Dumpster Diving!

Ice Czar said:
well Id say as far as reaching conclusions
any electronics left out for the weather is "trash"
and fair salvage, regardless of its location
and that accusing folks of stealing tends to create problems more often than not :p
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In New York (where I was a retired Police Officer) the taking of trash prior to it being picked up by the Dept of Sanitation is stealing. Now if you read what I had written correctly I did not say he was a thief I stated he "stole" from a church and that took big cajones (it was a compliment actually), no one reporting him here.
 
just my $.02 worth. how can it be stealing from a church if the pastor had discarded the printer? when someone discards something(trash) u pick it up. what's the difference? but then if he had asked the pastor if he no longer needed the printer he could have it gotten without rummaging for it.
 
Hanoverfiste said:
In New York (where I was a retired Police Officer) the taking of trash prior to it being picked up by the Dept of Sanitation is stealing.
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that would be an atypical municiple law
(probably to keep vagrants form creatng a mess and being a nusiance originally)
in fact precedence in Federal Court about law enforcement agencies rights to seize "trash" without a warrant is quite clear, derived for historical (and public) rights of salvage.

that of course would be seperate from considerations of tresspass and assume the "trash" has been moved to a public thourghfare for disposal, afterall rummaging in someones garage through a trashcan wouldnt be kosher :p

Commercial dumpster diving can thus be considered a grey area but historically between recycling efforts (cans), traditional slavage law and "the greater good" there is considerable precedence to argue a case infront of any court
especially if one is salvaging electronic equipment that is in no small part laced with toxic heavy metals destined for a landfill, a problem currently recognized at the Federal, State and most Local levels.

Even when in direct violation of a municiple code, a salvager with a glib tounge has a very good chance of first talking a law enforcement officer into a reasoned response and finally a court, where the worse case senerio is likely a slap on the wrist
 
hmm iv got a local compusa..and many other stores

whens a good time to go dumpster diving? :)
 
little research

http://www.paghat.com/dumpster.html

In 1988 the US Supreme Court ruled that trash-picking is legal. But even before that, there are centuries-old precident laws going back to Jolly Old England that establish as a veritable "right" for scavengers to obtain & keep or sell anything they find in the trash.

A very few cities have nevertheless put restrictions on dumpster diving & local laws should be checked at the library (does no good to ask the police who won't know, won't look it up, but might say it's illegal rather than admit they don't know & don't care if its legal or not).

Exceptions are when dumpsters are locked, are inside gates, or posted no trespassing, or when there specific municiple restrictions which would regard it as theft to remove material from recycle bins as distinct from trash dumpsters of mixed refuse.

By & large when it's in the trash, it's fair game, whether you're the cops going through the trash looking for evidence without a search warrant (in most cases, they don't need a search warrant), a crazy nosy neighbor reading then posting on the web someone's discarded correspondence (no legal right to privacy if it is thrown in the trash, though some copyright protections to reproducing or "publishing" it might apply), a hungry homeless guy looking for pizza rinds, a craftsperson looking for weird junk to weld together into "art", a junk dealer looking for salable freebies, a major recycling company contracting with the city or county but not with whomever threw out the garbage, or a dumpster-diving hobbyist, such as a gardener, salvaging thrown-out potted plants or burst-open compost bags from behind a Walmart or Home Depot or from a compost heap at the cemetery.

The illegal part would be depositing your own trash in someone else's dumpster; circumventing a lock; or leaving a mess. When trash is on the curb or alley, there is not even a trespassing issue, but on business tarmacks or parking lots the issue of trespassing can become clouded, though if legal access is generally permitted for customers, so too it is for dumpster divers.

Garbage left on a property that does not permit general access is illegal to take -- that worn out couch on the curb you can take, but when it was still sitting on the front lawn getting rained on & moldy, it remained the homeowner's personal possession. There are also "intellectual property" issues. For instance, if I throw out a manuscript for an original short story & you find it, the manuscript is yours, but you can't publish it; or if you find a computer harddrive, it's yours, but the software on it might not be legally transferable; & so on.

Most dumpster diving is behind retail shops. The restriction (with exceptions) is usually a lock, not a law. No lock, no prohibition. Dumpster diving has become so common, though, that some cities feel the need to regulate diving, as sometimes guys with big trucks drive through alleys getting recyclables & whatnot, & sometimes bums leave nuisance calling-cards like all the black plastic bags ripped open & scattered about a parking area. A few states or municpalities are mostly concerned with dumpster diving only for the sake of taxing such microbusinesses which scrounge & sell enough stuff to make a living, who often fall underneath the radar of taxing authorities.

