I Love Trash!

[captainmoody]

That guy driving that old chevy van in the photo is a "scrapper" he has nothing but aluminium lawn furniture and bbq lids piled on that poor beast. Some of those guys make out pretty well lately as scrap metal prices are at an all time high!

[Chad Hauris]

Linux will fix those trashed PC's up good. All the computers I use at home are salvaged and had really messed up windows 98 and NT installs. Slackware did the trick. Those 500-800 mhz machines will do graphical web browsing just as well as on Windows, using SLackware and Mozilla.

[holmesuser01]

The Generation III Kirby vac is one of the ones with the automatic transmission that pulls it around the floor.

I've found several '60's-era Kirbys recently at yard sales, and the thrift stores. The local Kirby distributor is more than happy to get me NOS parts for these old ones, if they need them, which they usually dont.

They usually can be had for around $5, like yours. Amazing, considering what they cost when new... I have sold several OLD kirby's to friends that think they are the best things ever after trying them on their carpets. Usually, new motor bearings, brushes, and a drive belt is all they need, if that!

[jerryjg]

A couple of months ago, I saw an antique clock in the garbage. It was being thrown out by someone, but i made the mistake of asking the wrong people if I could have it, simply because there trash pile was right next to the people who were actually throwing it out. Well, of course the other people layed claim to it, which i presume they had no more right than me. . That taught me a lesson, go at dusk after the other people have disappeared,and dont ask anyone. If someone complains, I would lie and say I asked the person throwing it out and they said I could have it. If they happen to be the ones throwing it out and call my bluff and tell me to leave it alone, well, I will.

[dr.ido]

I've been picking stuff up the off street for a long time. I started when I was 8 years old. Back then I wasn't so much fixing things as taking them apart and trying to make things out of the parts. It's different now, but back then people would start putting stuff out on the street 2 weeks before the collection date. I'd could cover the entire suburb on foot in that time.

Back then (early 80s) I was mainly finding black and white tube console sets.
I used to push an old pram around the streets with some tools in it. They were too big for me to move, so I'd strip out the chassis right there on the street. Often my parents would complain when they came home to find the entire lounge room floor covered in dusty TV chassis. Occasionally I'd find a portable set and drag it home intact. Those days I didn't really get much working. After a blowing a few fuses I wasn't allowed to play with mains power. It's kind of hard to get tube stuff working on batteries.

Twenty years later I'm still picking stuff up, but it's easier now with a station wagon. Now people are only allowed to put stuff out on the weekend before the collection day and scavenging is now illegal. I still do the rounds, as do others including some guys who I've seen out there since the days I was out there with my pram. One guy I know still goes out despite being caught numerous times and fined thousands of dollars. Most people don't have a problem with you taking the stuff as long as you don't make a mess or too much noise. I've got the stuff in the car and I'm long gone before anyone has time to complain anyway. The tube sets are long gone, but there's still other good stuff out there to be had.

[macthis]

Over the years I have rescued many items. My favorites include a NAD 2200, Marantz 2270, a few Sansui receivers, and a pair of Infinity speakers. My wife found a really nice high dollar BMX bike that needed new inner tubes and a chain. Lot's of pc,s and cheapo speakers I give to friends that could use. The NAD and Marantz were both within three blocks from home and work perfectly. Nice!

[RetroHacker]

I've been "makeing the rounds" around the area here for a few years, and I've found some pretty good stuff. This year I didn't find a whole lot, but I came back with a lot of perfectly working TV's - including a perfectly working 32" RCA set, only a few years old! Not a lot out there in terms of tube sets, but I did find a low end GE tube B&W console, and a tube GE portable with no tubes or knobs. Never found a roundie, although last year I found a nice CTC-28. Typically people are really friendly or just watch quietly while I load things in the car, but I've had a couple people talk to me, thrilled that I was taking the TV, and amazed that I was able to fix them. The _only_ time I've ever been told off by a homeowner was this one time last year when a friend and I were out in the outskirts, in the dark - it was like 9:00, and I had spotted a tube console radio - it turned out to be a Victor Electrola, but it was totally trashed - it had clearly been sitting outside for YEARS, the cabinet had all seperated, the legs had rotted off, and the bottom was full of mud and crud. But the chassis weren't rusted (what did they make those things out of, I've never seen one rust), and it had all it's tubes, so we were pulling out the chassis and the speaker. My friend was holding my old Maglite, and I was prying the power chassis out with a tire iron (the bolt holding the bracket in was hopelessly rusted), I'd just gotten it free and we heard a woman yell "There's nothing good there - it's all garbage - get out of here". My friend replied - "We know, we just want some parts here, we'll be gone in a minute". To which we heard "You could get shot out here!". We'd already gutted the thing, and we were about to leave anyway, so I tossed the power chassis in the trunk with the rest of the parts, and we headed off, laughing the whole way. We had visions of her calling the police, "Someone is stealing my garbage!" - "OK, lady, we'll be right over, yeah. We'll catch those trash theives" <click>.

I've been over to the side of a road, my flashers on and loading an old television into the car and had police drive right by. They could care less. It's basically a free for all, and nobody is going to give you a hard time for scavenging from the garbage.

-Ian

[captainmoody]

Here in michigan it is illegal to trash pick in some areas! Especially in Saint Clair Shores where I picked up the two sets from the curb a few weeks ago!
No problems though, I was pretty quick! I think the first time is a warning then after that you get a stiff fine. There seems to be little or no enforcement of the law anyway as I see a lot of people picking.

[Arkay]

The best thing I ever found in the trash was probably the Infinity IRS III speakers I picked up a couple months ago (I posted about them yesterday in another thread, my first post).

