What's Your Best Hard Rubbish (Aka Kerbside Collection) Find?

picklewizard on 11/07/2017 - 11:57
Last edited 11/07/2017 - 13:32 by 1 other user

Hard rubbish show and tell time!

I somehow have some pretty good luck with my hard rubbish finds. Most recently was a fully working i5 system that was around 3.5 years old, complete with 8GB RAM, Corsair 650W PSU, AsRock Fatality board and a Bitfenix Ghost case - easily a $300+ system if sold second hand!

Other finds include a working, slim PS3 (about 18 months ago, HDD required a reformat and nothing more), my current dryer (maybe 6 or 7 years old and otherwise fine), and my previous washer (a recent model Samsung that lasted a good 2 years before it died) and a fully working bar fridge.

What are your best finds?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 13/07/2017 - 00:04
    +6

    I heard someone managed to score some fruit trees.

  • slow on 13/07/2017 - 07:40
    +1

    Asko washing machine - saw the guy putting it out and he said it worked perfectly, even helped me put it in the car. Still going strong.

    A few bikes over the years, the best was worth over $1000 when cleaned up

    Almost new pram, used it for a few years then sold it for a few hundred $

    • heaps of other stuff
  • jonathonsunshine on 13/07/2017 - 07:53
    +1

    Canon LBP3300 Duplex laser printer. Needed to get a toner cartridge off eBay. $17.

  • Meercat on 13/07/2017 - 09:31
    +1

    Background: I am from Tasmania, the Island where no one throws anything away but sell for a price (prices that are usually absurd). So finding anything on the side of the street is unthinkable. In fact not many know there is even such a thing where a fellow human would put a perfectly working item/s on the side curb for anyone to scavenge on.

    Anyway while I was on a holiday in Melbourne a couple of month ago a mate who is local and I were driving past st kilda when I saw a whole bunch of stuff on the side walk. Some of the items were two brand new curtains still in retail box, An almost new 7 seat outdoor dining table and babyQ. I said to my mate whats all these stuff and he said it's for anyone to take and it was an everyday thing was no biggy. I was very surprised and excited so I humbly took the babyQ with me. And if I had lived there I definitely would have taken the rest of the stuff.

    • [Deactivated] on 13/07/2017 - 10:07
      +2

      Yeah. Australia is quite abundant. ;)

  • cameldownunder on 13/07/2017 - 09:57
    +1

    24" Inch HP Monitor, 3 years old, $2000 new, $300 on ebay. Working perfectly
    Tule Box
    Weber Gas BBQ, that needed $70 new Gas Head
    2 Gas Bottles, swapped at 7/11 no problem
    Chairs
    Tennis Rackets
    USB cables / Power cables
    Computer Desk
    Logitech Remote Control
    Mini DVD Disk Camera
    Digital Photo Camera
    Picture Frames with nice pictures ( Glass intact )
    Illumination Rail, with 3 spots. All working.

  • itbargainhunter on 13/07/2017 - 10:29

    Picked up a pair of old fashion, wooden cased, 90cm tall stero speakers.

    Repair the comestic damage and have them connected to my amp for TV and movie sound since.

    Been comparing with what I can find in JB these day and couldn't find any new sub $800 speakers that sound better.

  • Lancerx on 13/07/2017 - 10:33

    Had to be my first mountain bike years ago in uni

  • LKJ899 on 13/07/2017 - 10:47
    +1

    But you would need a truck or ute to carry those big items and have the tools and skills to repair.

    I've always imagined 1 day I'd get a truck and go around picking up "treasures" from the kerb…lol

  • patinadiary on 13/07/2017 - 10:48
    +1

    Reminded me of uni days…
    An old large and heavy desk from across the road, and served me well until my uni days, after graduating and moving out, the desk went back on the kerb to serve someone else.
    The other score was a pair of identical floral sofas, they were in showroom condition on the kerb and we contemplated for a minute whether they were kept out to air dry or something. Anyway we stationed one of our housemates there while the 2 of us ran home to get the car, only the 3 of us will remember how difficult it was to maneuver 3 roundabouts and 2 left turns with a pair of sofas on the roof with the two of us holding them from each side. They eventually went to a friend who used it for 2 years and then on-sold it on gumtree for $100, and he didn't share the spoils with me :(

  • chiazone on 13/07/2017 - 11:03
    +1

    working Breville espresso machine cleaned and sold for $100

    fully working Ryobi table saw with legs, still using it for woodworking stuff

    tv unit good condition, took off the castors and used as LEGO table for my very pleased kid

    IBM LCD monitor sold to eager buyer

    Push scooter and used it daily for a year or so until the rear wheel came off after running down the hill and braking at 60kmh

    • PJC on 13/07/2017 - 11:21
      +5

      It is valid recycling.

