I’ve been kicked out of local junkyards ½ dozen times or so now. It’s a tricky game of trying to reach the waste pile when no one is looking, and also seeing who is on duty in hopes of at least ensuring that the same person doesn’t experience the pattern of kicking you out multiple times. Perhaps they would get aggressive and even block you from dumping stuff if you’re kicked out too much.
Strictly speaking, it’s theft to take stuff from the junkyard. To be clear, the junkyards in my area do not sell parts. They just melt and refine the waste. The melt value is naturally less than the as-is value to someone who would repair or reuse.
IMO, the #rightToRepair movement needs to expand to give the public access to junk before it’s recycled or dumped into landfills.
Completely agree, they register it as theft where I live (Sweden). I presume they don’t want to be responsible if something is dangerous in some way, and don’t understand the concept of “at your own risk”. I’ve seen so much useful/valuable shit thrown out.
It’s not a case of them not understanding at your own risk, it’s that a complete moron might not understand it, and might get a court or insurance company to agree with them.
When I was a kid, a buddy and I would pick through the scrap metal pile at the town dump for forging/blacksmithing material. Most of the guys working there would just kind of ignore us, but the old timer who ran the place would start yelling if he noticed and we’d have to scram. Nothing ever came of it, luckily. I would have explained that we were really bad at forging so most of the metal rods and lawnmower blades etc were going to end up back there eventually.
Things are a bit better where I am now. A friend volunteers at the dump and they’ve let him set aside TV’s to test and give away, and if he catches people when they drop off computers, he can ask if they want it to get reused, otherwise the dump’s secure destruction guarantee means he has to let it get sent for recycling. Unfortunately he doesn’t have time to pull hard drives or anything like that.
I wish for a society where that kind of reuse was the norm. Where items that work or can be fixed get set aside, organized, and cleaned up, and that that used stuff was people’s default when they need something. Reuse infrastructure on a huge, corporate/municipal scale. For now I just help him divert computers to people who can use them, and dig stuff out of corporate ewaste I have access to to give away.
Off-topic, but this post reminded me of the show Scrapheap Challenge (Junkyard Wars in the US) and how much I miss it.
Back on topic, I fully agree. The best we really have is that it’s not illegal (at least in my area) to pick up junk people have set out as trash before it’s picked up by the sanitation crew. It’s not uncommon for vacuum cleaners, lamps, or couches to disappear while the rest of your garbage is left behind for regular trash pickup.