Sta.sh
i just gave them space
super wonderful works that I saw this week 
Collecting Bottles
I've been trying to find a job for a long time now. But while I wait for a job interview, I've been collecting bottles for a small bit of money. Luckily I live in Michigan, and one great thing about this state is that the bottle return is 10 cents per bottle, rather than the typical 5 cents.
So since mid May, I've been going out at night on my bike—usually around 1:00-2:00 AM—and collecting bottles. I do a circuit of about 20 miles, going from my home, through downtown, over to a mall on the other side of town. It usually takes between 3 and 5 hours, with about 2:40 of actual biking time (based on my bike speedometer). During this circuit I look in trash cans and on the ground for bottles people throw away, and collect them in my backpack and trash bags that I carry on my bike.
Depending on the day, I'll usually collect between 20 and 80 bottles, or about $2 to $8 dollars once I return them. I go out each night that I can, and only stop if it's raining. So for any given week, I'll collect somewhere around $20 to $30. Yes, that is a miniscule bit of money, but I'll take that over the zero dollars I would make sitting at my computer pissing away the day.
As of today, I've made $401 dollars, not counting the money I've spent on random things. Not only do I get out and get some good exercise, but I've come to learn a few things, and I also clean up my city and recycle, even if just a small bit. Below I'll go over what I've learned and also what I've found during my travels.
What I've Learned
First and foremost, I've learned that people throw away the most amazing shit. Not just bottles—that people could keep and return for money—but just a plethora of random stuff that people no longer want. Like the saying goes, One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Another strong thing I've learned, which is honestly very scary, is that a lot of people drink and drive. How do I know? I see bagged bottles of liquor and beer constantly in trash cans near parking lots, and just thrown in the bushes near where people park. I guess they get out of their car, decide to clear the trash out, and just toss it all in the trash. Of course I knew people drink and drive, but it hits a little harder when you see direct evidence of it.
Oddly, people throw away a lot of beer. A lot. I find full unopened bottles of beer constantly. I can't figure this out. Sure, I've found beer at bars on the street porch, that I assume the buyer just decided not to drink, but I've also found unopened beer in trash cans. What? Why are people throwing away completely fine unopened beer in the trash? Most of the time its some shitty cheap brand of beer, but I've also come across some nice IPA's and other unique beers. So that's a nice bonus, for me, but it just confuses me.
People drink a lot of Red Bull. I mean a lot. Of all the different types of pop and beer brands, Red Bull is among the most common. I never knew Red Bull was so popular.
People also drink a lot of water. Bottled water. I've always thumbed my nose at idiots who buy water, but people seem to buy an awful lot of it. Odd what people spend their money on. Sadly, water bottles can not be returned for a deposit.
The night workers and street life is a cool bunch of people. I see street cleaners and late night store clerks, and they're all pretty cool people. Often they will chat with me about my collecting, and I can see that have a certain respect for that.
What I've Found
The coolest thing I've found, by far, was a Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop computer. I didn't find this in the trash, but on the side of a road near the end of summer when the rich college kids moved out. It didn't have a power adapter, and I was only able to get it to turn on once with a spare power adapter I had, but it only turned on once. So I just put it away in my closet. Then oddly enough, a few months later I came across a Dell power adapter that exactly matched this laptop in the trash near campus. I plugged it in, and it booted right up. So I got a brand new (to me) laptop. Kickass.
I found a pair of Beats headphones in the trash near campus. The top foam headband was missing, but a bit of spare fabric and I was able to make it look mostly normal. I assume the owner threw it away since the top headband came off, but other than that, they worked just fine. Now, these headphones are not worth the $200 dollars they seem to cost, but they sound decent enough, especially for something I found for free.
I've also found a number of Apple ear buds, and also ScullCandy ear buds. Although most of these have broken cord connectors, where one channel doesn't work, but that's easy enough to fix with a spare jack and some solder. Just yesterday I found a completely working pair of House of Marley Midnight Ravers ear buds, and they sound pretty decent. They also have a nice fabric cord, which doesn't tangle as easily and is more durable. Ear buds are not my favorite type of headphones, since they just don't stay in my ears, but it's always nice to have a few spare sets lying around, in case I need them.
