The other day I was in desperate need of a box to ship something I had sold online and didn’t want to have to BUY a box. Because really, doesn’t the world have enough cardboard boxes to go around?
Anywho, while I was walking Lucy I noticed a Clif Bar box sticking outside of someone’s recycle bin {I did not OPEN the bin}. I snatched it up lickety split and walked home carrying the box like a total weirdo. A few years ago a neighbor left some decorative pumpkins along side her trash can for the garbage man to pick up and I snagged those too without giving it a second thought.
But then as I was walking back home I was like, would someone consider that stealing? Or is one housewife’s trash another housewife’s treasure? Personally, I would be a little freaked out if someone knocked on my door and asked to take a box out of my recycle bin so they could use it to ship something. I threw it away. I’m done with it. If you want it, take it. No need to ask.
I mean really, once it’s on the curb, it’s fair game, right?
What do you think? Have you ever found anything good on trash day?
~Mavis
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Jessica says
I also stopped the car and loaded in someone’s pile of fall decor pumpkins from their garbage pile… I’ve been feeding them to my chickens all winter. It feels weird to do, but it seemed sillier to throw them away when I could recycle them into eggs for my family
Jeanie says
If it is in the trash bin, it is fair game. Now if it had been a box that someone had received merchandise in, I probably would make a point of removing their mailing label. On another note, we have a neighbor (we live in an HOA mandated neighborhood and don’t have a lot of garage sales) who quarterly puts a folding table at the edge of her yard with things people can take for free on it. The stuff is always very nice. I actually gave a large decorative serving platter picked up off the free table as a gift. And proudly so. She never leaves it up longer than a few hours and I have seen people slam on their brakes to “shop”. I love the idea.
Carla says
Once items are put out to trash the police do not need a warrant to search and/or confiscate. I think it is okay to take it.
Heather says
Totally NCIS!
AmyWW says
I think it’s a great idea. If I’m not in the mood to have a yard sale but think there are things that people will want, I leave the stuff I don’t want any more on the grass by the curb. They are almost always picked up before the garbage truck comes. I never “shop” trash piles because I’m always trying to get rid of things and never trying to add to the stuff already in my house. Also, I always just want to get home if I’m driving. I never drive around looking for stuff. If I needed a box, though, and saw one in a recycle bin, I’d definitely
pick it up.
Katy says
I needed a 2 liter plastic bottle last summer to make an ice pack for my guinea pigs. (You freeze a bottle of water and wrap it in a towel and put it in their cage when it’s hot out and they can lie down next to it and stay cool.) We don’t buy soda or juice or milk or anything that comes in a bottle like that so I went and found one in a recycle bin in our apartment building. It got another use before moving on to the recycling (I used it for months actually) and I didn’t have to buy something I didn’t want to buy!
Dayle says
Thank you for the Guinea Pig cooling trick!! I’m going to have to find a bottle now too. 😀
Katy says
It took my pigs a few tries to “get it” so don’t be discouraged if they ignore it the first time you put it in their cage!
Brenda says
I live out in the country and I put stuff out by the road all the time. If I can’t use it anymore or it has some other value, usually, someone else can. I have put out metal chair frames that I didn’t want to fix or recycle, large Step2 type kids toys that we weren’t using that my kids would have destroyed, old bikes with flat tires that I didn’t want to fix. I try to put them out at least 3 days before the trash pick-up. Almost every time they are gone in a day or two. There are a lot of people who have a continuous pile of “junk” to bring to the metal recycling place to sell. I have also stopped and taken treasure from the end of someones driveway. If it looks pretty new or valuable, I always knock on the door to be sure they meant it for trash. So I think that it is OK to take a box from someone’s recycling bin.
Randi says
My mom’s neighborhood has an informal policy of ‘anything by the curb is free game’. Yes they need to be careful when they are cleaning the garage that items they want don’t walk away, but she has really up/recycled items this way. Last summer items that went were a hot tub (!), pots, chairs, branches, wood, old couch etc. Turns out one of her neighbors took the hot tub, spiffed it up and installed it on their deck. Then they invited mom over for wine and hot tubbing!
Angela F says
Nah, I’ve done it. 🙂 Once it’s been tossed, I think it’s fair game! Plus, recycling, reducing, and re-using! 🙂
Diane says
If it was sticking out under the lid or in a bin w/no lid and on top and it’s clear you weren’t rummaging around, I think it’s OK. People in our area don’t like it when someone lifts the recycle can lid to go through someone else’s recycling. I too wouldn’t want someone to come look through my recycling if I didn’t know the person or what their intention was.
