Today we picked up a gallon of milk, some peppers, some beefsteak tomatoes, a package of hot dog buns, a bag of apples, a cantaloupe, a grapefruit, some red seedless grapes, a metal door, 21 pounds of cans, some construction-site sheet metal, a microwave, some pipes and a pound of cords from the dumpsters.
We received from recycle:
sheet metal-shreddable (included the door): 60 lb @ 0.11/lb=6.60
aluminum cans: 21 lb@ 0.60/lb=12.60
insulated copper (cord from lamp, small recharger cord, various wires from the street): 1 lb @ 1.15/lb=1.15
Total: 23.95
I started taking photos, and will take more but it began raining, so I missed the other doll in a different dumpster, a literal fork in the road (to eat with) and some clothing and more furniture. Those will come later.
We have had to stop collecting toys because there are so many in the dumpsters. Why can we not get these to children who need them, say, in Haiti?
More oranges in perfect condition.
We had to leave many red seedless grapes behind because we could not handle them all.
Peppers in perfect condition, sorry for cellophane distortion. We will juice these in a juicer we found in the dumpster (still in package) and add to V-8 juice.
Beefsteak tomatoes, also in perfect condition. Again, sorry for cellophane distortion.
A gallon of unopened milk that will not expire until March 8, 2011.
Yellow things in the background are school buses: a wall of school buses at recycle.
If you strip TVs for copper, please stop doing it. Freon is dangerous. See the post about freon.
Go easy on me folks, I just learned how to use a digital camera. Still, I want to get the word out that there is no shame in culling food from dumpsters. In fact, you can eat very well.
Since our economy is rocketing to a bottom that can always get lower, I feel that this information will be helpful to others who are struggling: no worries. You can’t get this stuff with food stamps! (We do not receive food stamps, but I have in the past.)
Sheet metal at recycle, a receiving area where they grind up scrap metal. It often smells of rubber here, from tires on junked cars.
My concern is for the folks who cannot get out to collect things. Any suggestions?
dumpsters2011 
Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to dump Freon into the atmosphere? Try being more responsible.
Thank you so much for this information. I have added information about the dangers of freon to this site, to get the word out. I did not know this. TV stripping is very common, and I will do my very best to put a stop to it, thanks again.
I have added this statement: “If you strip TVs for copper, please stop doing it.” I also posted about the dangers of freon. Does this help? Thank you for turning my attention to this. There are many discarded TVs out there.