Is dumpster diving cardboard legal?
The radio is full of
news about how China no longer wants our paper and plastic, resulting
in low commodity prices and buildups at recycling centers. Despite all
that, a bit of sleuthing suggested our best option for bringing home
bulk cardboard is still dumpster diving.
In Dungeons and Dragons
terms, I consider myself Lawful Good. So I was a little leery of
rooting through the dumpsters for two reasons.
First, I had a feeling
dumpster diving was illegal. The internet, on the other hand, suggests
that as long as you're in a public area (thus aren't trespassing) and
don't create a disturbance, you're likely okay on the legal front.
But is taking cardboard
that folks were hoping to recycle ethically sound? This is a trickier
topic since recycling cardboard lowers energy usage and saves trees at
the upstream end of new product creation. On the other hand, we'll be
using our cardboard to grow food, sequestering carbon in the soil and
reducing energy use during production and shipping.
In the end, I figured
dumpster diving cardboard was at least ethically neutral. Which is a
good thing since my hungry garden needs cardboard now!
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
Here in TN, if you try to take anything - ANYTHING - from the local "convenience Centers" (read: local county dump), it's illegal, considered theft and you will be arrested, although I've seen the "attendants" take stuff home with them. Don't get me started on why that's "okay", but the local populace doing the same is considered "theft", especially when the locals are just recycling stuff.
I have, on rare occasions, dumpster dived on "private" property behind stores and offices, so long as no one was around to see me. Whether that's also considered "theft" is unknown. I do remember seeing something in the news about 12 years ago where the Supreme Court stated that if someone put stuff out on the curb for pickup by the local garbage collection folks, that it was considered to be "public property" and anyone could take it without it being considered theft. I have availed myself of that SC opinion numerous times when riding around my local area and seeing all the great unbroken stuff that people throw out for no good reason. In fact, most of my furniture comes from people putting it out by the curb for "bulk pickup day". This includes, solid pine dressers and furniture, bookcases, shelves, etc. ::shakes head:: We are so rich in this country and yet we're oblivious as to how wealthy we really are.
Oh I just love you guys!
p.s. I never would have thought of this. Thanks!