I’m still a garbage picker
@shaggin (72288)
United States
February 17, 2023 10:38am CST
When I was in elementary school I used to get called a garbage picker because people would throw out really neat things and teachers would toss brand new notebooks etc and I would take them off the top of the garbage and take them home.
If there was actually something gross in the garbage I wouldn’t have but just papers what does it hurt. I didn’t care what anyone thought about it.
At the end of the school year teachers would throw out bags and bags of Ben and new things like art supplies etc into the dumpster. When I would ride my bike up there I would see it all and would climb in and take it home. It was absurd to me how they threw so much brand new stuff away.
I was taking a ziplock bag out of the garbage the other day that my husband had put in and thought to myself I am still a garbage picker. The ziplock bags can be taken to stores to drop off to be recycled and currently I am collecting them for a library to have a plastic bench made out of.
I can’t stand things being thrown away that can be used for compost like egg shells, tea bags etc.
Paper and toilet paper rolls we burn so I pick those out too.
Photo is of a vintage Avon bottle I bought my husband as a gift for Valentine’s Day. I thought it would go nice in the man cave he is creating. Someone donated it to the thrift store my daughter works at and I thought it went well with this post due to the saying that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
21 people like this
21 responses
@Tina30219 (82066)
• Onaway, Michigan
17 Feb 23
This got me to thinking about a camping trip me and my ex and his son and our son he was a baby we went camping and my husband said a lot of people throw out their pop cans so we went to every dumpster in the campground and my stepson climbed in and got all of them out we had over $100 because people threw them out
3 people like this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
18 Feb 23
@Tina30219 that is awesome you were able to collect and cash in so many! My first husband and I used to go around town (when we first started dating) walking the roads and collecting cans. We would get about $50 a week if I remember.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
18 Feb 23
@Tina30219 yes along the side of the roads here especially now after the snow has melted is so full of them and other litter it’s so gross.
1 person likes this
@Tina30219 (82066)
• Onaway, Michigan
18 Feb 23
@shaggin That is good when me and my boyfriend got together we went out on dirt roads where we live and picked them up people always throw them out the window
2 people like this
@Virtually2021 (828)
• Southend-On-Sea, England
17 Feb 23
Sounds good. I remember Avon products had very nice packaging in the olden days.
3 people like this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
18 Feb 23
@Virtually2021 I have only bought from Avon twice and don’t remember much about the packaging. I love their eye liner.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (182384)
• United States
17 Feb 23
Congratulations to you for being a garbage picker. It is foolish and wasteful for people to throw good things away. More people should be garbage pickers!
2 people like this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
17 Feb 23
@snowy22315 I know my husband would disagree with you and say it’s hoarding or something 
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.2 people like this
@snowy22315 (182384)
• United States
17 Feb 23
@shaggin Oh, he doesn't need to know everything.
2 people like this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
19 Feb 23
@rakski yes dumpster diving is a bigger thing around here now. A friend of mine would go to stores and look in the dumpsters and take things home and have a yard sale with the items. I would love that but would be to shy I think to actually go in the dumpsters and look.
1 person likes this
@rakski (126265)
• Philippines
19 Feb 23
@shaggin many might not but hey we are being practical and reasonable. Some things can still be of use to others still
I see some people dumpster diving. I saw them getting boxes of food that has not been used, sealed and not even expired. And there lots of people who has nothing to eat.
2 people like this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
17 Feb 23
@DianneN I’ve heard schools are very poor that way. Ours isn’t they are paid higher and get money for things like that and a monthly amount to spend on things like that too . Most parents send things that their kids need so these extras at the end of the year I guess those teachers figured should just be tossed. Terrible I think.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160998)
• United States
20 Feb 23
I am like you. Hate to see good things go to waste.
2 people like this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
20 Feb 23
@GardenGerty I’m glad so many at myLot seem to feel the same way. I’m glad there are like minded people when it seems so far in my life feel the same as I do.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (47706)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Feb 23
Yes, you'd be surprised at what some people throw away.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (47706)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
19 Feb 23
@shaggin Same here. I get a lot of free food from people who think if they eat something a day past its best before date, they'll get sick and die.
2 people like this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
19 Feb 23
@BarBaraPrz I love getting free food like that. If something seems to old to me even then I usually ask my parents who take it. My mother has a stronger stomach than I do. She eats yogurt way past the Best Buy date. I get really sick from it. It hit me on a hike right after eating one so I learned my lesson on that.
