Skip Diving

Ray Palmer

Since the lock down I found I had a lot more time on my hands by not needing to commute. Also spending much more time at home meant I saw more things I wanted to do with the house. Supply chains were severally disrupted due to the canal issue and the pandemic so materials are both difficult to get and expensive.

As others were doing similar the amount of skips around me shot up with people clearing out spaces and doing work. This lead to me checking the skips out for materials I needed or wanted. Saved me money and I enjoy the treasure hunting aspect of it. Adverts can be good to get tools as they are way cheaper so have a pretty extensive tool set now.

Was talking to a person in work who is a little bit more bothered about their appearance than others and mentioned this and they were horrified. Seemed to think I was like some homeless person struggling to survive. Now I am paid more than this person and we both know it so they seemed to have an issue with that I would do this and have more money than them. They got a custom kitchen added to their small house for €12k a 4 years ago, galley kitchen. Anyway they are the type of person that sees something on sale and thinks it is worth less as a result as opposed to good value.

While they were an extreme example others thought it a bit lowly of me for doing it. I don't mind I finally got some things sorted like a sink in the garage a self built green house out of double glazed windows, new path in front, made picture frames etc...

What is the issue with recycling things people are throwing away? I am enjoying it

I have a very nice Lenovo ThinkCentre I got out of a skip. It's amazing stuff the stuff you can find.

xzanti

Local freecycle pages are great for that. Also a good way of respecting people's privacy in that they're offering their unwanted items as opposed to some randomer rooting in their rubbish.

I personally wouldn't want someone in a skip I've filled from my home while it's still outside my house. People throw things away for all sorts of reasons. Maybe a family member was sick for a while and there are soiled items in there. Just one example.

That's just my personal thoughts on it.

mumo3

I know people who go to charity shops buy up a load of baby stuff and home furnishings, and stick them all up on adverts. She says she finds people are quicker to buy from Adverts then they would to go into a charity shop.

But only last year I got perfect fence panels from a skip, and they replaced mine that needed replacing. As the saying goes "1 mans trash, is another mans treasure"

Edit: I did ask the home owner before I took the panels, and they told me I was welcome to any of it, freed up space in the skip for them.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118755972#Comment_118755972

Fair enough but I always ask and not one person has said no. Everyone seemed happy that the stuff would get a second life. One person was throwing out all the families old trophies. The marble bases make great little plinths for ornaments but really good for shinning a light through the hole on glass ornaments. Gave them away mostly but nice to see when visiting

xzanti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118756027#Comment_118756027

That's a different story I suppose. If you have permission then crack on.

fryup

I once found a original 'Picasso' in a skip

BrianD3

With data protection, recycling and WEEE regs these days, I find that skips tend to be full of stuff that is of no interest to me. Actual rubbish, rubble, filthy crap.

Not like the 1990s when I got a lot of working computer equipment out of skips in my college. Floppy disks too with loads of files on them.

Even back then you had to discreet enough about rooting through skips and would be shooed by security guards. Now, I'd say businesses and institutions are very wary about people doing this for various reasons including being sued if the "skipper" injures himself.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118755964#Comment_118755964

Is it the same type of model that I posted back to you last year? 🤔

As I told you my late aunt actually did get parts to build her computer in 2000s from a skip in Tallaght which was full of them, the area where she shopped and was able to transport back home in her car.

thefallingman

Travellers do this all the time, not for me though I think it’s weird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118756580#Comment_118756580

Not sure if the Tallaght skip was shop dumped rejects (eg PC World), I think she said it was. My aunt died in 2010, but there were several outlets that sold computers and being on state pension aged 83 or so she couldn’t afford to buy a brand new one. She had used Tallaght library self-learning resources to learn about setting up a home pc, MS Office etc. The first I knew about it was when I got a surprise email from her telling me of the fait accomplis and asking me to get my mother to set up email so they could communicate that way.

riclad

There's people that go around collecting metal from skips, sometimes theres pcs but they are usually old pentium 4 pcs. If you can re use old PVC windows or bricks you are just recycling and that's good for the environment offices throw away perfectly good chairs or tables in skips when they are moving to a new location

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118756580#Comment_118756580

Can you explain what you find weird about it? I want to build something and free components are about that will go to a recycling centre anyway but instead of scrap they are reused. Wood prices have trebled in the last 6 months. I picked up iron beams from a skip that would cost me €2k to buy and get delivered. Not sure about you but I would pick up €2k if I saw it lying on the street. It is also tax free so worth more again. Are you that well off?

While Travellers do recycle a fair amount they are often destructive in how they do it. They collect copper wiring and then throw it in a fire to remove the plastic. To retrieve a fridge motor they will often just do so with disregard releasing CFCs and then dumping the rest near where they live or the side of the road.