    • Speckled Jim on 13/07/2017 - 11:57
      +1

      Please. Most people are wasteful and we're rodents?!
      We're not going into food scraps matey.

    • John Kimble on 13/07/2017 - 12:18
      +2

      Perhaps you are confusing with dumpster diving; but even that has some merit in terms of reducing wastage.

    • dji1111111 on 13/07/2017 - 19:33

      yet your spelling is worse than these "rodents"
      "you're" instead of "your"

  • [Deactivated] on 13/07/2017 - 11:08
    +3

    My wife wanted to try her hand at a small indoor aquarium but a decent sized tank brand new was going to cost us about $300 so she decided to hold off on it. The very next day, a neighbour a few streets down threw one out in hard rubbish.

    I picked it up, cleaned it with a bleach solution and loaded it with some fish to surprise her when she got home!

    Now I am on the look out for an old "flat" screen TV for the fresnel lens to try my hand at some solar heating projects.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/07/2017 - 11:35

    I don't actively look through curbside stuff, feels a bit skungy, but each to their own. Having said that, the only thing I have picked up was a small wooden cubby house. Dragged it around the corner to my house, added legs for elevation, replaced the roof, added nesting boxes where the windows were and added some shingles just because and done! Has been my chicken coop going on 3 years now.

  • excee on 13/07/2017 - 11:41
    +1

    Sadly our council has switched to free skips twice a year so no more browsing for me.
    I think this link sums up the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzUG67JUB_M

    • John Kimble on 13/07/2017 - 12:20

      My council has it every two weeks! I think because there are so many units and people moving in and out constantly. 98% of the time there are mattresses or sofas out.

    • MishyMoo on 22/11/2017 - 11:22

      So funny!

  • godofpizza on 13/07/2017 - 12:51
    +1

    about 10 years my parent brought home a box of nintendo nes cartridges (about 15 titles) and a working console with 2 controllers. mind you that back then before the retro gaming craze started, these were worthless. However i kept it and modified it to become region free and still have it to this day, bets the mini nes.

  • ESEMCE on 13/07/2017 - 14:18
    +2

    Set of older but still great sounding high end speakers and Speaker stands from my Next Door Neighbors.

    I was a bit worried they'd put them outside planning to load them into their car or something, so I hung around for a good 15 minutes then moved them into my front yard upon which I sat outside for another 15 minutes waiting for them to come back out and wonder where their speakers were gone.
    After that time, I took them properly inside and hooked them up.
    That was nearly 10 years ago now, still using them today!

  • overkillxx on 13/07/2017 - 14:34
    +2

    Found q tower PC unit.. It had an i7 in it with quite a decent video card complete with everything except HDD's… I fired it up & initially it just turned itself off afer about 30 seconds.. Then realized the fan assembly was not sitting properly on the CPU.. Once I fixed that it was fine.. I used this PC for my main system for about 2 years.

  • Mrbean007 on 13/07/2017 - 15:23
    +1

    Lol i know a guy that makes a living from scavenging streets mainly beach areas in sydney
    And goes out and sells the stuff at the markets :)

  • curryblender on 13/07/2017 - 15:28
    +4

    Around 2009 i was going through hard times. I was living in Carrum downs and was going around the street and found a nice looking jewellery box with red lipstick lines on it. Thought I'd clean it and use it to keep drill bits or spare coins in it. Took it home and while cleaning I opened it up and there was a gold chain which turned Ed out to be around $1700 in worth and one ring which was $270 at cash for Gold people.

    I sold both of them. Bought myself a drill set and then girlfriend a 32"Tv. Rest $600 I donated to separate charities.

    Now when I do put stuff on the kerb. I always double check.