I've found a number of random cords, like audio/video cords. I found 2 HDMI cables just a few weeks ago, and those are always handy. I've also found a bunch of network cables. I found a 100 foot cat6 network cable, which was a nice find.
Along with the bottles of unopened beer I've found, I've also found bags of candy and backed goods, such as donuts. Yeah, you may think that eating food out of a trash cans is gross, but this is food that hasn't been opened yet, so I figure it's still good. I found a 9 pack of Cinnabons, that were still sealed, and that was a delicious bit of food I found.
I've found a number of cigarette packs, with all but one still in the pack. I'm guessing these are cigarettes that people who "quit" bought, just to have one smoke to hold them over. But they threw the rest out, and that's a nice find for me since I also smoke.
During the time that the rich college kids moved out, I found a dorm refrigerator. It was a pain in the ass to get home on my bike, but it was a nice find, since my sister needed one since her refrigerator broke around that time.
I've also found just strait up cash on the ground. In total, I've found around $50 bucks on the ground. Usually outside of bars (I'm guessing the cash just fell out of their wallet as they put it in), but I've also found bills just lying on the sidewalk. I find coins a lot, but the bills are the best.
I found a keyboard in the trash. It was a bit dirty and the labels were worn off on some of the keys, but it worked fine other than that. I gave that to my mother since the one she was using wasn't shaped to her liking.
I've found various backpacks just chucked in the trash. Most of the time these are empty, but sometimes they have loose change in them, and once I found an LED flashlight (that I now use to look in trash cans).
I've found a number of coffee mugs and water bottles. I take these home and wash them out, since it's always handy to have coffee mugs around. Oddly, in one coffee mug (some Starbucks coffee mug), it was full of water, with what looked like flower buds inside. I don't know if that was some fucked up hippy drug, or if it was some herbology student project. But I didn't investigate very hard. I just threw it down the disposal and washed it out.
On two occasions, I've found dirty porno mags in the trash. This sort of amuses me, since I thought people used the internet for porno needs nowadays. I took a looksy through them, and thew them back in the trash, since the internet is for porn.
I found a coffee maker on the side of the road, but maddeningly, the owner cut off the power cord. But I took it home anyway and repaired the cord, and it seems to work just fine now. Always good to have a spare coffee maker, in case the one I have now breaks.
I'm sure there's other cool things I've found, but that's all I can think of for now.
So…
While this method of making money is maybe rather pitiful, I am fine with that. Yes, I would love to have a normal job, but try as I might, I can not find one. Even a shitty part time job. So while I try for a real job, this has been a nice bit of cash on the side. I am slowly but surely saving my money, and that is nice. At age 29 this is just rather pathetic, but, it is what it is and while I may not be cool with that, I am at least somewhat comfortable with it. It is getting closer to winter, and the bottles will surely be less frequent, but I'm guessing people will still be throwing out this cash, 10 cents at a time.
kind of makes me want to try it. Kind of
You really do find some strange things on your bottle travels hehe.
The food thing. I just wanna add my 2 cents worth on that.
"most" food that is thrown away, for people like yourself and I, it is fine. ( not all food of course) as more oftehn then now, its just expired food, like from a day. Or its like say apples, the apple may very well have been dropped ( or the bag) so it can no longer be sold. etc.
There are some people out there who live off food they find in the dumpsters etc.
have never seen or heard of it here in NZ. But I know its common in the states. And not just by poor people either.
I was watching this program the other month or so, about this couple in the US who do just that. and they are bother very well to do doctors in a hospital. They have a flash as house, flash as cars. All the things in their house, very very nice, but they go around at night and get food from the dumpsters.
I also have to ask.. That lappy you found, was it cleared? or was there personal stuff on it still?
As for the laptop, no it wasn't cleared. I stuck it in another computer and read the data off of it, but didn't find many "interesting" things. Although I did find a shitload of porn and music, which was sort of "meh" to me (I can find my own, more personalized, porn and music), although I did find the first two seasons of Star Trek, The Next Generation, which reminded me of how much O love that show.
Ive got another laptop here, and another computer and screen + keyboard here too somewhere. I have no idea why I havent throwen them out t0o be honest, I think I keep thinking to myself, never know, may find someone who can fix them up for me or something lol.
Wanna come over and have a play with them? haha. Ill give you free food while your here too
And I have plenty of food. Free food is always good, but that's a long way to go for free food