Forum:

zero waste

Cool stuff rescued from the side of the road

M Broussard

pollinator

Posts: 216

Location: North Island, New Zealand

252

I like...

posted 2 months ago

11
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure!

One thing I love about biking everywhere is that I can stop if I see something neat by the side of the road. I've found some great things over the years -- carpenter's pencils, reflective vests, an F-clamp, a machine belt, circular saw blades, electrical tape, ballbearings, marbles, bungees, you name it. This thread is for photos and discussion of neat things that have been rescued from the side of the road and given a new life (one that isn't being crushed by traffic!)

I'll start the thread off with this neat marble I found on the side of the road while biking to work last week.

What have you found?

cool-marble.JPG

He whai take kore noa anō te kupu mēnā mā nga mahi a te tangata ia e kōrero / His words are nothing if his works say otherwise

Food Prep and Preservation - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Leigh Tate

tool care - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Mike Barkley

gardening - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Mike Barkley

Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

Posts: 3094

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

836

posted 2 months ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

- Snow shovel that blew off the back of someone's truck

- A fancy stretchy headband that runners use in cold weather (a little Lysol, a little soap ...)

- $150 fancy polarized safety sunglasses (somebody was no doubt crying about those -- I put up a sign but no luck)

- Bic lighter, full of butane

- load tie down straps from big rigs (only if safe to stop and pick them up)

M Broussard

pollinator

Posts: 216

Location: North Island, New Zealand

252

I like...

posted 1 month ago

8
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Here's a first for me -- a mint pack of golden birthday candles. Tons of upcoming birthdays, so will definitely get used; I'd actually been thinking about getting some as I only have large taper candles.

gold-candles.JPG

An unopened pack of gold birthday candles

He whai take kore noa anō te kupu mēnā mā nga mahi a te tangata ia e kōrero / His words are nothing if his works say otherwise

Ted Abbey

Posts: 315

posted 1 month ago

14
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

One morning, I awoke to find a huge swath of detritus spread along the highway shoulder in front of the property. Cursing the foul litterbugs, I got my wheelbarrow and headed out to clean the mess. Much to my surprise, it was mostly clothing.. in my exact size! Four pair of Carhartt pants, several nice t shirts.. and about 30 pairs of brand new heavy duty socks! This was at a time of low funds, and the pants I had been wearing were shredded and repaired to the maximum limit. Probably my best roadside score..

John F Dean

master gardener

Posts: 5029

Location: southern Illinois, USA

1619

I like...

posted 1 month ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Well, I have never gotten a full wardrobe but about every 60 miles I pick up a 5 gallon bucket.

We live on Blue Planet that circles a ball of fire. Our Planet is circled by a Golden Moon that moves its oceans. Now tell me that you don’t believe in miracles....Unknown

M Broussard

pollinator

Posts: 216

Location: North Island, New Zealand

252

I like...

posted 1 month ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Here's a find for today -- a 100 yen coin!

I also found a box of cream-coloured tiles, but they were unsurprisingly damaged. Still a heap of big pieces, and would have suited mosaic making, but as I'm not into mosaics, I gave it a miss. Never seen either of these by the side of the road before. 2023 may be an interesting year for roadside biking finds!

100-yen.JPG

He whai take kore noa anō te kupu mēnā mā nga mahi a te tangata ia e kōrero / His words are nothing if his works say otherwise

Brian Maverick

Posts: 55

I like...

posted 1 month ago

8
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Most of the time it's broken push mowers that are simple to fix and resell for $80 to $130. And broken weed trimmers that need a little more TLC and sell for $40. Plenty of appliances and bikes out at the curb too.

Sometimes I get lucky and find those DishTV antennas. These can be repurposed for all kinds of good things. I joke about writing a 101 ways to repurpose DishTV antennas.

Yanmar YM2610 Compact Tractor
Gardening like your life depended on it.

Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

Posts: 3094

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

836

posted 1 month ago

8
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Brian Maverick wrote:Sometimes I get lucky and find those DishTV antennas. These can be repurposed for all kinds of good things. I joke about writing a 101 ways to repurpose DishTV antennas.

Dude, you can't just lob out that teaser and not dish on the details. Start a thread!

Brian Maverick

Posts: 55

I like...

posted 1 month ago

5
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I got a thread already on this out here:

https://www.tractorforum.com/threads/home-made-attachments-for-your-yanmar-cut-show-yours-here.32652

Yanmar YM2610 Compact Tractor
Gardening like your life depended on it.

Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

Posts: 3094

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

836

posted 1 month ago

9
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I got a good chuckle out of your dish hiller for garden root veggies! It's the only good use I can think of for television equipment.

Dish-Potato-Hiller-2.png

Brian Maverick

Posts: 55

I like...

posted 1 month ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Once the weather warms some, I'll have it build.

Yanmar YM2610 Compact Tractor
Gardening like your life depended on it.

Philip McGarvey

Posts: 88

Location: California, Redwood forest valley, 8mi from ocean, elev 1500ft, zone 9a

posted 1 month ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

My most exciting find were five 12"x12"x1" squares of solid steel, that have been useful for lots of things - they currently are stacked with pieces of I-beam next to my wood stove as additional surface to warm and store pots on while acting as thermal mass.

I think it's important to clarify: we're not talking about things people intentionally placed by the road in front of their place as trash or for someone to take, right? This thread I assume is about random things that were accidentally dropped or left. Otherwise, I found some nice pieces of I-beam in a free pile by the road. And most recently, a nice rocking chair when I was driving through san francisco on my way home a few weeks ago.

