There was an immigrant (legal) couple who collected empty soda cans from trash bins in order to send their son to Harvard. I'm wondering how they did it! Land of opportunities (or wastes), perhaps!

When I managed an apartment community, I was able to rescue a perfectly good food processor and a huge roasting pan from a vacated apartment.  I cheerfully use both every Thanksgiving.  My maintenance staff got even better stuff, I'm sure.

I thought that my daughter always just threw stuff away when she was tired of it because I was buying the stuff. I was sure when she was out on her own and paying for things herself, and on a budget, she would understand the "value of a dollar" and the great needs of people less fortunate than her.  Nope, 27 years old, and a mom and she thinks everything is disposable.  I think we are living in an age of "I want more", and forget the needy.  Hopefully it will dawn on younger people that we need to recycle, renew and go green.

I offten drop things off at GoodWill, they're close to my home.  If I don't use something for 10 years I say why keep it.  I got rid of TV's, books and clothes this way.  I can always use the right off these days.  Someone's junk is anothers treasure, how true.

It is so easy to throw things away because everything is made so poorly nothing lasts. Also, repairing an item is almost always more expensive than purchasing a brand new one. We have become a throw-away society, and our landfills are full to bursting. No one cares that we are consuming this planet at a rate that will make the human species extinct in a very short time.

I, for one, am glad of this. Humans are a terrible species, that will hurt and kill anyone that gets in the way of their mindless accumulation of money. Better to let this despicable species die off, and let another have a crack at it in a few million years.

My husband is a property manager and we always have skips... they leave all sorts of stuff. Brand new leather sofa's, lamps, books, video games, mp3 players, camping equipment, we have accumulated so much stuff in the past four years. Some we sell... since they owe the property money. We always kick out the dumpster divers because it just doesn't look good when you're trying to show an apartment. We live on the wealthy side of town, so it's just not good for business. When I get rid of things.... sheets, bedspreads, clothes, shoes, anything and everything, I set it in the laundry room for people to take. I do this often. Always upgrading and spring cleaning. Furniture, I will set next to the dumpster if I can't find someone to take it off my hands. We live in a border town, there are so many families that can't even afford to go to the thrift shops to buy what they need so I don't mind our tenants taking this stuff and giving it to their families in Mexico. I've given away brand new mattresses, broyhill furniture.. lamps, clothes, shoes, everything in perfect condition. I figure if I can just throw it out... someone can get some use out of it and not have to pay for it. Good will.

I've always believed that conservation needs to be taught from early childhood to truly take hold, and have discovered through my Gen Y children that our (teacher's union-controlled) public school educators have been more focused on tenure (vs. meritocracy), enforcing assorted civil liberties, cultural, ethnic and gender tolerance policies, and favoring children's choices through discipline elimination than simple respect for our planet and helping less fortunate people.

As a lifelong skimper (first taught frugality by middle class Depression era parents) I've been teased about it for decades by friends and adopted family in our spoiled rotten & unparalleled wasteful American culture as our nation's landfills/dumps are reaching capacity while most people still don't properly use recycling programs.

It amazes me that so many mix biodegradable items with perfectly useful items in their bins instead of separating refuse by category.

Years ago as a local college student who also managed a dorm storage facility, I offered to store people's belongings f0r them for future semesters and encouraged appliance trade exchange programs. With today’s widespread availability of willing charities, neighborhood yard/garage sales, urban flea markets and websites like eBay and Craig's List, people should have little excuse for throwing away fully functional items, but the practice still thrives due to ignorance and lethargy.

I've been garden composting, recycling aluminum, glass and plastics plus conserving energy and gasoline for decades longer than most in the general population, who perhaps now, finally, are beginning to skimp on gas (if even for solely economic reasons). Rather than McCain and HRC's proposed gas tax holiday, Perhaps our federal, state and local governments should instead raise fuel taxes and impose higher costs/penalties on America's world-leading per capita refuse weights.

To me, the greatest irony in an increasingly PC (yet hypocrite-filled) contemporary culture is that laws actually prevent people from legally scavenging usable items from dumpsters and even curbsides because it violates peoples rights to privacy. rather than trying to blame someone (else) for transgressions, let's just focus on a united series of proactive, measurable solutions (with justice for all)!

Entire subpopulations of impoverished people keep from starving in Third World countries by scavenging anything salvageable (including food items and soiled garments) while escalating American labor rates (so often criticized as being too low by media demagogues) virtually prevent the practicality of repairing most items and entire product sectors thrive on consumers buying-then-replacing items every few years.

While I've noticed many of the most vocal politicians & celebrities don't practice what they preach, I've seen many resourceful immigrant families subsist quite well by scavenging as they had in their countries of origin. Occasionally their stories make it into the hypocrite-filled mainstream media. Perhaps increasing rather than reducing 'legal' immigration would be the best way to help the image-conscious majority of our citizens 'wake up and smell the coffee'.

Clever advertising programs around the first earth day in 1970 (featuring the weeping Indian) helped reduce America's growing roadside litter problem, and helped begin the widespread cleanup of our nation's lakes and river systems. Nowadays someone might get offended by an unflattering characterization of a native American (and file suit), but I'd propose a similar 'blame-free' public service message deluge on a variety of conservation measures to educate the predominantly naive and lazy masses.

This may sounds harsh to some I'm sure, but time is running out (and so is America’s economic supremacy).

Why bother bringing your discards to a charity thrift?  There are "dumpster divers" in my neighborhood who make their way through the alleys picking up unwanted items - presumably for use or resale.  I've seen people turned away at Goodwill because they don't want their discarded computers, etc.  Why bother hauling your unwanted items to Goodwill when "Dumpster divers" will gladly pick them up for free?

I LIVE IN AN OLD 90 UNIT BUILDING NEAR DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE, WHAT I SAW BEING TOSSED WAS AMAZING. A YOUNG LADY PRETTY MUCH LEFT EVERYTHING FROM HER APARTMENT. CRATE AND BARREL,POTTERY BARN, SHE PUT AN AD ON THE BULLETIN BOARD. IT SAID "BE KIND AND TAKE WHAT YOU MAY NEED,AND BE SURE TO LEAVE SOMETHING NICE FOR SOMEONE ELSE"

WE NOW HAVE A TRADING POST SET UP IN OUR LAUNDRY ROOM. CDS,DVDS,BOOKS,CLOTHING,KITCHEN ITEMS,KNICKNACKS.IF IT DOESNT MOVE IN 2 WEEKS,WE PACK IT UP FOR ST VINCENTS