Is taking stuff from garbage or recycled bags from a residential apartment building then selling them legal?
I work as a porter for a very big New York City residential bldg and I find a large amount of mainly books that people throw out , about 100 a week which i know i can sell and make nice money from. I was wondering if thats ok. Some are already inside the recycled bags or just laying on the floor in the compactor rooms.
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4 Responses to “Is taking stuff from garbage or recycled bags from a residential apartment building then selling them legal?”
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October 21st, 2009 at 9:38 pm
once its in the trash its public domain so you are fine
October 25th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Once someone throw out things into a garbage recepticle, it becomes fair game. Ask any criminal attorney or private detective.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
If your building has its own incinerators, or private dumpsters, its not public domain for you to dig thru.Those items disposed of that way are the property of the tenants/people using the building..and they have an expectation that stuff they discard for incineration is truely being incinerated. Things in the public trash bins are free for the taking most jusristictions but your question regards private consumer waste ,not city garbage.If you start going thru and taking stuff you’ll probably get fired when someone finds out, and maybe prosecuted depending on what you took…also you open your employer up to liability since the people using that building used the trash there with an expectation of it being securily destoyed.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:50 am
yes.. it CAN be illegal in some cases or places. The trash company has a contract to pick up, and in some instances, the basis for the contract would be that they have the rights to profits from recycling (ie glass, paper, etc). Let’s imagine that there are 5 porters, all of whom WANT to pick up usable things such as you describe, and make some extra money. What could then happen, is a fight among the porters, as to who has first pick at these things.
It seems senseless to dump things that can be used for either ‘real’ use, or profit, but it is regulated in some locations. Aside from legal.. the bldg owners are actually the ones with authority to say if it would be “ok” for you to do this, or not do it. So, it doesn’t always come down to legal or illegal, but specific policy by your employer.