I have been to the hatch pit where you can toss wood metal construction waste etc, no household garbage. Im no dumpster diver but many times im shoked at the things people are throwing away. Ive seen new windows and doors, trailers, furniture good bricks, nice lumber etc. A few times I saw guys park thier trucks and get out and start rumaging through all the waste. I wished I had the lack of shame that they displayed, but I couldnt bring myself to be like them as they looked like bumbs. Now I see “no salvaging signs” up. My guess is these guys ruined my chance to ever sink myself down and grab someone elses unwanted items. With all the environmetal issues and economy issues I was thinking perhaps they should have a shame free salvaging day where people could come out and find some things they could put to use. There isnt household trsh so identity theft and privacy should be a non issue. Thay way I could bring home all sots of wonderful things. My wife would be so happy with me….
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Gato got runned over by Marcus many moons ago. Be ye daft, 2486? 
Let's have a new poll, alright, Joe?
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What are the consequences if you do go through for salvage?
I totally tried that the other day, but my dignity kept getting in the way.
I’ve often thought that a lot of perfectly useful items get thrown away. I’m certain that the only reason they don’t let you go through it is because of the possibility you’ll skin your knee and sue the city.
How about a waiver we can sign and put this stuff to good use?
Back home in Indiana, they had a ‘pole barn’ for people to put their slightly used items in for others to take as they needed. It was a great place to go for things…Really sad that can not happen here and that would help reduce the garbage…also, in Twin Falls and Naples, Florida, I was a member of a Yahoo Group called ‘Freeycycle.org’ …have not taken the time to see if there is one here, but it is another option to disposing of things you no longer want or need but somebody else could use..as far as ‘diginty’ getting in the way, to NOT want to take these things to reuse them as you need, is very selfish to allow this to just lay and rot…my opinion means nothing, so please feel no harm done….just trying to find my 16 year old daughter and felt the need to add my 2 cents..thank you
Idaho Falls Freecycle: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IdahoFallsIDFreecycle/
THANKS!!! as a single mother of 2, one is currently a run away…that will be a HUGE help for us…Truly appreciate that address!!!
Freecycle WORKS, it’s a great site. Our family has given away:
A Couch
An 18 ft inflatable pool
Lumber
A Bunk Bed
Firewood
All for FREE, someone just came to get it. Please don’t throw out reusable items…someone can use them, especially in times like these where everyone’s looking for a deal!
No problem. Wanted posts are only allowed on Thursdays, but you can offer stuff up anytime.
I too use freecycle quite a bit, but I like the idea of one place that we could take things like building materials and such. It would be interesting to browse, you never know what crafty ideas you could come up with.
Now. Back to the Hatch Pit for a minute. I would think that liability is the county’s biggest concern. If they were to let me scavenge there I wouldn’t be working the junk in the very front of the pile, I’d head back in the debris as far as I could. That’s where they keep the good stuff, ya know.
About the time I got all bent over pulling a good piece of booty out from under a pile of junk one of those pesky bulldozer drivers (who couldn’t see me) would come along and get old untwisted, twisted up in that pile for good.
Definitely a good point. Maybe they could arrange a scavenger time?
Just a thought…
It’s not a good idea at all to go dump diving.
Some of the material that ends up in the Hatch Pit comes from places that have been contaminated with asbestos, black mold, lead, mercury, infectious diseases, and God knows what. Once it gets in the dump, all the bad stuff contaminates the harmless stuff very fast because it’s all mixed together.
The dump is also extra hazardous due to this. The worst thing a person can do in a dump is step on a nail or a broken piece of glass, or get cut on something. It’s stupid to even go there without wearing full length shirts and pants, solid footwear with good soles, and gloves. And no kids. There is stuff out there that can kill you in a couple of hours if you get cut or ingest it.
Eeek.
Ok, even more reason to use freecyle.
“And that,” said the rat, “is that.”
Then he straightened his tail and scampered off, twitching his whiskers, delighted that wisdom had been discovered in the garbage pit.
It’s only common sense, come on people.
Common sense it may be, but there IS a helluva lot of waste.
We were dropping off some things at the metal bin a few years back and grabbed a perfectly good lightweight bike frame from the front of the bin (note I said “front of the bin”, we didn’t go rooting around). My son built a great bike out of it.
I have to say that I have been an avid “dumpster diver” for a really long time now. It really bothers me that the county doesn’t allow salvaging to go on. If IF can have a swimming pool, why can’t I go there to salvage? All it takes is a disclaimer posted that says salvage at your own risk, and they could regulate times.
As to the asbestos, mercury and lead issue– these items have to be specially sealed and just dumping them in the landfill is not acceptable, there are special facilities to handle hazardous waste. If more people were down there picking through things I bet more of the hazardous waste would get ssent where its susposed to go instead of leaching into the groundwater too.
I used to get all kinds of stuff from some of the box stores trash. I suspect that part of the reason they don’t allow it has to do with the fact that the stores want you to buy their goods instead of picking them out of the trash. Lots of things that don’t sell within a certain time period go on sale then move on to the trash after that. You’d be amazed.
It used to be that poor people and families would make ends meat or plain survive on their pickings. THere is alot of recyclabe material that just gets burried in there. Its really sad and wasteful. I say pick at your own risk.
I think that the stores have the same problem with dumpster diving as the city, imo, I think they are afraid of being sued.
When I first started my store, most of my displays and shelving came from big-box dumpsters. It’s revolting what they just throw away, and it’s not a grocery store, so the dumpsters aren’t gross. Since then I have still gotten display items for free just by asking for them, because they were destined for the dump anyway.
I forgot to mention, all the stuff that goes to the hatch pit is pretty clean, you can’t dump household waste there or grass clippings. The people in the sage lakes subdivision got that changed a long time ago due to the stench that grass clippings cause, and all the household stuff gets sent somewhere else through the transfer station for the sake of sanitation. And I do know from personal experience that the county does allow you to salvage firewood, you can go out anytime to the “wood pile” and pick up all the wood you want. They are pretty picky about what goes where and to what landfill things should go.
I mentioned before…back in Indiana, there was a really big area designated for reusable/recycle items…so old windows, boxes, bikes, ceiling fans..all sorts of things…it made a ton of sense to have these items availalbe for the public to leave and take…if I am not mistaken, the public paid taxes toward the maintenece of the landfill..so why would they not allow a place for such items to be dropped off and picked up…
I have no idea how things work around here…but it is a thought…to send out a proposal to whomever about creating a building for all the reusable/recycle items…as a single mom and the economy as it is…and it just makes really good sense to limit the items going into the landfill…saves space and a new one will be further away in the future…