Habitual dumpster divers sometimes keep photocopies of articles on the Supreme Court ruling to give to irate shop owners who threaten to call the cops on dumpster divers. Politely informing them of the law, as long as it's not rudely expressed, & your reassurance that you'll be following the law by leaving no mess, usually shuts them up. If the owner doesn't care if it's legal or not but just wants you to go the hell away, they will have to post a no-trespassing sign or put a lock on their dumpster. As many do. Otherwise, if it's in the trash, you can have it.

Some businesses put stuff out back beside the dumpster with the expectationthat it will be hauled away by dumpster divers, & they're glad of it, it keeps them from having to pay for a bigger dumpster. But in some cases, as with bins of cardboard & paper which earn some stores a kick-back on its recycle value, or pallets of broken bricks or pavers which are picked up by the wholesaler for full credit & crushed to reuse, this type of material is not actually in the trash & one must be careful not to steal anything based on proximity to the trash, as this might indeed be an outright theft.

When in doubt, ask permission, but be prepared for disappointment. I once asked at Home Depot if I could have the broken bricks tossed out by the trash & was told yes I could take any of those I wanted. But at a later date I asked at the same store for the same sort of broken masonry bits, I was told I could not have them because they would be picked up by the manufacturer for credit to the store.

The only seriously bad side-effect of dumpster diving is the great many businesses that throw out credit card information. In 2002, Congress once again failed to pass a law requiring businesses to discard c.c. information safely by returning it to a bank or shredding it; Visa & Mastercard persistently lobbies against such laws, making one wonder what in the world the credit card companies have to gain by your numbers being stolen.

The majority of illegally used c.c. numbers are obtained by dumpster diving. Yet people worry about emailing such information, which is still the minority source of stolen numbers (even hackers rely on info found in dumpsters. Dumpsters are the best places to find passwords). If your personal stats are in the trash, they can be legally taken by anyone who finds them, but their use of them will be illegal, which fact won't deter criminals.
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federal precedence

United States Supreme Court - California v.Greewood
 
Ice Czar said:
little research

http://www.paghat.com/dumpster.html



federal precedence

United States Supreme Court - California v.Greewood
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No offense intended here but, California v. Greenwood does not state anywhere in it that picking through trash is "legal" it does however state that it does not violate a defendants 4th amendment right to privacy , the two are not synonymous.
The court also states that"the Police cannot reasonably be expected to avert their eyes from evidence of criminal activity that could have been observed by any member of the public. Hence, "hat a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection." This is basically the "in plain sight" rule. IE Police are in your home under any other pretense and they see a bag of cocaine sitting on the dresser, you can be arrested for said cocaine despite the fact police did not have a warrant for it.
Again the court did not say trash picking(ie: dumpster diving) is legal, it just does not violate your 4th amendment right.
 
Held :

1. The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of a home. Pp. 39-44.

(a) Since respondents voluntarily left their trash for collection in an area particularly suited for public inspection, their claimed expectation of privacy in the inculpatory items they discarded was not objectively reasonable. It is common knowledge that plastic garbage bags left along a public street are readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public.
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thus affirming long held common law
what it didnt do in this case is what is important, it didn't overturn the common law
 
Ice Czar....I noticed you have administrator after your name, maybe we could start a thread on the legalities of Diving in which people could post their local laws. This way we could keep the thread pure. I wish to continue this discussion with you, and allow others to chime in at their leisure. Now on to your reply.

1. The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of a home. Pp. 39-44.

(a) Since respondents voluntarily left their trash for collection in an area particularly suited for public inspection, their claimed expectation of privacy in the inculpatory items they discarded was not objectively reasonable. It is common knowledge that plastic garbage bags left along a public street are readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public.