2 people like this
@much2say (56184)
• Los Angeles, California
18 Feb 23
You learned to be resourceful at a very young age! My dad was a gardener, and he'd find stuff that the houses he worked for threw out and he'd bring them home - perfectly good stuff. I have done some "dumpster diving" in my time. Society is so wasteful - even moreso these days I'm sure.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
19 Feb 23
@much2say here a lot of people just set things out at the end of their driveway and within an hour or less people have picked it up. To me that’s good to find homes for it. If it sits there along time like a week or two then I get annoyed because it should go out with the garbage if no one wants what people are putting out.
1 person likes this
@much2say (56184)
• Los Angeles, California
19 Feb 23
@shaggin Yah, he'd bring home big pieces like furniture . . . and I remember he got me this huge metal dollhouse. Sometimes he'd find things in the bushes .
The sad thing is here, people don't even bother to put stuff in the dumpster anymore . . . they just leave stuff in weird places (as if to have been "dumped" there). It just makes the communities look trashy 
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The sad thing is here, people don't even bother to put stuff in the dumpster anymore . . . they just leave stuff in weird places (as if to have been "dumped" there). It just makes the communities look trashy .1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (37384)
• Toccoa, Georgia
18 Feb 23
It is hard for me to throw anything away too. I especially hate throwing food away.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
18 Feb 23
@LeaPea2417 my stepson is really bad I rarely can get him to eat leftovers. My husband just tends to forget what’s in there. My son gets stuck eating most of it. Last night I was going to have to toss a lot of food and was so irritated over it. Food is too expensive to waste. My parents live across the street and I sent it over for them.
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (37384)
• Toccoa, Georgia
19 Feb 23
@shaggin I am glad you gave it to your parents.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
23 Feb 23
@Tampa_girl7 I thought so too. I love old glass things. I have another one I plan to post in a future post.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (50561)
• United States
23 Feb 23
@shaggin I look forward to seeing it.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (61709)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Feb 23
I'm proud of you. You're my kind of people. I think even restaurant food toss outs should be put to use- I would have a hard time being a restaurant worker, scraping plates that had food on them would make me burn. We could at least have a barrel for the food and give the barrel to a pig farmer.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
20 Feb 23
@sallypup I have a local freebie group on Facebook and someone moved to the area not to far away and offered to give buckets to restaurants for them to collect the food that is tossed. I think it was to compost or feed the pigs I can’t remember for sure. I didn’t see anyone comment on there that they would give them any but hopefully the restaurants private messaged them and offered to save it for them. I thought it was a wonderful idea!
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
20 Feb 23
I wondered if that partridge was an Avon bottle!
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
20 Feb 23
@shaggin Oh, you're right! I got my birds mixed up.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14760)
• San Jose, California
20 Feb 23
@shaggin It's still a very majestic bird. Does he love it anyway?
1 person likes this
@allknowing (137958)
• India
17 Feb 23
Your last sentence 'One man's trash is another man's treasure' summed it up Hopefully all what you collect will be of some use to you or does it?
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
18 Feb 23
@allknowing well the things I pick out of the garbage at home are just things that should be burned, recycled or put outside to decompose. I don’t really buy anything to collect anymore. I do love bottles but I prefer ones I find while hiking etc but this pheasant bottle I thought would make a nice gift for my husband who loves hunting.
@RebeccasFarm (90523)
• Arvada, Colorado
17 Feb 23
That is a lovely Avon thingie you got there for your hubby.
I remember these as I used to sell Avon when my son was small.
Wow Shanny, see there is a talent you have also.
You were recourceful even at a young age.
And a recycler.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
17 Feb 23
@RebeccasFarm there was no such thing around here was recycling when I was in school. I’m glad to see in the classrooms now there are bins where papers can be put in to be recycled.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (90523)
• Arvada, Colorado
17 Feb 23
@shaggin That is great yes Shanny.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (83103)
• United States
18 Feb 23
That Avon bottle really is vintage. I used to love Avon products and thumbing through their catalogs.
I don't blame you for being a 'garbage picker". You really have gotten some good things that have been thrown out. I also try to make sure everything that can be recycled is and I hate waste.
I still have two beautiful end tables that an old neighbor had at the curb for garbage. I went right over and took them home
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
18 Feb 23
@Marilynda1225 a friend of mine used to bring the catalogs to school and I would enjoy looking through them. I bought something only one time which was perfume. Two years ago I bought some makeup from @Courtlynn who sells it. I just started using the eyeliner and I love it.
I am glad you try to recycle everything you can!
@shaggin (72288)
• United States
17 Feb 23
@CarolDM there’s lots of things I see there when I go that he would love for his man cave. I’m not one to buy things that won’t be used until “someday”. This was the first thing I bought him like that. I love bottles and thought this one was so neat.
1 person likes this
