Dumpster Diving

You know what "dumpster diving" is? Probably not, but if you lived in New Orleans you'd know. In fact, I did it today. Dumpster diving is looking in trash bins of businesses or retrieving "trash' someone has put out for the trash collectors and their big garbage trucks, to pick up. I went to a popular arts and craft supply store, Gordon's, and checked their dumpster behind the business to see if I could find babble wrap and boxes to use in my move to Portland. Since I have quite a few objects of worth to cram my car which I will drive to Portland, I preferred to get it free rather than pay for it Bubble wrap is very expensive stuff, almost like diamonds these days.

No, I didn't bother to tell the store that I was taking their trash and making it my treasure. In New orleans the Golden rule is "thou shalt not ever reclaim what one trashes". If you dispose of it, it's fair game. And I found enough bubble wrap ( at least $200 worth) to wrap everything 4 or 5 times. It's all in pristine condition too, most having been re stuffed in boxes and thrown in the trash bin. I feel like an honest thief....err..is there such a thing? I am not ashamed of what I did and do when "saving the planet" by recycling other's trash. I sort through your trash when needed and I love it. Why finding that bubble wrap is almost orgasmic in this world of paying to much for too little.

But I am not a regular dumpster diver. Those who are have a philosophy of life that can be condensed into, "Why pay for something when you can wait months and months for it to eventually show up on a curbside?" I find that extreme even in a city where the trash is often worth more than what is sold brand new in your city's best stores.

Yes, old New Orleans is a dumpster diver's paradise. Everything here is so old. Old and wooden and often antique and prized by anyone in the businessbecause New Orleans was often the port of entry for all things brought into the U.S. in the 1700 and 1800's. It reminds me of one time in my college days when an acquaintance went "trashing" one friday night. Trashing is an extension of dumpster diving. The trasher instead of routing through business dumpsters, goes through the trash people put out for trash collector truck to pick up on their regular routes Tuesday and Friday nights here.

Anyway, that acquaintance with assistance from friends rented a truck and trashed in the exclusive garden district area of New Orleans that night. He found a French antique armoire that someone of wealth and carelessness apparently felt didn't match the decor and tossed on the curb. The armoire wound up paying for that student's 4 years of college and for all his books, food and related expenses during the time. It was a priceless object that he sold in return for a free college education.

I haven't ever trashed but dumpster diving is not ever out of my realm. Waiting in the right dumpster is a treasure trove of practical and often expensive treasures that is mine for free. I think that trash speaks to me and other trashy people, which is fine with me.