I also read this in California v. Greenwood but no where does it state (it also does not state, as per your argument) that we as a people have the right to go through others garbage cans, dumpsters ect. Next time you are caught diving in the local Staples dumpster explain to the nice Police Man who asks you what you are doing, that according to the Supreme Court, Staples does not have an expectation of privacy and anything they throw into their dumpster is free for all to see. See if he/she does not arrest your for trespassing. It may not hold up in court based upon your argument but you will have to spend an awful lot of money to get it there. Find for me where it held in common law that people could rummage through others garbage without replrisals from local law enforcement. Remember there are many laws that have been modified or removed despite their "common law" ancestry. Our own Constitution is being trampled on every day not only in the Federal Govt but by local municipalities. Think 2nd Amendment.
Once again I am enjoying this exchange of ideas, but we should possibly move this thread somewhere else so it can continue
 
"Habitual dumpster divers sometimes keep photocopies of articles on the Supreme Court ruling to give to irate shop owners who threaten to call the cops on dumpster divers. Politely informing them of the law, as long as it's not rudely expressed, & your reassurance that you'll be following the law by leaving no mess, usually shuts them up."

hellyeah! thanks, im prinitng this out:

http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/legal/l1980/Greenwood.htm
 
kohan69 said:
"Habitual dumpster divers sometimes keep photocopies of articles on the Supreme Court ruling to give to irate shop owners who threaten to call the cops on dumpster divers. Politely informing them of the law, as long as it's not rudely expressed, & your reassurance that you'll be following the law by leaving no mess, usually shuts them up."
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Kohan read the last posts above between myself and IceCzar we have been discussing the legality of Dumpster Diving. Try telling the Police Officer that you have a right to dive. Not to mention the fact that California V. Greenwood took place where? California. And its decision although very important is not refelctive in the laws of other states. States like New York are not beholden to what other states Supreme Courts decide
 
Hanoverfiste said:
Not to mention the fact that California V. Greenwood took place where? California. And its decision although very important is not refelctive in the laws of other states. States like New York are not beholden to what other states Supreme Courts decide
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the United States Supreme Court, Washington DC
the Highest Court in the land, setting precedence over every State and Federal Court
While not specifically ruling that salvage from publically available trash is legal in all cases it does reaffirm that unless otherwise proscribed by municiple codes that the law of the land and common law dating back litterally to the dawn of time is finders keepers :p
Provided it doesnt transgress other laws such as disturbing the peace, littering, tresspass ect ect ect

what it basically did was find that "trash" is "abandonment of property"
which breaks out as: except for title to land, all rights and interest in property may be lost by abandonment. And that title to abandoned personal property vests in the first person who reduces it to "possession" And that since it belongs to no one it cannot be stolen
http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1334.pdf
http://www22.brinkster.com/paradio/pages1/abandon.htm

Abandonment of property is the voluntary relinquishment of the right of ownership and generally requires two elements, an intent to abandon and some overt act or failure to act that expresses this intent. The idea is that if you leave a worn-out sofa out on the curb on pick-up day anyone who comes along can legally make off with it because you have acted in such a way as to indicate that you have renounced title to it.
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For the purpose of this thread we can safely assume that trash salvage is fully legal in the majority of cases, and that the guidelines specified along with a few precautions to check local ordinaces will be sufficiant to ensure this thread is obeying the forums own rules regarding discussing illegal activities, and that further leveling unsubstantiated charges of theft will be veiwed in a very dim light by the staff. (the reason I joined the discussion and took this little detour)

RE: derailing this thread
well this is certainly "on topic" and considering the length of the thread its derailment would likely take dynamite :p
A central directory of municiple codes would certainly be useful, provided its able to reach some critical mass of utility.

as far as the ever accelerating encroachment of personal rights, I couldnt agree more
America suffers from Juris Mania, the misplaced notion that laws solve problems, and in particular municiple codes are now a viral infection that are adopted wholesale from other municipalities until challenged, and on that note I will depart with the assertion that investing the time and money to assert your right is never a waste
If more people did it, we would could turn around the encroachment and make enforcement of those codes too costly to retain.

PS I think maybe the word CERTIORARI threw you in that last quote, leading you to attribute it to the California Appellate Court as opposed to the US Supreme Court
 
a thrift shop closed and found this not in dumpster, beside it, found some cords for scanners and power adapters for monitors all the monitors work great except the 17" emachine has a weird tint like greenish blue, oh well :/.

heres the pics, sorry for crap pics, brothers new Mini Dv camcorder.(not good for stills)

monitors

ibm monitor

acer scanner

monitors

Digiview monitor

Nec 17" multisync 75

keyboards

scanner

scanner

scanner

mic
 
dwilson041781 said:
a thrift shop closed and found this not in dumpster, beside it, found some cords for scanners and power adapters for monitors all the monitors work great except the 17" emachine has a weird tint like greenish blue, oh well :/.

