68 Wild Dumpster Finds That Prove One Person’s Trash Really Is Another Person’s Treasure

VW BUG. Winched it into the back of the truck. Made an extra 100 bucks.

When I lived in Berkeley (UC Berkeley), the winter and summer break was like a mad frenzy to get as much stuff that kids, who haven't learned the value of a dollar, would just throw away!

Sometimes it would get a little wooly as gangsters from other east bay towns would come by to scavenger as well, but pretty much everyone who went out looking on those last few days of school would find some good stuff.

Best single item I ever scavenged would have to be a Gibson J-60 guitar that had probably been dropped from the top of a dresser or something. A noticeable crack on the top of the body and minor crushing on one of the corners. It cost 70$ to have it fixed.

It now sounds like heaven. I've been told that model, brand new, goes for about 2 grand. Unfortunately, the gorgeous hard case that model comes with was not to be found, but I could hardly complain, eh?

I can't even count the number of tables, bookcases (nice ones, not just stuff "BILLY" boxes from IKEA) recliners and computer towers we took in and re-housed.

darn, Sometimes I miss living there.

My dad is a UPS guy that delivers to an apartment building in DC. People throw out all kinds of furniture just because they don't have room to take it. My favorite thing he has brought home is a 4ft tall cat tree.

used to be a garbage men a few years ago. coolest thing i found was at the local cinema, it was a very large movie poster( like 5 meters wide) from battlefield los angeles made out of vinyl in perfect condition, sadly it couldnt fit inside of the truck without damaging it:( also found a telescope once(broken).

Two full-sized green trash bags filled with large taxidermied birds, like we're talking pheasants, partridges, and some roosters which were posed like they were fighting, with the little metal spurs and everything. I didn't have room to keep them all, nor did I want to, but I kept the best-looking pheasant and gave it to my mom, who was equal parts amused and nonplussed by the thing. And she still has it after all these years!

Foreclosure clean out where it was all piled up at the curb...bags and bags of new with the tags still on clothes, shoes, coats. One bag was junk drawer stuff with a ton of expired, uncashed, checks...one in the $10,000+ range. I was like who gets a check for that amount and just shoves it in a drawer to expire?

Second was someone's ashes. Not an "oops". Pretty obvious from the label on the box and the big TRASH written beside it that they legit didn't want them and didn't know what to do with them. Took them home and put them on my hill with an awesome view of the sunset. Because...what the hell?.

I briefly worked for a guy cleaning out foreclosed homes. Pretty sad, a lot of them looked like they left for work in the morning and never came back. I found a bunch of newer Star Wars figures, a copy of Halo 2, and a sweet electric bass with built-in effects. As well as the absolute nastiest, disgusting deep-freezers and refrigerators you could imagine. Worst part of the job by far.

found a vintage vinyl collection once, pretty sweet score.

My father worked for defense contractor. When they finished a project a lot of the stuff they had bought or built for it could not be reused so it was chucked. One day my father called me and told me to borrow my friend’s pickup and meet him behind the building. I brought home an office desk & chair, a workbench and several heavy duty extension cords.

Unopened bottle of Johnny Walker Red. Was in a trash can at a rest stop. Opened the can to throw something away and it was sitting on top.

I worked next to a Office Depot 25 yrs ago-
They would throw brand new stuff out at certain times of the month. Everyone of my family now has a shredder office, computer desk, tons of cords and office supplies.

A BIG new flat screen TV, not even a scratch visible.

I've picked up all sorts of things. I use to make about $400 a month just picking up scrap aluminum/brass/copper to sell. Until they cracked down on it.

I've gotten a 32 inch flat screen. Sound cable had disconnected inside the TV. Took 5 mins to fix. Worked perfectly fine. Even came with a remote! lol. I've gotten new shoes, lamps, vacuums that were just clogged, fans, tools, etc... All sorts of things. Then the craziest was a cardbox box (when I was scrapping I would frequently look in boxes) with several deflated used adult toy dolls and an empty "adult toys starter kit" package. Worst part was I knew the late 70's man who lived there. Never could look at him the same way again lol.

I was at a friends house and he was cleaning. Threw away all his magic the gathering cards. I went into his trash and took that stuff out and walked it across the street to my house one box at a time.

still can't believe that.

Not me but my dad. We live in a city so he brings all kinds of stuff.

Best was probably when he found a working N64, games included.

But he always tears the code off of thrown away coke boxes for My Coke rewards. He, and indirectly I get free movie tickets whenever. Free popcorn and drinks too.

My ex brother-in-law is still a garbage man to this day. The craziest thing that ever happened was crushing a full propane tank unknowingly. The explosion shot out of the back and caused first-degree burns on his face. This was years ago. Now the trash companies around here use those cool claws, and not the two guys hanging on the back. Moral of the story: dispose of your trash properly.

A lady had between five and ten trash bags full of cat waste each week. I don't know how many cats she had but anyways that's a lot of waste.

You can always check out /r/dumpsterdiving and see people bragging about finding things like unopened packages of shipping peanuts or 300 slightly expired cans of diced tomatoes.

Kind of relevant -

My boyfriend is an EMT and responded to a call a few weeks ago of a homeless guy sleeping in a trashcan and got dumped in the trash. He was squished multiple times and it took a few stops before the garbagemen realized he was there. He was hospitalized obviously and was in pretty bad shape. Super sad situation:*(.

My boyfriend and several of our friends trash men and it's fabulous. Tons of illegal substance and booze. As well as at least 15 iPods, working laptops, great posters and things for the walls, statues, folk art, and even money on occasion. Not to mention metal to scrap.