"Stealing" out of rubbish bins/skips

jmd4eva

I don't know if this is the right place to put this but....

Is it illegal to take things out of rubbish bins/skips?

Have found some good stuff and want to know if it is ok to sell on Ebay.... and i'm not talking rubbish/junk but good quality gear from a club that is closing down.

bigpound

I don't know but everybody does it, it's almost like a past time in this country, like fish'n'chips. I would get it before somebody else does if I were you.

soolin

I don't know if it is illegal or not but I noticed that when someone says 'they got it out of a skip' on Antiques roadshow no one tells them off. However, when they say they found it with a metal detector a printed warning comes up on screen telling people that all such finds need to be reported to the local Coroner.

When I cleared my fathers house I threw lots of very good things in to a skip desperately hoping someone would take them. In the end i even put the better things by the side of the skip with a notice saying 'please help yourself', and not one thing disappeared.

9217niall

Finders keepers.
I would assume it would be fine.
Once had 3 people in my mum's skip - all they took were the unwanted umbrellas!

cyberbob

Technically whoever owns the skip (or has hired it) owns the rubbish. So if you want something from one you need to ask permission otherwise it could however unlikely get classified as theft

geordie_joe

Been through this several times on the green and ethical board.

Taking stuff out of a skip is (mostly) not stealing.

It is all to do with the legal definition of theft.

Theft Act 1978
Theft (Amendment) Act 1996
Basic definition of theft
1.--

(1) A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and 'thief' and 'steal' shall be construed accordingly.

How can you dishonestly appropriate property with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it, when 'the other' has taken steps to permanently deprive themselves of it by throwing in a skip.

You could be guilty of theft, if the owner was not "throwing out" the contents of the skip.

Example: If a builder is renovating a house and puts all the copper pipe, radiators etc. in a separate skip with the intention of reusing or selling them for scrap. In this case it would have to be proved that you knew they were not rubbish to be thrown out.

babyshoes

Leaving aside the legality of removing items from a skip, you have to be careful about trespassing!

Pound

babyshoes wrote: »

Leaving aside the legality of removing items from a skip, you have to be careful about trespassing!

Trespassing isn't a criminal offense. The owner of the land could sue for damages but there wouldn't usually be any.

Misstress

UnemployedAndLovingIt wrote: »

You go aroudn disgusting stinking rubbish dumps searching through disgisting mouldy diseased rubbish and rot in the hope of finding something that someone else through in the bib but that you could take home and sell to make afew pounds profit??!!


Seriously, that isnt moneysaving, its just weird and disgusting, not to mention unhygenic and dangerous!!

No, he/she looks in the skips that are outside peoples houses.

Sian_the_Green

UnemployedAndLovingIt wrote: »

You go aroudn disgusting stinking rubbish dumps searching through disgisting mouldy diseased rubbish and rot in the hope of finding something that someone else through in the bib but that you could take home and sell to make afew pounds profit??!!


Seriously, that isnt moneysaving, its just weird and disgusting, not to mention unhygenic and dangerous!!

Have you read the original post? I don't think rubbish dumps were mentioned once, neither was "disgisting (sic)" rubbish. I think this is referring to a specific bin, which sounds like it is a non food bin. I took a set of chess pieces from a broken box on top of a bin today. I'll find a use for them, in a rubbish dump they will become waste

Snakeeyes21

As far as im concerned skip diving is fair game. After all your only making a use for things that would otherwise go to landfill, which can only be a good thing.

When I got my first flat I virtually kitted it out with things I scrounged.

Its amazing what people chuck out, most of which is perfectly fine, Ive had leather sofas. a wide screen telly, a cooker, fridges and freezers and countless other things.

Theres no shame in taking these things, the shame should be on the person who just chucks perfectly serviceable things in the skip when they could go to the many hundreds of charities that help the needy.