Lots of bits of rope and ratchet strap, gloves. Berries? Lots of berries :p

Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

Posts: 3094

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

836

posted 1 month ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Philip McGarvey wrote:I think it's important to clarify: we're not talking about things people intentionally placed by the road in front of their place as trash or for someone to take, right? This thread I assume is about random things that were accidentally dropped or left.

That's my take on it too. Dropped, lost, left or found growing wild by the roadside.

I know spots where I can cut lilacs growing feral in the ditch (love the smell!) and pussy willows on nice long stalks from diamond willow trees.

There's often pieces of 4x4 dunnage lost off of big flatdeck semis. Good stuff. Sometimes it's rough cut oak hardwood.

Pearl Sutton

steward & bricolagier

Posts: 11463

Location: SW Missouri

6835

I like...

posted 1 month ago

10
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I'm a big fan of things on the side of the road, but one of the random things I got is still in use 25 years later. It was a box of stuff that dumped all over a busy intersection where most of the traffic turns left. I danced through the traffic picking it all up, waving thanks at people who were careful not to hit me, I assume they figured it had fallen off my truck. They are hooks for something like bungee cords. They are made of heavy duty metal, with a figure 8 base, that you can run any rope or cord through. I use them to hook ropes or cords anyplace I can. I can add them to a premade bungee cord to give it 3 or more tie down points. There were something like 50 of them in the box, and scattered all over. That's been one of my most useful finds ever. Better even than the tools I have picked up over the years.

You can see them, sort of, in the pictures of my cargo net modification. Cargo net tricks I can move them around so the net is always hooked tight, and they are MUCH better quality than the plastic ones that come with those nets. Wonderful things! I'm glad someone loaded them badly! :D

Gardens in my mind never need water https://permies.com/t/75353/permaculture-projects/Gardens-Mind
Castles in the air never have a wet basement https://permies.com/t/75355/permaculture-projects/Maison-du-Bricolage-house
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.

oddball - sand badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Nicole Alderman

M Broussard

pollinator

Posts: 216

Location: North Island, New Zealand

252

I like...

posted 1 month ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Last week, I found a whole pile of old (pre-1988) copper coins all in the same intersection. This is from back when New Zealand still had 1 and 2 cent coins that were actually solid brass/copper instead of the modern copper-plated steel. They're worth 2-3x their face value in copper at the scrap yard these days. Given how expensive copper is at this time, these will find use either as plant tags (once flattened and smoothed out), or melted down and cast into something new. There are two good-condition coins, one 2c, and one 1c, and I'll add those to my collection of miscellaneous coins.

The 20c coin will go into my wallet instead

copper-coins.JPG

a 20-cent coin, and heaps of pre-1988 copper coins

He whai take kore noa anō te kupu mēnā mā nga mahi a te tangata ia e kōrero / His words are nothing if his works say otherwise

Kenneth Elwell

pollinator

Posts: 1005

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

396

I like...

posted 1 month ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Two different 5 foot long pinch bars, one directly in front of our house. I heard a distinctive noise (having dropped one once or twice) of that one being run over and over by traffic one morning. I hurried to put on some shoes and ran out to claim it. The other on the side on the interstate on-ramp (a hard left turn, and a frequent location for finds... like a 21 foot long chain link fence pipe just last week, tow chain, a 9/16" wrench...)

Does a parking lot count as the side of the road? sort of? okay, then $111 cash.

Nails are sold by the pound, that makes sense.
Soluna Garden Farm -- Organic, hand-blended herb, spice, and tea blends -- Flower CSA -- Beverages, plants, and cut flowers at our Boston Public Market location, Boston, Massachusetts.

craig howard

pollinator

Posts: 306

Location: zone 5-5

posted 1 month ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Stopped and picked up a metal wood splitting wedge this winter.
Looked brand new like it had never been hit.
It has some dings in it now.

I've found some pairs of gloves.
More common to find one glove, which works for me, I don't care if my work gloves match.

M Broussard

pollinator

Posts: 216

Location: North Island, New Zealand

252

I like...

posted 2 weeks ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Last week I found a concrete drill bit, a palm-sized section of steel plate (to be a new nail header). I regularly find drill bits and scrap plate steel.

A new find for me was this -- a little screw driver bit. My work is always losing this bit from our set, so it'll be good to restock it.

screwdriver.JPG

He whai take kore noa anō te kupu mēnā mā nga mahi a te tangata ia e kōrero / His words are nothing if his works say otherwise

Gierlothnir Wodanson

Posts: 27

Location: Over Yonder

I like...

posted 2 weeks ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Brian Maverick wrote:Most of the time it's broken push mowers that are simple to fix and resell for $80 to $130. And broken weed trimmers that need a little more TLC and sell for $40. Plenty of appliances and bikes out at the curb too.

Sometimes I get lucky and find those DishTV antennas. These can be repurposed for all kinds of good things. I joke about writing a 101 ways to repurpose DishTV antennas.

I wouldn’t mind a nice thread on repurposed dish and satellite ideas. I take them down on a regular basis and they end up in a scrap metal pile that gets recycled. I would be confident in saying that I have removed well over 500 direct tv dishes in the past two years.

“The wolf does not pity the lamb. The storm begs no forgiveness of the drowned.”
― Jay Kristoff, Nevernight
“A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.”
—Eeyore
“I’m not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.”
—Winnie the Pooh

Be reasonable. You can't destroy everything. Where would you sit? How would you read a tiny ad?

Harvesting Rainwater for your Homestead in 9 Days or Less by Renee Dang

https://permies.com/wiki/206770/Harvesting-Rainwater-Homestead-Days-Renee