AUSTIN ADVOCATE

The Big Skinny on Dumpster Diving
By David Wise

There is a lot of disagreement about dumpster diving. When is it legal? When is it not? When is it right ? When is it wrong? When I set out to write an article that would clear up these issues I did not know how complicated it would get. From a Supreme Court ruling, an APD spokesman, the City Attorney's office, private dumpster owners, to the Landfill operators, I began to put it together informing each of them that I was writing an article for the Advocate.

My first chat was with Kevin Buchman, spokesman for the Austin Police Department. He was very pleasant. Believe it or not, he said that dumpster diving is legal. Yea APD! My second chat was with Jerry Hendrix, public information officer for the City of Austin Solid Waste Services Department. He said that it was not legal and referred me to an ordinance passed by the City Council. I got a copy of the ordinance from Candy at the research department in the City Clerk's office. To my surprise, trying to get through to people in "City Hall" was not hard at all. I was especially pleased that there is an option on the automated telephone, which allows you to speak to a live person. I just hate it when phone lines for government offices give you option after option to select and none of them lead to a real person. Many companies do this as well and you feel like jumping off a bridge before you reach who you are after. Speaking to Candy at the City Clerk's office I thought I was in Mayberry, she was so friendly and helpful. She emailed me a copy of the ordinance.

I continued to research the subject in more depth and I was soon ready to talk to a City Attorney. Only the second day of trying I got a call back from Mitzi Cotton, Assistant City Attorney. Talking with Mitzi made me proud to live in Austin. She was very informed, very professional, and very courteous. The city ordinance is 1992 Code , section 15-6-112. However, the ordinance does not apply to the person throwing the trash away. In other words, according to the ordinance you are safe if you get permission. Mitzi agreed that the City ordinance is only enforced on a complaint basis. If there is a drunk throwing trash around, likely there'll be a complaint.

Regarding the ordinance, most if not all dumpsters ARE NOT CITY PROPERTY. This means that the city ordinance DOES NOT APPLY to most dumpsters. When I contacted several of the private companies that provide the cities' dumpsters I was told the same thing, they do not want you to block their dumpster but have no laws against someone getting into the thing.

The identity theft problem has definitely hurt dumpster divers. That's when crooks go in your trash after bank numbers. You had better buy a shredder because the law can't protect private information. In 1988 the Supreme Court ruled that if you throw something in the dumpster you NO LONGER have a reasonable expectation of privacy or ownership. Ironically this ruling was brought about by the police wanting to dumpster dive. The police dumpster dive to get the goods on possible drug dealers or terrorists or child porno's. Legally, if they can do it you can too. Without a warrant they have to abide by the same laws as you do. If the dumpster says no trespassing or is behind a private fence you could get in trouble and the police can't admit any evidence they find. You can look on the internet at this ruling in an article provided by the FBI called DUMPSTER DIVING AND THE LAW..... http://www.pimall.com/nais/n.dumpster.html

Who would want to get into a dumpster? Wouldn't you be concerned about infected needles, dead animals, broken glass, baby diapers and spit? In surfing the Internet it seems that most dumpster divers don't actually get in the thing, they just grab what they can reach. We seem to be bothered about it because we do not want to be reminded that people are down and out or we don't want to be reminded that we are throwing good stuff away. Think about it, we completely accept it when our dogs poop right in our yards and bark way louder than is necessary to get any human arrested for disturbing the peace...but we love our dogs. Why are we so intolerant of homeless people or dumpster divers?

To gain a correct perspective we must look at the extremes in the issue. Here in Austin, the APD generally have a humane attitude. Not so in Brazil. In a 60 Minutes expose called "Undesirables" it was shown how off duty policeman are paid by merchants to do drive-by shootings of homeless people and even garbage picking Brazilian children. The fascist answer is to make the sick and the poor and the homeless illegal or to eliminate them altogether. Many of these "undesirables" are orphan street children scavenging for recyclables. We need to practice humanity and tolerance for the disadvantaged. To think, I once wanted to move to Brazil.

Diving for Profit or Passion?

I found it cute to note that an economy has developed among the homeless whereby debts and favors are paid by exchanging items that were found in dumpsters. Some folk actually support themselves from dumpster finds. However very many of our homeless, especially here in Austin,are motivated by "environmentalist passion". We are told to "Reduce", "Recycle", and "Re-use". Many people feel that the most obvious and important way to do all three of these things is to "save" good items from the dumpster.

There are essentially only four approaches to our garbage problem: 1. Bury it
2. Burn it
3. Recycle it
4. Reduce the source.
Dumpster Divers help reduce and recycle. These are the two good options. When police mistakenly tell a dumpster diver that they are stealing from the city they are impeding an important environmental solution. Take a look at wood for example. When wood is burned it costs tax dollars, it adds to the greenhouse effect, and it forces the destruction of more oxygen producing trees that can take hundreds of years to grow.

I figured it was time for me give it a try. I am building a wooden porch outside my patio door. I decided to go look for free wood. My first stop was at a big construction dumpster full of thousands of dollars of new wood at a site near I-35 and downtown. I asked for the supervisor. I asked him for some of the wood. He sneered down his nose that, "You could sue me if you hurt yourself". He couldn't allow it. Welcome to America. The next construction site I checked was North of Dessau and Parmer. The supervisor said, "Sure, just be careful". I loaded up my truck and built my porch. It looks good. I went back and gave him a pizza. It saved me money and I helped the environment. I am happy. I recently noticed on Habitat for Humanity's Website the following words; "Habitat RE-store Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary. Nearly 300,000 people have shopped the Austin Habitat RE-store, contributing over five million dollars in donated materials since the store opened in September of 1992. Proceeds from the RE-store have partially funded the construction of over forty affordable, new Habitat homes. And it all started with a card table, a cigar box AND SOME SKILLFUL DUMPSTER DIVING!" However, I wonder if they asked permission the way I did or if they began as "undesirables"!