heres the pics, sorry for crap pics, brothers new Mini Dv camcorder.(not good for stills)

monitors
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/3352/bersa0094zp.jpg[/IG][/URL]
ibm monitor
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9141/bersa0101wg.jpg[/IG][/URL]
acer scanner
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/9646/bersa0114vf.jpg[/IM][/URL]
monitors
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3563/bersa0125ba.jpg[/IM][/URL]
Digiview monitor
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/924/bersa0142kr.jpg[/IG][/URL]
Nec 17" multisync 75
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/8906/bersa0178ft.jpg[/IG][/URL]
keyboards
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/8857/bersa0188ye.jpg[/MG][/URL]
scanner
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/9952/bersa0200mc.jpg[/MG][/URL]
scanner
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/2360/bersa0218rh.jpg[/IG][/URL]
scanne
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/6951/bersa0223pt.jpg[IMG][/URL]
mic
[URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/6334/bersa0236sq.jpg[/IM][/URL][/QUOTE]
I have one of those NEC 75s...not a bad monitor. :)
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Ice Czar said:
Provided it doesnt transgress other laws such as disturbing the peace, littering, tresspass ect ect ect
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Interesting point above, (going off on a tangent here). I pay for the dumpster, therfore making it my property, wouldnt a diver therfore be tresspassing?
Ice Czar said:
unsubstantiated charges of theft will be veiwed in a very dim light by the staff. (the reason I joined the discussion and took this little detour)
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After speaking to a friend of mine last night (he and I dove into more dumpster than I care to recall),I told him I used the word stole.(He vehemently disagreed with the word) maybe I should have used the word procure. My mistake there was no offense meant by it.
 
Hanoverfiste said:
Interesting point above, (going off on a tangent here). I pay for the dumpster, therfore making it my property, wouldnt a diver therfore be tresspassing?
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I would say that provided the dumpster is in a publiclly accessible area (parking lot, alley, street) not locked and not posted with a no tresspassing sign, that items in the dumpster have met the criteria for abandoned property and that barring further ordinaces can be safely reduced to your possession by simply claiming them

Id also point out that you dont generally "buy" dumpsters, they are typically the property of the service you employ, at least around these parts
Im sure there are exceptions but if Im not mistaken there are several dumpster\truck systems\compatibility issues from make to make
 
Ice Czar said:
I would say that provided the dumpster is in a publiclly accessible area (parking lot, alley, street) not locked and not posted with a no tresspassing sign, that items in the dumpster have met the criteria for abandoned property and that barring further ordinaces can be safely reduced to your possession by simply claiming them

Id also point out that you dont generally "buy" dumpsters, they are typically the property of the service you employ, at least around these parts
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If you are outside of your local muncipality's local pickup, you might rent one from a private company.
 
geez
is someone hiting my CompUSSR dumpster?
last 2 times it's looked like a tornado hit the inside (personally, the kitchen refuse i can identify without opening GAH!) :rolleyes:

or maybe the employees read this thread now, ffs it took ya 4 years?
 
for whomever asked, i usually go on sunday. the stores close early, and its a day or 2 before trash pickup. the best place to go around here (johnson city, TN) is office max. me and a friend found a bunch of blankd cdr's, dvd rom, surge protector, and some other stuffs.
we used to hit up, office max, gamestop, cell phone stores (found some "broken" cell phones, which i think was just the outside plastic screen was broke), blockbuster, office depot, and once toys r us (cops came, and haven't been back).
 
I'm quite thrilled right now. I just found a linksys NSLU2 - basically a tiny little NAS adapter. Hooks up to an ethernet network and can hook up to 2 USB2.0 hard drives. Plus, this thing is immensly hackable. I could easily get $60-70 for it on ebay, but I think I'm going to keep it and play around with it. After all, that's the main reason I go DD.

Some other things I've found recently: Epson C62 inkjet printer(haven't checked it yet), tiny Pentium 3 800MHz system(everything onboard - was used as a POS system. No power supply, but I fixed that). I also got a couple large HP multifunction devices - a PSC 750 and an officejet 5110, but I haven't played around with either of those much.
 
My best dive netted this

ASUS A7v266 MB, Antec True 550 PSU with 24 on 12V, A D-Link Network Adaptor, Generic CD/RW and a AMD Palamino 2000+ AGOGA Stepping week 02 2002.
 
jpmkm said:
I'm quite thrilled right now. I just found a linksys NSLU2 - basically a tiny little NAS adapter. Hooks up to an ethernet network and can hook up to 2 USB2.0 hard drives. Plus, this thing is immensly hackable. I could easily get $60-70 for it on ebay, but I think I'm going to keep it and play around with it. After all, that's the main reason I go DD.