Laura says
The best thing I ever found in the trash was a KitchenAid stand mixer! Seriously – it was sitting out by the trash with all the attachments – the only thing missing was the bowl. I carried it home, cleaned it up and sold it on Craigslist.
“Gomi hunting” (gomi means trash in Japanese) was a regular thing when we lived in Japan. Four times a year people put out heavy items, and us crazy Americans scored beautiful antiques like ceramic hibachis, treadle sewing machines, tarsus (cabinets), etc.
Back when our kids were in elementary school, I used to always grab trash that had those “Boxtops for Education” if it was sitting on top (I did not go through anyone’s trash!). The kids and I also used to occasionally carry bags around and pick up recyclable cans and bottles before Portland changed over to the big covered trash bins.
Lisa Millar says
I dropped in to say the same thing about Japan!!
I lived there for a number of years and it was crazy what people threw away. Us foreigners could furnish an apartment easily!!
Its getting slightly better but its such a huge throwaway society – they’ve even built islands out of their rubbish!!
So yes – its on the curb, its unwanted – its fair game! 🙂
Gen says
I have picked up a few things that someone else has put at the curb, there is nothing wrong with doing so, IMO.
One of my favorite picks, is an oak quilt rack that I got about 5 years ago. There wasn’t a scratch on it, it’s very sturdy, absolutely nothing wrong with it. I gave it a good cleaning and we’ve had it ever since.
Cass says
I used to be one of the world’s best “dumpster diver”. Computer desk? yup, from beside the dumpster. Sewing machine, 2 lawn chairs, night stand for daughter’s room, small dresser…all from discards of other folks.
Currently I can proudly say that every single one of the wicker baskets in my home are from along side the road, with or without a “free” sign on them. (But obviously discarded by previous owners)
So, yes, if it is out by the curb where the cops can take it without a warrant then it is free game for you take home for your own use. (I wish I lived closer to you, I cut up boxes to start my fire with, I have so many. I would bring you a trunk load for your pleasure)
Rosaleen says
There was a perfectly good ironing board in the dumpster at an apartment complex we lived for about 6 months of TDY. I cleaned it up, covered it, and used it while we were there, passing it on to another temporary resident when we left. Why waste money buying one?
Andrea says
At the end of a college semester, you can pick up a lot of stuff driving around the areas where the students live. They will get rid of nearly brand new stuff because they no longer need it since they are out of college. It’s a fun time to curb shop. When getting rid of stuff, I put a box on the curb that has free written on it. It disappears like crazy.
maria says
Sitting by the curb is fair game. I’ve taken three broken chairs, a broken rocker, a side table, a metal chest with 36 individual drawers, more chunks of wood than I can count, bricks, boxes, and that’s just all that I can remember off the top of my head. Made a garden planter out of the chairs and rockers, used the side table for years in my own home. I remember when I was done with it I set it outside and someone picked it up and said I can’t believe they threw this away! I repainted the metal chest and sold it for $400. I also got a three chest plastic drawer, a metal wastebasket, an 8-foot plastic table, a milk carton, a roll of trash bags and a cleaning caddy filled with Meyer’s cleaning supplies by dumpster diving at the end of the semester at the local college.
I always leave the pile neatly restacked after I’ve finished with it.
I draw the line at anything fabric but if I can use it, it fits in my vehicle, and it’s on the curb, it’s mine.
If I have time, I will drive around at the end of the month to see what people throw out. I dumpster dive at the end of the semester–May is particularly nice because it isn’t too hot and the students are leaving for the summer so they throw out everything imaginable.
Kathy G says
I call it Curbco. Many a thing has come home with me. Some of my favorite items we own came from someone else’s discards.
CdnErin says
I think it’s fair game if it’s out at the curb. HOWEVER … opening garbage bags and/or bins & rooting around is TOTALLY CREEPY.
Liz says
So this may seem strange but it is actually illegal to take garbage or recycling out of someone’s bin once it is on the curb. Once the bin is on the curb the contents legally belongs to the city/garbage company. They sell the recycling/compost able waste for profit. All that being said, I doubt anyone would prosecute someone taking a single box out of a recycle bin.
Susan says
My brother once found a stack of blue jeans clean, ironed and folded on the top of a garbage can…they fit him perfectly. Good deal eh! I put things out on our curb and they all go in a day or two. I also stop at piles in our neighbourhood when I see them.
SandyF says
“It’s best to avoid taking anything at all from the recycling bin, as many cities have enacted anti-scavenging laws to keep people from stealing (and making money from) recyclable materials. In New York City, the Department of Sanitation owns all recyclables that have been put on the curb for pickup. Still, thieves are actively collecting recyclables in the city. A ring of cardboard thieves, who pick up bundles of boxes that set out for recycling, could be costing New York City as much as $8 to $10 million a year, reported the Atlantic Cities.”