There is an issue of space for storage but I am lucky enough to have it.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118756293#Comment_118756293

PC Doctor in Fairview actually offers a lot of stuff for free. Don't go for them myself as I have loads of laptop/PC stuff. Most of the stuff I am grabbing now is for construction type projects. Managed to get a kango hammer and transformer for €75, the hammer is still sold and €700 new but the best part is every component in it is still purchasable and all it needed was a new handle and tool bits. A new transformer would have cost €100 and that was what I was initially looking for. It took me 1.5 hours to get a hole in concrete using a fairly beefy drill, 10 mins with the kango. Was going to hire somebody for some work but with this I will do it myself now.

I work in IT so the objective is to do something different with my free time. Really looking forward to the summer so I can do more outside and the longer day light

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118756559#Comment_118756559

Same model, different computer.

The one you could not get working is now my main PC, current uptime: 15:03:24 up 8 days, 21:52, 3 users, load average: 3.02, 2.73, 2.04

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118757689#Comment_118757689

Yeah if there’s low value bits and pieces left over from computers etc, I can imagine they just want to get rid of them, but can’t imagine anyone dumping a brand new working pc, when it could be sold. Goodness knows tech stuff is commanding fortunes these days

martinedwards

I have no shame when it comes to this kind of recycling.

Freecycle/freegle and Olio and too good to go as well.

I have build nearly 100 guitars mandolins bouzoukis etc and much of the wood used was salvaged.

I have 4 kids who are all over 18 now and I never bought a bike for them since I discovered freegle. (and they were never short of a bike!)

I love charity shops and gumtree... infact today I've just sold a cooker that I got off gumtree just before Christmas over a year ago because all the shops were shut and it was coming close to Christmas. Used it for 16 months and off it goes to help someone else out as we have a new kitchen install starting Friday.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118757708#Comment_118757708

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118755972#Comment_118755972

Ah don't mind the auld moralising. If someone horses something in a skip they have clearly have no attachment to it.

I have got so much out of skips. Bits of computers, UPS (usually just needs batteries), radiators, firewood. If I pass one and I have the time I'll have a root around

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118757766#Comment_118757766

Nearly everything in my late aunt’s homestead was salvaged from a skip or other folk’s “cast-offs” She & husband lived a subsistence lifestyle on a small hold farm. Grew lots themselves, reared a few animals, chickens, own pot still, but as I was always driving I could never partake. They would serve you a feast. Once had car running off slurry. The comedy series “The Good Life” depicted them absolutely perfectly - middle class hippy types from Rathgar and Protestant Cavan.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118757708#Comment_118757708

U are definitely getting good value out of it if the load average is that high 😅

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118757712#Comment_118757712

In fairness they may not be new laptops but they are working for the most part. I may pick up some in the furture to reuse the screens and hard drives if nothing else. I am tempted to make my own CNC machine out of older printers I have but low on my list at the moment. Debating get rid of all my games consoles at the moment but plan to make an arcade machine and would like it to be for game consoles too.

Recycling reminds me of an embarrassing instance when a friend of my mother’s heard of how I was setting up a house to be let. I was just about to purchase 6 beds for it, when (let’s call her) Mary insisted I call to see the bed her late sister passed away on, of which she had no further use. Thought she was doing me a favour and I was thinking of the expensive logistics of getting said bed to my house. With the insistence of Mrs Doyle over a cup of tea she summonsed me to inspect it, and let’s say it was very “used”. I had to make up a polite story about it not fitting in the room where it would go, even though it was a big standard single bed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118758001#Comment_118758001

There’s certain stuff you defo won’t find in a skip, eg my very graphics card 😱

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118757970#Comment_118757970

Scots or Cavan blood, wouldn’t you know 😂

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118758044#Comment_118758044

A friend of mine worked for Creative labs and was in charge of the recycling and I got quite a few graphic cards🤗

Work also has a computer recycling skip which took stuff out of but as I am not physically in I haven't seen it in a while. They just remove the hard drives and throw them in. THey wouldn't let some randomer in but probably why I don't need any PC stuff. Power units are handy for other stuff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118758101#Comment_118758101

Seems madness to throw away bits which you could sell for hundreds on DoneDeal. Unless one is already well-heeled.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118758130#Comment_118758130

I take it you never worked in logistics.😉 The amount of perfectly good items thrown out in the process is staggering. Say they have a pallet of soundcards on the shelf and some fork lift driver bumps into them damaging the boxes. Now the company has a few options what to do. Open them all up and test they are all still working and repackage them seems like the logical approach. They don't do that as they aren't packaged in that location. So they could ship them back to where they are packaged and get them to do it but no the goods aren't tested there so to the testing section and then to packaging and back again? No the good are no longer the same in production and re setting the test gear along with reordering packaging you no longer have. Somebody did all the sums so the answer is to throw them into the skip is cheapest