I also spent a year studying in Germany as a teenager, and loved to go out hunting for stuff on their designated "extra waste day". Got some great old books and an old tube radio with a dial that had lots of European city names scattered across the dial, showing where one should tune in to receive broadcasts from those different cities.

Here in Hong Kong, I have occasionally found old carved Chinese blackwood furniture, and once found 19 panels of artistically carved colored lacquer used for folding screens. Five of those now decorate the living room wall, and the rest are stored under the bed.

The best thing I had to pass up on (because I had no way to get it home at the time) was a smallish but gorgeous-looking old upright piano veneered in one of the most beautiful woods I've ever seen, and in pristine condition. It had a deep reddish cast, might have been real Cuban Mahogany. I was pretty sure the keys were covered in real ivory, too, but were unscratched, unsplit... the whole thing was obviously old, but in near-new condition and stunning. I ran my fingers up and down the keys, and it was perfectly in tune. Someone had obviously taken real loving care of it. I wanted it, but it was too heavy for me to take by myself, and I had somewhere else I had to go first. When I finished what I had to do I went back there (about two hours later) to see if I could somehow arrange assistance to take it home, but someone else had already gotten it.

A lot of people here don't want to take things from the trash, partly because of embarrassment ("loss of face") and partly because of superstitious beliefs that if the person who used to own it was evil or unlucky, some of that might still be in the thing. They don't want to bring home some bad luck (or a ghost) with the item. I have no such qualms. If it is nice and/or I can clean and fix it up, I'm happy to recycle things that other wise would end up in the landfill.

[JCFitz]

I missed a nice CTC169 RCA projection tv this morning.I was in a hurry to get to work and saw the tv.Had no help and a customer's chassis in the way.Was afraid to bother the people.They put it out at the last minute as today was pickup day and it wasn't there last night.Wasn't even there when my cousin drove the by on his way home with the schoolbus he drives/Would have had time last night.Tried to get the guys I know who work right down the street to get it on their cell phones.Neither had their phones on.Bummer. Sure enough when I got off work the tv was gone.I can get $300 and up for used modern projection tvs.My boss looks down on me picking trash tvs even if it's a bigscreen.But he will go get one in a heartbeat if someone calls the shop wanting to give one away.Said if he saw it in the back of the truck he'd probably push it out on the road.

[andy]

My luck seems to me changing. On my way to the store I saw a nice 20" Sony at the end of someone's drive. It was too far into the drive to be sure it was trash, so I knocked on the door and they told me to take it. Upon closer inspection, the cord had been cut, so I guess it was obviously trash. It's a nice "V" series which was the top of the line 20". I put a plug on it and it powered up with a very dim picture, but normal on screen display (so I knew the CRT was ok). While going over the board for bad soldering, I found a small crack near the flyback. 4 jumper wires later it has a nice bright picture. After some adjustment it will look great.

I've been needing a TV since I moved here 6 weeks ago. All my TVs are still in storage and the 27" Panasonic I brought got smashed by UPS.

[compucat]

Originally Posted by captainmoody

Here in michigan it is illegal to trash pick in some areas! Especially in Saint Clair Shores where I picked up the two sets from the curb a few weeks ago!
No problems though, I was pretty quick! I think the first time is a warning then after that you get a stiff fine. There seems to be little or no enforcement of the law anyway as I see a lot of people picking.

Why would there be a law against scavenging? It keeps some stuff out of the landfill. You would think the environmentalists would support that. We all should get a tax credit for all the sets we have kept out of the trash heap. It is totally harmless to trash pick and I've seen the tras collectors do it themselves. Many a gutted tv got put in the front seat of the trash truck on collection day. There are too many rules governing inconsequential human activity.

[kx250rider]

Most of the laws prohibiting scavenging are to prevent stealing private information, as far as I recall reading articles about it over the years. Once in awhile a scandal comes up where a celebrity's trash is ransacked and some kind of item or document gets publicized. They get really nasty about enforcing those laws in the wealthier neighborhoods. But I have picked up plenty of nice TVs in Beverly Hills alleys; including a mint-condition working CTC-5 Special table model out back of a house on Tower Road. (this was about 1984).

The moral of the story is be discreet, quick, and act dumb if caught. Being a tech-nerd, and offering a long detail of why a particular TV is a historically significant piece that needs rescuing can help too... It will show the officer that you are a harmless nut case into saving old TV sets, and you aren't after Jennifer Lopez' underwear nor Donald Trump's social security number

Charles

[andy]

If anything, there should be a law against throwing away perfectly good things!

[dr.ido]

Around here the reason given for the anti scavenging bylaws is one of two things depending on who you talk to.

One is that the contractors collecting the waste factor in getting a certain amount for what they pick up (scrap, etc) into their tender price. Therefore, collecting it is effectively stealing from the contractor. Indeed according to the exact wording of the bylaw if you put something out, but then change your mind and take it back inside your are breaking the law. It effectively becomes the property of the council when it hits the street. Considering that for the last couple of years I have observed the contractors throwing absolutely everything into the compactor truck I don't understand this myself.

The other more plausible reason is residents complaints about some of poor behaviour of some people collecting. Spreading stuff all over the road looking for things, making excessive noise, blocking driveways/traffic. While I can understand this to a certain degree I don't see why a specific law against scavening is needed to stop those causing the problems. If they are making a mess fine them for littering, if they are blocking driveways fine them for illegal parking. Why punish those that do all they can to avoid trouble. I've never left a mess behind or blocked traffic.

I have noticed that every year the warnings about scavenging are stressed more and more in the local papers and the notices announcing the collection. In the same way I have also noticed more people who will pile their stuff on their front lawn with a free to take sign and only move it out onto the street at the last moment.

It seems that most people (at least around here) don't have a problem with scavenging, but I guess those that do are especially vocal.