The Best Trash

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Where to find the best trash? I mean TVs, furniture, painting, computers, lamps, video games, records, stereos, video tapes, and so on.

I'm split between the city and the suburbs. The cities have more interesting stuff, weird stuff, and the volume of trash seems larger. The suburbs, however, have the things that actually work and are worth money. Electronics in particular. The holy grail is college students leaving for the summer. Anything they can't fit in the Jetta has to go, even if it's like new.

In my experience dumpter diving, though the hippest way of scavenging, is also the most dangerous and least fruitful. You'll find rotten food and month-old exercise magazines with no covers.

Please help, I've hit a garbage dead end.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, and yard sale leftovers. Those are also very nice.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Apartment complexes, near college campuses, especially expensive college campuses, towards the end of semesters.

Also, you should check out my apartment complex, because everyone is rapidly chucking out everything, since we were given seven weeks to move out and most of these folks have lived here a long time. There's a perfectly good couch out there, and a portable radio that's still working (and the fact that I know this means they left the batteries in it).

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Apartment complexes, near college campuses, especially expensive college campuses, towards the end of semesters.

Spot on. My roomates and I once scored a green vinyl hide-a-bed couch in perfect condition from beside a dumpster. We called it The Brady Bunch couch.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Sometimes I wonder why people pay for anything, especially kitch.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Kitsch you can sit on!

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I found an IBM thinkpad laptop. It's old, but it had Windows 95, Word 97, and an active matrix screen. I use it for Cannon Fodder, Mortal Kombat, and Sam and Max. At 13 I would've killed for it.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I came close to giving away my 486, which would've been a nice find for somebody, but realized I still have lots of games for it, so I can just use it as a very expensive Atari. (But an Atari that plays Leisure Suit Larry and Myst!)

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Dumpsters at universities and college campuses can be nifty. My old roommate and I spent two days rifling through the dumpster by the old arts building at the University of Western Ontario after they had spent their new budget. We came out with film and slide projectors, overheads, circuit boards, miscellaneous switches and wires, old computers and other neat stuff for our suddenly cyberpunk apartment. Every party we hosted that year was complemented by very weird projections onto our apartment walls.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What do big companies do with all their trash? I'm sure that lots of CRT projectors have been thrown out in favor of sexy new LCD versions, old computers, office chairs that don't meet ergonomic standards, multi-line phones, motivational posters.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:04 (twenty-two years ago)

they give that stuff away to schools n' shit

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah man, schools? Pansies.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

My employer is going to throw away a color laser printer that isn't easy enough to use. I need to intercept it, and either start a cut-rate printing business or sell it on Ebay.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:12 (twenty-two years ago)

go to any college campus at the end of the year (right now!)
and often they put out huge dumpsters that college kids (and even locals) throw away stuuf in. College kids (esp the rich kind) buy things at college to put in their rooms, and when they leave to go home they don't want to carry it all the way back (chances are the richer kids live farther away.) So they just dump all the perfectly good stuff somewhere.

I've aquired on previous end-of-year dumpster dives:
clean working refrigerator, tables, lamps, chairs, broken Alamo guitar with bigsby tremolo (almost fixed just waiting on one part from ebay), a broken amp. countless things to hit for homemade drum set, coutless little metal pieces for I don't know what yet, etc.

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:16 (twenty-two years ago)

also working projector, snare drum stand, large (very large) novelty sombrero, box of keys, and other great things.

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:18 (twenty-two years ago)

actually almost everything I personal own I got from a dumpster. (except for most of my clothing and this computer and some musical equitment.

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 23 May 2003 05:23 (twenty-two years ago)

six years pass...

almost everything I own I got from my personal dumpster (except for my most clothing of this computer and some quit musicals)

― bamcquern, Saturday, 19 September 2009 23:20 (sixteen years ago)

eight years pass...

Some people really get a kick out of putting out their trash in front their houses for other people to pick up. Spotted today:
A wicker basket
An 8x11” watercolor
Parenting manuals in German
Fashion magazines
A Mary Higgins Clark novel

― calstars, Monday, 15 January 2018 22:02 (eight years ago)

A bunch of vhs tapes too

― calstars, Monday, 15 January 2018 22:03 (eight years ago)

what were the vhs tapes of

― infinity (∞), Monday, 15 January 2018 22:58 (eight years ago)

Looked like Home recorded shit. Could have harvested those commercials.

― calstars, Tuesday, 16 January 2018 00:15 (eight years ago)

one month passes...

Found an iPhone in the park this afternoon

― calstars, Monday, 5 March 2018 19:24 (eight years ago)

in a waste bin? if not, the owner probably would like it back.

― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 5 March 2018 20:30 (eight years ago)

No shit

― calstars, Monday, 5 March 2018 20:32 (eight years ago)

it was an odd choice of thread revives to put that in

― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 5 March 2018 20:36 (eight years ago)

Sorry big A

― calstars, Monday, 5 March 2018 20:44 (eight years ago)

dope ass trash

― sarahell, Monday, 5 March 2018 20:55 (eight years ago)

There was mad dirt in the connector and all over - like it had been out for a week or two. It’s a white OG 5.

― calstars, Monday, 5 March 2018 21:08 (eight years ago)

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