No in theory they could sell them but the don't want to cheapen the brand. Burberry are notorious for the amount of stock they burn rather than sell it cheaper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118758249#Comment_118758249

Yeah I can well imagine why it happens, but it’s an awful waste of materials if they don’t largely get “rescued”. Never worked in logistics, but where I did work I observed plenty of wastage. It would be great if these parts could get to schools, kids/youth’ clubs etc, where they could learn to assemble stuff for next to nothing. My mother did her own big of scavenging, a lot of her generation who went through WW2 times learned how to make do with little. I’d say there’ll be a lot of skip raiding in the coming months.

thefallingman

So how do you know you want something in a skip, do you go and ask before looking ? or do you root around and then go ask ? or do you drive around looking at the top lair hoping you 'll see something you like ? i find it very weird and wouldn't take kindly to someone rooting through my private waste, if they asked first it would depend on the person asking but i still find it weird.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118761401#Comment_118761401

Not complicated. You glance at the skip if anything looks interesting you knock in and ask can you look. Nobody has said no yet. Skips are expensive to hire so the more free space people have they tend to be grateful and happy to see something have a new life. Strangely when people put stuff in skips the don't tend to have an emotional connection to it anymore. I think it is weird you would be throwing out stuff you want privacy over because when the skip arrives back at the depot people do go through it then to separate out the recyclable goods.

I actually use a bicycle with a trailer mostly. You could be right that people don't mind me doing it once they talk to me as I am well spoken and a bit of a hippy in appearance so appear harmless. I'm in the Dublin suburbs so huge amount of property all around me and I tend to initial see the stuff when I am walking my dogs so some people recognise me as a local. A lot of skips are out on the road but I always ask. I even show some of the people what became of their items.

People are very friendly about it and now I would be surprised if somebody said no but that is their choice and I would respect that.

neenam

Recently I passed by a skip in front of a B&B and had a peek. Fished out a bale arm crate that was in perfect condition, I wasn't bother rummaging into the inner depths of it for anything else. Have gotten a bamboo table that only needed new wrapping cane from another skip (with permission). I know someone who's a landlord and people often leave stuff behind that still usable - some pots left from a chef, a rocking horse that only needed some small repair work, cleaned and dropped off to a charity shop which the staff seemed to appreciate as they're always inundated with clothes. Have also used Freecycle and Adverts. I'd be useless with any sort of tech, I would just try to ensure that I bought something that wouldn't become obsolete in a short time if I could help it.

I got this "waste not, want not" (or however that expression goes) from the mother, who got it in turn from her own mother probably from the rationing period during The Emergency/WW2 in Ireland. There was a definite stigma against charity shops a decade or 2 ago, as the mother was initially against me getting clothes from those shops, but this general attitude seems to have changed over the years when she saw that I got good quality clothes from them like a Blarney Woolen Mills jumper. There are still some people who wouldn't dare go into one. I have a somewhat minimalist view re possessions and hate clutter, probably from the experience of having clear out several bags of clothes from sisters who bought clothes on impulse after they were living abroad and didn't want the clothes.

It's popular in Germany for people to leave out furniture, books, etc. with the sign "zu verschenken" on it outside their homes. Just make sure not to have "zu giften" on it 😁 If you did that here people would think it's rubbish, plus there's the weather.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118756580#Comment_118756580

Now now. Don't be mean.

There are plenty of examples of cases where certain individuals actually preemptively help by helping others carry the items out of their houses to put into the skip in the first place. And they often do it before there is a skip there, or even before the person planned on having a skip, or even before the person even considered throwing it away

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118761714#Comment_118761714

Any self respecting alternative kid in the 80s in Dublin bought 2nd hand clothes. Most of the shops like Eager Beaver are gone now but there is a few still about and far more charity shops than before.

With people struggling to afford homes you would think these people would be much more open to cutting costs. When I first bough it was all 2nd hand furniture. Early ebay was a thing and then I started getting mid century furniture. All shot up in price now but it was what I like and kind of easier to do than stay up with the latest trends. I particularly like the fact when I get bored of something I can sell it on and so far always at a profit.

Bought a coffee table for IR£10 and it turned out to be a rarish Brazilian hardwood table worth €2.5k now

Pauliedragon

When I was over in Oz the council would come around every few months and pick up big items that couldn't be thrown out with the regular rubbish. Fridges, T.V's, mattresses etc and you'd always see people scouting around looking for stuff. I remember throwing a T.V out once it was gone within an hour.

eusap

So what i hear is you are not wasteful, like to recycle, stop rubbish going to landfill and save money at the same time.

You colleague probably likes fast fashion, throws out perfectly good items etc...

No question here of who is the better person

mrslancaster

Neighbours in our estate have builders in for the past few weeks. On monday there was a load of white, six panel doors in the skip. Passed the house early yesterday morning and the doors were gone. One person's trash etc..

