Dumpster Diving how to

[divarunner]

My daughters school has a recycle bin for papers in the parking lot. Is that where some people get their coupons? I saw a stack of untouched newspapers when I was tossing in my own stuff and snagged the coupons. However, I later noticed there's writing on the bin that says "contents inside are property of..."

Are these bins off limits because the weight of the contents = money?

[jen276here]

These are off limits - they are donation bins and once the paper is in there, it is the owner of the bin’s property - in this case - the school’s property. Not sure where in PA you are, but many areas have ordinances against going through the recycling bins of any kind (stores, homeowners…)

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Actually, you may want to run into the school and ask them if they mind if you can get the coupon inserts out. I bet they would not care. The worse thing they can say is no.

I dumpster dive, but our bins are a bit different and are owned by the city and are not charity bins, but my friend in another area asked at a local church that has a charity drop off bin and they said go for it!

Ask, see what they say!

[kbullsexy07]

I often wondered this too .... Where can you "dumpster dive" legally?

[divarunner]

interesting! I'm with kbullsexy07, where can you do it legally? I don't live in an apartment so I won't be going through my neighbors recycle bins on the curb anytime soon :). LOL. I'd like to be a little more discreet if I could :).

[Troop1379]

I know in the state of Va you can't dumper dive at all. You can go to jail. I called my city and they told me that i had to go about them it was a state law here that you can't DD. The reason that they gave me was some people dump there info in the dump like there Addy. I really would not want to see people going to jail over coupons. I could see us on the news now. we could blame it on the extreme couponing show.

[jen276here]

Well - if you dumpster dive in a trash bin versus a recycling bin there may be different rules involved. Best thing to do is either check your town’s website or call the municipal building and ask if there are any ordinances about it.

[Jaderose]

I ran into the "property of abc" when I went to check my first dumpster today. It was a paper retriever dumpster which I know a few talk about on here. My roommate was worried about cops coming by & giving us a ticket so to make her feel better we were getting ready to leave when I told her to stop. On the side of the dumpster was a contact number so I figure what i have to loose. I called them & luckily they answered fast & I flat out asked them "Do you have a problem with someone going into your dumpster looking for coupons." "No go ahead" "thank you" & I hung up. Now that one I couldn't get into today (was just scouting so have no equipment for climbing), but we now knew it was OK to check out the others in our area.

[temroy2]

I'm not sure who the recycle bins belong to in the Phoenix area but unless there is a sign on it that says 'do not climb on or enter' I will check it out. Even though I don't physically climb into the bin, I still view putting an arm in as 'entering' the bin. This morning I stopped at a bin on the way to work that's in the the parking lot of a community center. I was a little nervous because it's on a fairly well-traveled street and while I had my arm in there I heard someone job by, but nobody bugged me. I managed to get a P&G insert and a Smart Source. I'll have to go back tomorrow and snag at least one of the brown bags full of papers (there were 2 but one was too far down). I'm still looking for the Holy Grail, though. The recylce bin where newspaper carriers dump their extras in.

[mrsjschultz]

I would go into the school and ask as well, chanced are they wouldn't mind. Here in Northern MI we have public recycling bins throughout the county. You aren't *supposed* too DD but I do and I've seen others do it. It's kinda don't ask, don't tell. And, my DH is a police officer too!!! LMAO.