Some other things I've found recently: Epson C62 inkjet printer(haven't checked it yet), tiny Pentium 3 800MHz system(everything onboard - was used as a POS system. No power supply, but I fixed that). I also got a couple large HP multifunction devices - a PSC 750 and an officejet 5110, but I haven't played around with either of those much.
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wow nice find. What store dumpster did u find that in? Compusa or Staples?
 
c0ex said:
wow nice find. What store dumpster did u find that in? Compusa or Staples?
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It's an office equipment shop here in Kirksville. It's not part of a chain or anything. Though I consider that a good thing, since there's no bullshit corporate regulations or anything like that. :cool:
 
jpmkm said:
It's an office equipment shop here in Kirksville. It's not part of a chain or anything. Though I consider that a good thing, since there's no bullshit corporate regulations or anything like that. :cool:
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nice, all i got is staples but im going to start working there so my dumpster diving is coming to a end!!! :(
 
Wow this is insane. I never knew you could score so much from a dumpster.

I have a Officemax/Wal-Mart/Sams Club/Circuit City really close and a staples not far away either. I think ill go check em out.

Anyone in Upstate New York Triple Cities area wanna go? (Endwell/Endicott/Vestal/Johnson City/Binghamton) let me know, id like a partner :D
 
Just resurrected a tossed-out HP Laserjet 6P from a university dumpster. It had a massive paper jam in the front, and I had to partially disassemble it to remove all of the paper, but I did that, cleaned the transfer roller, and it works. Even had an HP toner cartridge still in it. Dug up two 4MB memory modules to bring it to 10MB, and replaced my wife's slower Laserjet 4P with a model that's twice as fast, and has 1/3 the page count (27k vs. 97k).

Total cost: nothing, and I am a happy camper.
 
Went diving in the chicago area and got

Perfectly fine working microwave (clean too)
bunch of USB cords, most worked
Antec 430 power supply, had a big dent in it but i hammered it out and its working great,
 
Scored a 3 pack jumbo fountain pack (fireworks) in my apartment's dumpster a few minutes ago =) Just sitting right on top of everything else.. Still shrinkwrapped and dry.
 
Me and a friend went Dumpster Diving today. Greatest trip yet. Found a 27 inch TV and 2 stereo systems without speakers. I let my friend have the TV and i took the stereos. TV ended up being broken, stereos ended up working fine, so we took the speakers out of the TV, assembled them onto a cardboard box and saudered it to fit into the back of the stereo. It's beautiful, funny, and might i say rather sexy. The volume button got smashed in, but you can still adjust it. It works great, the speakers are actually decent, and for about 30 minutes of work i got myself a brand new stereo system. Here's a pic of my glorious find/build.
IMG_2897.jpg
 
LawGiver said:
i still cant believe you people actualy dumpster dive....
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I still can't believe people throw away valuable stuff and not recycle. I guess it's cooler too be wasteful.. :tard:
 
went dumpster diving today and found what looked like a brand new all black shiny hp deskjet 5650 printer, took it home to see what was wrong with it THE INK CARTRIDGE WASNT PUSHED ALL THE WAY IN LOL so i did that and it installed fine and had two brand new ink cartridges. What a great find
 
apex32 said:
Wow this is insane. I never knew you could score so much from a dumpster.

I have a Officemax/Wal-Mart/Sams Club/Circuit City really close and a staples not far away either. I think ill go check em out.

Anyone in Upstate New York Triple Cities area wanna go? (Endwell/Endicott/Vestal/Johnson City/Binghamton) let me know, id like a partner :D
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Best hits I've ever had were behind OEM and PC repair shops. There's a lot of unsellable-but-good stuff that just gets thrown out.
 
Insted of going Dumpster diving go to the land fill, where the company drops the junk from the trash compactors. And Jackpot, Tons of electronics. At least my luck.
 
Yeah, but most places have laws against removing items from a dump, but not from a dumpster ^_^

Oh, and thought I'd post up my find from today, got a copy of Office 2003, original CD, and CD Key :D Just sitting on top of the bin, no digging or anything... of course I did anyways ;)
 
I work next to Staples... They are supposed to destroy software when they get rid of it. I know this for a fact. Guess they missed the memo. Lots of Symantec software to be had, with the occasonal Adobe stuff. No need for bit torrent on my comp. :cool:
 
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