Do you get stuff out of the trash?

[Silveredwings]

Hahahahaha!!!!

[The Toecutter]

MMMM. As long as the person(s) that took the two rolls out don't have AIDS or something, I should be alright!

You wouldn't get AIDS from eating them, even if the person that picked them up had it.

I've gotten all sorts of perfectly good food, unopened in its original package, and unexpired from dumpsters before.

I've recently been collecting old hard drives from junked computers. Good magnets in there that I could either put on Ebay, or use to make more DIY wind turbines. When I get my own place, I'm going to need a hell of a lot of them to generate electricity. I don't like the idea of being grid connected, and solar is still relatively expensive for a home setup on a per kWh basis.

I'm also amassing the parts to build my own generator that can be run on either SVO or B100. That might take a while though, and is not a priority compared to my EV.


If I ever find an old bicycle in good working order, I'd definately have a use for it. I would like to replace the one that got destroyed by a hit and run SUV driver. If I get another bike, I'm definately going to work on aerodynamics so I can ride it a lot faster. Better yet, if I find a free or near free motorcycle and a small diesel engine, I'm going to slap a Craig Vetter faring on that *****. Instant 200+ mpg.

[cfg83]

theclencher -

Originally Posted by theclencher

...

Also just last night I came across what appeared to be the discarded contents of a breakroom: unopened loaf of bread, unopened Oreos, tray of cinnamon rolls with only two gone. MMMM. As long as the person(s) that took the two rolls out don't have AIDS or something, I should be alright!

Cut away part of the cinnamon rolls that are next to the missing rolls for safety's sake. If you have a magnifying glass, then maybe you can see their fingerprints. The white frosting should be very telling .

I think most of my trash is already in my parent's home. I'm a pack rat, so I have stuff going back 30+ years. I used to dumpster dive at the Fed Mart when I was a kid. I mostly only scavange "on the cuff". A month ago we found this little fella on the sidewalk, propped up against a telephone pole :

Attachment 276

He's not a cheap knock-off either. Finest Quality.

CarloSW2

[GasSavers_Ryland]

I haven't gotten anything out of the trash recently, but I have a long list of things that have been found, my favorit bicycle, and bicycles that I've sold, lawn mowers, soda kegs, cable TV encoding boxes, cable TV decoding boxes, new radio controled cars in the boxes with manuals and batteries installed (backwords), 120lbs of perfectly ripe bananas, 80lbs of peaches, bread, hummos, tea, tea/juice drinks, Radio Shack training videos from the '80s, CD's, all my waste paper baskets, DeWalt angle grinder, antuiqe door knobs, fiber glass extention lader, LED flashlight, back packs, check book, bottle of wine, half case of beer, Tube Amp, about 150 16" x 23" sheats of drafting paper.

[Peakster]

I actually pay hard-earned money for my trash: Value Village is one of my favorite "stores" . People in my dorm building were a little freaked out when I bought boxer shorts from there though. Won't be doing that anymore.

[cfg83]

Peakster -

Originally Posted by Peakster

I actually pay hard-earned money for my trash: Value Village is one of my favorite "stores" . People in my dorm building were a little freaked out when I bought boxer shorts from there though. Won't be doing that anymore.

Oh yeah, I was raised in thrift stores. My Mom always took me, it's one of her favorite things to do. I have translated this into Pic N' Save aka Big Lots/99 Cent Store shopping. Treasure hunting!

CarloSW2

[UfoTofU]

I've gotten a large majority of my clothes from Good Will / Salvation Army, there is no way that you can beat their prices.

When work out of the blue decided "no more t-shirts, at the very least polo shirts" I bought a whole slew of polos and they only cost me about as much as 1 regular full priced polo would have cost ($15).

[repete86]

Does anyone here ever dive for Food Not Bombs? That's what the majority of my dumpster diving is for. It's amazing how much perfectly good food is thrown out by any given grocery store. They're getting compactors now though. Compactors are my enemy!

[The Toecutter]

t's amazing how much perfectly good food is thrown out by any given grocery store. They're getting compactors now though. Compactors are my enemy!

The food you can't get for free is food you end up having to buy. The stores obviously know this. Their reasoning is that if you can't afford it, do without. They only want to maximize their profits.

Nevermind all of the perfectly good food that will go to waste. The reason so many people on this planet are starving is not because there isn't enough food. There's plenty, enough for perhaps 12 billion people(albeit, this is propped up by unsustainable consumption of fossil fuels). The vast majority of it is wasted. The real problem is that those living in absolute poverty simply cannot afford it. Large companies that own the land the food is produced on artificially drive the price up to fatten their margins, because they know the wealthy first world countries will still pay it.

The fact that there has not yet been a large scale rebellion of the world's 2 billion poorest people astounds me, let alone a rebellion of America's hundreds of thousands(more likely even millions) of homeless.

[repete86]

Originally Posted by The Toecutter

The fact that there has not yet been a large scale rebellion of the world's 2 billion poorest people astounds me, let alone a rebellion of America's hundreds of thousands(more likely even millions) of homeless.

I was working on that in Miami a month ago. There was a week of action going on, and one of our protests was going to be a tent city on the lawn of the government center. It was pretty small, and the people who organized it had to leave because of things that came up (one's kid got sick and the other's girlfriend hurt her back), and I sort of fell into the organizer's position against my will. The first night, while I was doing night watch, I saw a few homeless people getting harrased by the police for sleeping on a bench (it's illegal to harass homeless people for such things in the state of Florida, but few know this). I told them that they could spend the night at the tent city because we were a legal demonstration with permits and that the pigs couldn't touch us there. The next day, I started hearing reports of the police doing wide sweeps of the city because they wanted everything to look pretty for the tourists coming into town for the Super Bowl. Myself and two people who considered themselves professional homeless people (long story) who saw the tent city and decided to join the cause (we were fighting against gentrification and for low income housing in the city of Miami), and we started wandering around Miami with a megaphone letting all of the homeless know that the pigs were sweeping the city and that they had a safe haven in front of the government center and Police Station. It grew, and one night we had maybe 60 people staying there, so we decided to do an action in front of one of the Super Bowl parties that the city was sponsoring. We got there and made alot of noise before being chased off by the police. We did get some media coverage, but I thought that we would get alot more support than we did. I would like to try it again with more experience now.