trash = treasure.

The people who live at my apartment complex, and that includes me, have an understanding. The dumpster sits near the entrance of the complex, and all who live there must drive by on their ways in and out. Whenever someone throws away something that could be salvageable, it is left next to the dumpster, rather than inside. There's a little grassy area there, where furniture and clothing alike have rested, waiting to be taken to new owners. This area might as well have a great big sign over it, proclaiming "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

So it's become my habit to take a good glance at the dumpster every time I drive by. A stereo, a lamp, a sportcoat, a pair of pants, a bag of hangers, a dustpan, these are the items that transferred ownership to me via the dumpster. It's a great big game of finder's keepers out there, though no one is weeping.

Perhaps I give my neighbors too much credit. It is possible that things are only left in this area because the items are too heavy or large to be lifted into the dumpster itself. And while these people probably do realize that the items are furtively taken off to live in a new apartment, they don't understand why. To them, the thing is broken or old or dirty. It is trash. Whether or not it is usable is irrelevant.

But some of them do get it. Occasionally, something will have a sticker attached to it, saying that something works, possibly with limitation. A TV once was "Fuzzy, but free," a computer monitor was "old, but works okay." The donors do understand then, that they're not really throwing the thing away, but only leaving it to fate.

I hate waste. Part of me is glad that I can get free stuff in this way, and part of me is still pissed off that the people can't make the extra effort of donating the crap to a thrift store. Fine, yes, some of the stuff is rescued, but some of it is not and still ends up in the landfill anyway. I've been known to take stuff from the free pile next to the dumpster and then drive it to Goodwill myself. I grumble all the way. The truth is that these people would still throw the stuff away whether or not there was anyone to pick through it later. Some of them view the gleaners with contempt, not realizing we see them the same way.

This rant of mine is an old one. Every time I dumpster dive, be it spontaneously at my apartment complex or a planned attack as the local university evacuates for the summer, I am both thrilled at my good fortune and irritated that our society is so wasteful. The solution is probably not to gripe on my blog. I should just keep what I'm doing - donating my old stuff, rescuing what I can. Plus, gripe on my blog.