posted above I went back a couple weeks later, We had a power outage that lasted a week. Long story short, I saw the most sparkling example of a chest freezer you ever saw. I opened the lid and got shone the door. Full of rotten meat. Attendant was not a happy man!

[Baltimoreed]

Found an ak and a winchester 410 that had been in a house fire. Always thought that the 410 would be a good project to bead blast, blue and put in a shadow box. Pre dumpsters I found a coffee cans worth of .357 lead bullets on the ground and a broken plastic stocked savage? semi .22. Fit it into a junk walnut stock, still shoots. Too many projects.

[jonp]

Nothing from here as WM owns it when you go through the gate but i caught a buddy on the way there chucking a 5 burner stainless grill with a side burner cause the burners wore out and his FIL gave them a new one for Christmas. Put it in my truck and looked it up. Recall on burners so got 5 for free, a couple of shields and we finally retired it about 8yrs later when only 3 burners would still work and saw one off season on closeout for under $100.

One at my hunting camp was on the side of the road so grabbed it. New burners and almost 20yrs later still use it

[Winger Ed.]

I also pulled a gas grill out of the dump years ago.
It was one of those expensive ones too. The two shells for it were cast, not stamped out sheet metal.
I bought a new burner rack for it & a bag of those lave rocks and used it for years.
It finally needed a new burner & fresh rocks again, I'd sort of gotten tired of looking at it, and gave it to a neighbor.
He might still be using it.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

What's the difference between a freshwater and saltwater tank if it's empty and comes with no accessories?

Nothing.

A salt-water tank will not rust. The metal angle on the corners is made of plated brass. Freshwater tanks have steel angles. Air pump would be the same for either one.

[Jaaymar]

I brought a giant fish tank home from our local recycling center, Think 200 gallons! Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. LOL.I have no intention of putting fish in it.

Hydroponics reservoir.
If you don’t want to pay a lot for plant food you can put in goldfish most will eat kitchen scraps.
I know you don’t want to put fish in it but, it’s hard to beat free fertilizer and an efficient food wast recycler.

Jaaymar

If you make someone think they’re thinking they will love you.
If you make them actually think, they will hate you.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I lived in Whitter, Ca. for many years. You could go to the dump and unload it yourself. I was there one day with my little boy. A van backed in next to me and two guys began to unload a treasure of antiques. First was an old telephone table. They started making them when candle stick phones were introduced. They had a chair attached to the small table. The table had a small shelf to store the phone book. Someone had placed a tambourine in this one. A worker was driving a large caterpillar and waiting for the van to leave. They did not want you to scavenge anything from the dump. I didn't try to get the table, but I did run over and grab the tambourine and hand it to my son who was watching me. The two men also threw out an old camelback trunk. I don't know what was in it. when the van left the caterpillar drove over all the antiques and crushed them all. Later they didn't let you go into the dump area. You had to dump your load and they scooped it up and hauled it to the dump site.

[FISH4BUGS]

In my small town, we have what we call "The mall" at the transfer station a/k/a/ the dump.
Things that are usable are put out for anyone that wants them. Coffee makers, microwaves, dinnerware, books.....you name it, it is there.
I always check them out. Have come back with garden tools, books, etc.

[M-Tecs]

In my small town, we have what we call "The mall" at the transfer station a/k/a/ the dump.
Things that are usable are put out for anyone that wants them. Coffee makers, microwaves, dinnerware, books.....you name it, it is there.
I always check them out. Have come back with garden tools, books, etc.

Never heard of that. Great idea.

[yetavon]

My wife no longer lets me go to the city dump ... without adult supervision .
She claims you are not supposed to come back home with more stuff than what you leave ...
Gary

I think I may have married her sister

[tinsnips]

Dumpsters on job sites are great for finding new building materials. We bring home all kinds of new stuff . The richer the home owner the better the goodies are. People have to much money nowdays.

[farmbif]

so many places have rules about not taking anything from municipal dump if you want to do quality recycling you gotta start dumpster diving.
there are several large corporations that have policy anything that gets returned for whatever reason goes in the dumpster, just a heads up for folks that want all kinds of quality valuables , you just gotta find the right dumpsters.

[MaryB]

Local electronics manufacturers used to throw electronic scrap in their dumpster. Along with metal work for power supply cabinets... I used to dumpster dive ot for sheets of aluminum and heat sinks. Got a few electronic parts too. Best was the day they tossed 30 brand new power supplies in the box, they were obsolete so they tossed them. I grabbed all of them, tested to make sure they were good, and eBay'ed them at $40 each. Now they take it all to a recycling center, can't grab any of it.

[shaggybull]

I got a buddy found M1 carbine at local dump....one of the gals that works there had a guy give her a dozen swords he was going to toss in dump

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I worked at the phone company for many years installing and repairing phone systems in private businesses. One of which was Yamaha motorcycles. My buddy was sent there one day and found 14 new cycle tanks. Another business we served was Arojet. Every time I went in the place, I checked the dumpster. One day that dumpster was full of air hoses complete with fittings. When their repairmen went into a shop to change some hose, they changed them all and threw out the ones removed. They did the same with fluorescent lightbulbs.

[Winger Ed.]

They did the same with fluorescent lightbulbs.

Not the dump, but when I'd take copper or Alum. to the scrap yard, I'd usually come home with more stuff than I sold.

One time there was two 55 gal. barrels with 4' fluoresent bulbs stacked in it.
I have no idea how or why they bought them, and they looked fresh--- no dark ends on any of them.
But I bought about all I could carry for .25 cents each. It was a few years before I bought new ones for the shop.
And 50' out door extension cords that looked almost new. I got them for $3. each.
Also a nice Alum. Mercruiser propeller for $5. I had a new hum put in it for about $10. and its still on my boat.

[Buzz Krumhunger]

My miser brother-in-law owns property that surrounds the county landfill. Sundays, when it’s closed, he climbs the fence and scavenges their piles. He has amassed an impressive amount of “perfectly good secondhand crap” as he terms it.

Someday he’ll get busted in there and I’ll laugh at his stingy butt.