Dump Save

It was my second load of old-living-room-turning-new-kitchen debris of the day. While certainly weighing less than the first–that one was right near half a ton–it was still aiming to cost me $15 to unload at the landfill. I dutifully backed up our aged Accord and too-big trailer and readied my tired back to throw those floorboards complete with their FDR-era newsprint remnants overboard.

Three young men in a small pickup with had just disposed of an old carpet when I got out of the car. The driver looked at my load and then asked the attendant, “What are the rules about asking other people for their junk?”

The attendant shrugged; his weekend shift was set to end in half an hour.

“You want the lumber?” I asked the man. “You’re welcome to it.”

“It seems I never come to the landfill without leaving with something I didn’t bring,” he said.

We crossed back over the scales, I explained to the lady my undiminished load, and the three guys helped me stack the old boards into their pickup.

“Building something?” I asked.

“Yup. I’m adding onto my building.”

I don’t know who was more tickled–the treasure finder or the unburdened me, fully aware of my own love of free scraps.

Here’s my shed I built over the last couple years, almost entirely out of other people’s cast-away materials: