Can't wait for spring Garbage Picking . . .

Jim Mattheiss

Member
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467
Location
Long Hill Township, NJ
Hi - my names Jim and I'm a scavenger. :wave:

Spring is coming which means Spring BULK pickup is coming to the towns around mine. That's when homeowners can put out anything for garbage pickup but construction debris. You can dispose of toilets, cabinets and Water Heaters but not construction lumber. Go figure...

Anyway, people like me drive around and skim the cream - so to speak.

There are the scrap metal guys, antiquers, the "snippers" that cut the power cords off of anything electrical - even computer mice and people like me that are looking for cool things.

For example - I just started cleaning up a Fein Turbo II vac I grabbed in the fall. It's LOUD but I suspected that it was due to having ingested a large amount of sheetrock dust. The cannister was CAKED with such dust.

I've got it all apart and the fan impeller had 1/16" of SR dust on the blades. I've run the motor without the impeller and it's quiet, so I think it was an imbalanced impeller and not the actual motor/bearings. We'll see when I get it cleaned up and back together. I DON'T think it merits a post in the RESTORATION Forum. Worst comes to worst I can cannibalize the tool triggered start assembly and use it for my Ridgid vac. If so I'll have a BRAND NEW felt bag available - it's brand new and came with the price sticker still on it!

Over the years I've picked up a lot of decent furniture at the curb. I have a solid oak dining room table, daughters desk and over desk hutch, living room coffee table, headboard for daughters bed, various storage shelves and bins. It's amazing what people throw away.

I've started using Freecycle and similar sites to get rid of useful stuff. Car stereos, computer Zip Drives, wired computer routers and USB CD-Burners . . . Things like that . . .

There is a rummage sale in one of the local churches to ease me into shape - I need to ease into the season so to speak.

Cheers

Jim
 
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I used to live right off a busy street, with a handful of homeless guys living in the neighborhood. I'd leave my unwanted stuff on the curb anytime I wanted. It would be gone within hours. I called it Homeless Depot. :D
 
We have an annul pick-up like that also. What folks throw away isn't necessarily junk. Often they simply don't want the item anymore. There can be some good gleanings. All you need is a pick up truck and no shame. ;)
 
Larry's right - copper is golden . . .

But the return on effort for stripping the wires in a mouse cable for scrap would seem pretty low . . .

There was an closed hospital / administrative complex in the NYC area (might have been Jersey? ). The buildings were owned by 2 different companies. All of the copper in the buildings owned by Company A was stolen. They estimated that it was weeks of effort by experienced electricians to pull MILES and MILES of cables out of conduits within the complex and cart it away. This included HUGE feeder cables from the transformer to Main Panels and from the Main panel to various sub-panels. I'm no sparky, but you need cable pulling tools to do that sort of work efficiently.

Company B's buildings weren't touched. :dunno:

I haven't heard anything else on this story since the initial news story a while ago.

Cheers

Jim
 
The school next to where I teach has been closed for a few years. They use it for storage now. Over a several week period a couple of guys would go in at night and help themselves to the wiring. They caught the guys after they cut the fiber optic line that goes to my school thinking it was copper. They did several thousand dollars worth of damage to the place. They also gutted several condenser units on the outside. They'd take the top off and cut the copper out and put it back leaving an empty shell.
 
Raymond:

And given the connection between certain groups of Union Labor and the MOB it's possible. *** Let me get this right out in front - it's not all union labor but it's history that they were connected in NYC ***.

Art:

I hear you - but it happens. Maybe they are running a little sweatshop somewhere - having kids strip the insulation of of copper wire while chained to a radiator (or a water heater).

It's frustrating because someone might pick a perfectly good oscillating table fan off of the pile and put it back into service - until they see the cut cord and toss it back on the pile. I've fixed several curbside finds in that manner but most people wouldn't make the effort. I go to the dollar store and buy Leviton extension cords for $1.00 and wire it up. Bob's your uncle . . .

Cheers

Jim



Cheers

Jim
 
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