With the cost of everything going up, we might see a lot more skip diving and recycling.

My parents spent their twenties in wartime, made-do with everything, when they got married all their furniture were “cast-offs”. No such thing as being able to afford new stuff. Today people want everything straight off on a plate and brand new.

Tow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118761950#Comment_118761950

Back in the day Dublin Corpo would do the same, once a year. It reduced to just before an election, before coming to an end...

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118762753#Comment_118762753

Still happens but it was never yearly more like once every 3

I live in my apartment on a private estate of mixed apartments and houses, with an annual maintenance fee of over €2300 which I’ve just paid. At least it includes refuse, including a twice yearly skip where you can dump unwanted non-electrical items. From time to time residents in my block would leave down a nice little item that they no longer needed, just to see if another resident might take it, before getting rid of it elsewhere or the bi-annual skip. There was a five nest of tables recently where somebody was moving out and just didn’t have room for them in next place.

Murt10

There was a large skip outside a local pub about 18 months ago, during the lockdown.

In passing, I happened to notice a lovely wooden box on the top of the pile that seemed both functional and ornate. Great for storing stuff in, and it looked nice, and I thought it was shameful to thrown it into landfill.

I was in the process of rescuing the box when one of the builders, who hadn't been around when I taking it out of the skip, appeared. I told him what I was doing and asked him if it was ok.

He said that he didn't have a problem himself, but that he felt he had to tell me that the renovation work which he was involved in carrying out, were as a result of the drains in the pub badly malfunctioning and causing a lot of damage during the lockdown. And that and that the box I was holding had been soiled as a result. 🤮🤮🤮🤮

Needless to say the cox went straight back on the skip. I think I smashed it first to stop any other person making the same mistake.

Tabitharose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118761849#Comment_118761849

90's ones too, and I never grew out of buying 2nd hand clothes / going to charity shops either, although what I buy has changed from the darkest shade of black with as many holes as possible, to gently preloved good quality clothes & accessories (although admittedly most of them are still the darkest shade of black)

Thargor

I worked for a biotech company up in Bray a while back and there was some kind of design or advertising company next door that shared an alley with us, their skips were always full of random styrofoam/modeling clay and wood shapes and that kind of thing, got a load of tools out of them once but it was mostly junk but one day I was going home and had a look in, couldnt believe my eyes, a load of toy tractors, combine harvesters, balers, JCBs, farm animals, hay sheds etc, not cheap stuff either it was all Britains branded and some other German stuff I used to drool over in toy catalogues as a child, ran back for a bin bag and filled it up and gave it to my nephews, they're still playing with it years later.

I would kind of imagine “Skip etiquette” goes something like this:

What is in a skip is no longer wanted by original owner and not intended for any other destination.

If in the retrieval of an item from a skip you disturb other contents you replace them back within the skip.

You probe with respect & discretion, especially when it comes to mattresses & upholstery. You don’t disturb or examine such items, as they are such that cannot normally be cleansed to generally usable standard in many instances that they would be on a skip.

By all means remove anything easily removable with minimal disturbance, you do a favour for ooccupier if premises, and if they are around acknowledge/ask permission.

Re skips, my late mother ordered one for outside our house in suburban Dublin ahead of moving to an apartment. We were very friendly with most of our neighbours. However one across from us had recently moved in and made friends with nobody, but owned a prominent gourmet shop in the area. Hadn’t even the manners to stand by the door as a mark of respect when our supremely neighbourly (eg. who turned up to help everybody in every circumstance on the road) Jewish friend sadly passed away and whose funeral procession started right next door. The only interaction with neighbours was when they dumped tons of wine bottles in our skip; they owned a prominent and well known gourmet supermarket in south Dublin, and subsequently moved to a well-known suburb in a city in Galway Bay where she practises as a consultant medic in a clinic. Yep, shame on them. Typically we would have expected a wee knock on the door “would you mind if we tipped sone bottles… and here’s a couple of bottles from our shop.

BorneTobyWilde

I once found old polish currency in a skip, so many strange to me notes. Brought them to the bank to see if they were still valid, and bank converted them to euros, 1800!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118766218#Comment_118766218

Wow!! Money that has been tipped down the back of a mattress or something, and then forgotten about in a hurry to move, maybe. That was an incredibly lucky find.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118766202#Comment_118766202

why people put recyclable stuff in skips is a mystery to me as it cost them money. To put your recyclable stuff into somebody else's skip so they pay for it is a disgrace. I would be not to long telling the person to take it out. I would make exception for large electrical items as moving them can be a hassle.

fryup

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118766218#Comment_118766218

come on now, upload the bank receipt or get the hell outta ere!

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118758011#Comment_118758011

I think everyone who hasd ever moved into a new house has had the odd relative try to offload some horrible piece of furniture on them letting on they are the ones doing the favor :)