It is illegal where I live, but I see people do it every week-mostly taking out recyclables for cash. As I figure they need it to survive, its ok with me. But it is stealing from the city that counts on that recyclable revenue.
Kelly Utkin says
If it is on the curb to be tossed it is definitely fair game! If it was something big, I might knock and ask if I could take it but, other than that I think that it is up for grabs!
Lauren says
We have a recycling program in South Australia that pays 5 cents for drink cans and glass ( mostly beer) bottles, we don’t really have the time or want to collect these and return them to the collection point so they just go in our regular recycling bin.
There are people that come past and go through the bins to collect them, this bothers some people but I tend to think that as long as they don’t make a mess with all the other recycling that can’t be cashed in, go ahead and good luck.
In our area we are also entitled to four hard refuse pick ups per year (paid for within our rates) every time we have used this service most of the stuff was picked up before the removal people came.
Kirsty says
Once a year we have a hard rubbish collection. Everything you no longer want is picked up from your nature strip. SO many people scavenge, repurpose, reuse what others no longer have a use for.
By the time the crushers arrive there is no much of anything useful left.
The first part of the Re jingle is Refuse to buy / take
Refuse that single use plastic bag, refuse to buy overpackaged items
Mrs. C. says
Legally, it is trash and perfectly OK to take it. That is why cops don’t need search warrants to search trash that is put out to be picked up.
Ranee says
Where I live, it is illegal to leave items on the curb with a “FREE” sign on them. If large items are left with the trash, the items will not be picked up by the garbage truck – only if the items are in the bin. No loose items that the “grabber” can’t pick up. It is up to the owner to properly dispose of the large items. Seems very wasteful to me.
Julie says
I have rescued more things than I can recount. My dining room table was a curbside find. I used to deliver a once a week local paper and the day coincided with trash pick up. I delivered close to 3,000 papers and did it thru the night so I didn’t have to even worry with strange looks.
Melissa says
I love you Mavis, really I love the way you think – we waste so much in our culture simply out of fear of embarrassment or seeming weird, and honestly that would probably keep me from grabbing a box from a stranger’s recycle bin, lol, but I’m all for it – I’ll use whatever I have to to avoid buying a box to ship something in!
Kellie R says
I had such a laugh imagining you going into full-stealth mode – the Mission Impossible theme song playing in the background – flitting from tree to tree with your illicit empty shipping box swiped from the neighbors recycling.
I once scored three dining room chairs at the curb and was going for the fourth when that persons neighbor came running out of the house yelling at me for trash-picking. Apparently it was illegal in that town (similar in aspect to yours). I hightailed it out of there before they caught up to me. LOL.
Julia says
I curb surf all the time!! Just this week so far I got 3 stacking plastic drawers in great shape and a 4 tier wooden shelving unit that just needed the top shelf glued on. Last week I scored a large pet carrier and an extra large dog crate. I pick things up all the time. I also dumpster dive and “shop” in the dumpsters of a local college on graduation day. I keep what we can use and sell or pass on the rest.
Kari says
During the “coupon craze” a few years ago, I used to go out the night before recycle collection, and take people’s unused coupon inserts. I figured by the time they were curbside, they were fair game. I can’t tell you how much money I saved by using those. I no longer do that, as our new city doesn’t separate recycleables. Plus, I no longer do the extreme coupon thing.
Peggy says
If it’s trash night and it’s at the curb or the end of the driveway (for country folks), it’s fair game! No need to ask, just take it. 🙂
Sudney says
Given that I have had an unwell person dog through my recycling bin on the side of my house (amongst stealing plants, and other things), personally, not that it was the box that was taken, but it was the concept of invasion of our personal space. I would have given the crazy lady the boxes of she had asked if I had any, and it wouldn’t freak me out at all. But instead I had to put signs on my trash and recycling bins. She also stole 18 yard waste bond from the neighborhood though. I would ask first!! Unless it is on the street directly.
Claire says
I’m with y’all. We are doing community service through “repurposing”!
Emily says
Once it’s out on the curb for garbage collection, it’s fair game, but as others have mentioned you do need to be knowledgeable about regulations within your picking area. I haven’t grabbed anything recently but did see a cute little end table out just yesterday that I almost went back for. However, I’m currently in a purging phase to try to declutter and simplify things.
mandy says
Living in a college town. We have a curbside thing. If it’s out there, it’s out there to go to a new person. I’ve ended up with many things, including my dyson vacuum, most recently an antique desk and chair and my all time fave so far, Two boxes of iris bulbs someone had thinned out, so the ones I didn’t share are blooming in my garden right now.