Will My Trash Driver Go Through My Trash?

When we discard unwanted items in the trash, we expect that they will end up in the landfill to rot
away. 

According to freegan.info, "Dumpster diving is legal in the United States except where prohibited by local regulation. According to a 1988 Supreme Court Ruling (California vs. Greenwood), when a person throws something out, that item is now the public domain.

Here is some language from that ruling: “It is common knowledge that plastic garbage bags left on or at the side of a public street are readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public.” However, if a dumpster is against a building or inside a fenced enclosure marked “No Trespassing,” you could be questioned, ticketed or even arrested by the police."

"Garbage picking is the practice of sifting through commercial or residential waste to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but that may prove useful to the garbage picker. Garbage picking may take place in dumpsters or in landfills."

Regardless of the terminology, foraging through another person's trash is illegal in a lot of cases.

By other criteria, however, as soon as trash is placed to the curb, the original owner gives up all rights to it and it becomes public property. Trash picking and salvaging laws are city-specific, rather than being state laws. Some cities don't have anything in place, specifically, that defines or determines rightful ownership of trash placed to the curb.

Some companies have policies in place that supersede any local laws. One trash company, in particular, has a "Salvaging Clause" written into its company handbook stating, "Company policy prohibits taking any material from landfills, recycling facilities, or customers (residential or commercial) for personal or other use. Safety is the first concern in everything that we do. Safety can be compromised with acts of salvaging."

Taking time to dig through trash containers takes time away from trash drivers doing their jobs which, in turn, translates into theft of company time. Also, taking items from receptacles bound for recycling facilities lessens the amount of commodity that the facility can sell, translating into loss of income.

If managed correctly, landfill salvage programs can be quite effective at keeping literally tons of unwanted material out of the landfill.

In this type of program, people would bring unwanted items to a particular spot at a landfill that has been designated for salvage. Others would be able to pick through these items to see if there are any "treasures" that they would like...and take them. There are several reasons that this works.

• Many perfectly good and useful items are thrown away for lack of a better way to get rid of them. Whether by not knowing where to take usable items or just plain laziness, gently used or even new items are landfilled every year.
• Free is the right price. The cost of new products can limit what you are able to purchase, but if you were able to get it, or something like it, new for free......sold!
• Upcycling has exploded in popularity in recent years. This practice of fixing up or modifying unwanted items to give them a different or upgraded purpose is very attractive to do-it-yourselfers and, or course, entrepreneurs. Landfill salvage programs give them a place to obtain feed stock for resale.
• Landfill salvage saves energy and raw materials that do not have to be expended or utilized to make new products.
• Many jobs are created by implementing these types of programs.

All in all, creative and progressive ideas can put in place to keep useful items out of the landfill...and that goal is almost unanimously agreed upon.

For more information on recycling, preservation, and conservation visit www.wasteawaygroup.com. 

freegan.info
wikipedia.org
motherearthnews.com