Forty percent of landfills now in use will close down in 5 years. They are supposed to only last 10 years. Whether you believe that there is a shortage of landfill space or not there is dangerous drain-off from them. The land is officially contaminated. Not good places to build your new communities, ala "Love Canal".

Most divers will tell you they do it for two reasons: It's a treasure hunt for big kids, and second - maybe more important - they are disgusted by Americans' wastefulness. According to the US Department of Agriculture, up to one-fifth of America's food goes to waste each year, with an estimated 130 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills. A July 1997 USDA study showed that 96 billion pounds out of 356 billion pounds of food produced for human consumption in the US is lost at the retail and food-service levels. The value of the lost food was estimated at around $31 billion each year.

Harriett Ball is a famous educator that travels around America's schools training teachers. She told me that cafeterias in school districts across the country are not allowed to use leftovers. They have to throw all the food out at the end of the day. For years hog farmers came around and got the food. She said sometime in the eighties the police started accusing the hog farmers of stealing from the government. Actually they were saving government and taxpayer money.

The University of Arizona's Project Garbage analyzed city landfill sites. Even after two decades, up to half of the organic material had not decayed. Bananas, carrot tops, onion parings and hot dogs were still recognizable 20 years after they were dumped. Newspapers clearly proclaimed the latest news from the war in Europe. Apparently only about 10 percent of landfill material biodegrades quickly; the rest changes at a snail's pace. We are talking the disposable stuff.

What about the solid waste. It can be there for thousands of years. I figured it was time to call up the City Diversion Center. A chipper Hispanic fellow named Rufino Soliz answered the phone. I could imagine this pleasant spirited man working hard in the sun shuffling appliances and metal around with fork lifts and dozers. First he told me that they used to be called the Diversion Center but that they changed their name to C&S Recycling. They were able to change their name because they are privately owned. Small time dumpster divers should be so lucky. These are big time trash pickers with a city contract. They get to fix up appliances and resell them or resell the junk metal using the Cities' buildings and dozers and such. However, they do have to pay for fuel and their phone line and the likes. Without people like them there might be oodles of old fridges and air conditioners on the streets. Junkers might then break them up for the copper and release the Freon into the air rather than disposing of the Freon properly. There are many deals to be had if you go to their location with a pick up truck. For instance, you might get a ladder rack for twenty bucks or a fixer upper lawn mower for five bucks. If they can get more by selling it for a few bucks than by crushing it they will. So before you pick a fixer upper mower off the street you might want to see if there is a nicer one for $5.00 at C&S Recycling at 10108 FM 812, by the city dump.

Regarding the goodies temptingly set out on the street, they present a disposal problem. Can you use it? Try to ask the owner who threw it out. There is a city ordinance about picking up recyclables. However, these recyclables are going to a private company, not to the city. I doubt they are going to start shooting homeless people who are picking up tin cans. All in all, I don't think I will move to Brazil, I really appreciate Austin Texas.

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Austin Homeless -- Helping Alex!
By Linda Crannell

The rain stopped just in time. The sun came out and the temperature reached a steamy 94 degrees. But that didn't stop these volunteers. They were offering their support to 8 year old Alex, who has had cancer for 7 years. She held a lemonade stand 4 years ago to raise money for "her" hospital after she heard her doctors say they didn't have enough money to help all the kids who needed help. Since then she and the people she has inspired to take up her idea have raised almost half a million dollars for pediatric cancer!

On July 3rd, several homeless people volunteered to hold an Alex's Lemonade Stand at the corner of Oltorf & S. Congress in front of the T.S.O. They could identify with a small, sick child who wanted to show that she was not powerless to "make a difference" and help others. Those mentioned below, and other volunteers who dropped in and out, talked to hundreds of people about this project. They gave out brochures and envelopes for mail-in donations, and - in this neighborhood where one dollar donations (and little kids' dimes) represent real generosity - they received donations from over 150 people and raised $200 for Alex's cause...having a great time!...and showing that Austin's homeless have really big hearts.

L.J. let his artistic skills shine! His posters were the mostest. And nobody could help but grin when they saw them.

For more information about Alex & her lemonade stand...go to www.alexslemonade.org

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Yetie Detector
Story by Troy England Evitt
Illustration by Ashley Holt

Only in a town like this could a two-bit palooka like me from Hoboken with a busted nose and a slack jaw get a shot at promoting Billy Carlucie, the Soup Kitchen Brawler. The little bastard fought like a caged monkey on opium. He had heart, he had guts. Hell, he had what would've been his identical twin growing out of his left shoulder blade. You'd think there was two of them the way you'd see the little freak roll his eyes and spit. But then, that was the kid's edge. Half the time, the contender would forfeit from the sheer horror of it all. The other half the time, Billy'd get the living shit beat out of him, but he'd still win 'cause the little half-twin thing would push him up before the ref could declare a TKO. Tell ya what, buddy boy, dem was the days.

He had a promising shot at the title. Then one day he gets drunk before a bout with Chicken Willie. It was a real ruckus! Billy went down in the third round. Passed out or knocked out, it was over. After that, he was never the same. He hired some muscle and a mouthpiece to fix his fights. He started letting the little twin-thing drive. Pretty soon, he was letting it box in fixed fights while he signed autographs. Then, one day, they found him dead. no one was sure if he choked on vomit or burned to death.

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