    • cashless on 13/07/2017 - 16:07

      Bought myself a drill set and then girlfriend

      That's not bad for less than a grand, getting a drill set and a girlfriend

    • John Kimble on 13/07/2017 - 16:10
      +1

      You were going through hard times and decided to buy a drill set and a TV? Okay…

      • curryblender on 14/07/2017 - 16:16
        +2

        For work

        Needed drill for work

  • oaks101 on 13/07/2017 - 18:12
    +3

    I found a MacPro Desktop with its 30" cinema display with it aswell. The computer itself fired up straight away though it had a bad graphics card, $20 fix. The monitor needed the power brick which cost $110 but it worked once i got that. Solid the Computer for $700, and the monitor sold for $900

    Profit=$1470

    Also found a vintage BMX bike once, Raleigh with the old school Plastic wheels

    Cleaned it up, sold for $250

    G15 Keyboard, though some cheap scab chopped the USB cable, easy fixed. Still use today.

    Old school LT Kennet ladder

    10 Speed road bike, custom made in Melbourne.

    • PJC on 13/07/2017 - 18:32
      +1

      Impressive.

  • gee3k on 13/07/2017 - 18:22

    Best finds
    Guitar hero drum kit for Xbox 360. Had to replace the wire on one of the cymbals but gave up trying to fix the pedal but can get one of those second hand.
    Canon pixma mx870 needed a black ink otherwise perfect working order
    Dvd/vcr combo - few years back saw this on a kerbside. Vcr worked but DVD needed a few fonzie touches to get going. Threw it out due to getting a hand me down vcr and DVD player.

    Best giveaways
    LG 55 inch TV - image slowed down to buggery. Needed a capacitor of some sort but with limited electronic skills I put it on the kerb at 8am. Was gone before lunch
    Nintendo wii - was a hand me down and come semi bricked. Was still operating and played discs but wanted to do more. Ended up finding another console on gumtree for 10bucks and gave the one I had a flick to the kerb. Was doing a rare all nighter and put it out at 3am. Woke up and it was long gone

    Get some give some. Works well.

    • Splashtash on 13/07/2017 - 22:10
      +1

      Hehe I found one toooo!
      1)Guitar hero drum kit + guitar and game for 360 about a year ago. Perfect working condition… I wondered at the time if the parents wanted to teach their kids a lesson and gave it away… Who knows.
      2)Fish tank 220l or so with light and supplies
      3) some random item I sold for $150+
      4) various pieces of furniture that weren't damaged - the best one I found was a handmade tv stand I use today that I love. I think so many ppl can't take stuff when they move so they just throw it out

  • cannedhams on 13/07/2017 - 18:23
    +1

    Honestly, unless you're hardcore, you never find good stuff in Brisbane any more. The professional rag and bone men do the rounds in their tray trucks and find absolutely everything decent.

    I even had people take stuff out of my hard rubbish, and believe me my hard rubbish is just crap.

  • zerokas on 13/07/2017 - 19:57

    Picked upe a portable aircon in the Rocks a few weeks ago. There were 3 there, so I thought, I´ll check one and if it works, go back and get the other two.

    Was working perfectly and went back the next day to find out the cords were taken of the other two, took them anyways, replaced cords.
    Sold two of them for 125 $ each. Kept the third one.

    Crazy thinking, the guy who took the 20 cents worth of copper to leave the 250 $ worth of stuff on the street :D My win, his loss.

  • Zenith2k3 on 13/07/2017 - 20:19
    +1

    A working treadmill , sold on ebay for $100,
    Two baby car seats, sold on ebay for $50.
    A working used fridge, sold on ebay for $200.

  • nikey2k27 on 13/07/2017 - 21:08
    -1

    Brisbane flood guy next door my mate house was put out wooden designer furniture freedom stuff we putting out our chipboard furniture. "Upgrade" few clean ago stainless steel Smeg fridge guy came out wife want one with ice maker. My fav scores I found in 2001 was desk oak i still have it today.

    • ozbjunkie on 14/07/2017 - 16:26
      +2

      This is hilariously unreadable.

  • snook on 13/07/2017 - 21:13

    When i was small i found a stop watch. Loved that.
    Tend not to take electrical stuff cos we can't fix it but have a got a few vacuums that lasted for a while.
    There are spots around our area where a lot of students come and go, so I have heaps of free furniture items.
    Have a share house and have managed to furnish most of it with street finds or gumtree or cheap ebay.

    Found a 32" Kogan TV and it works great for a bedroom tele.

    When I have good stuff that's not good enough to be bothered selling, I also just put it out on the footpath for passer-bys to take. Always goes.

  • Euphemistic on 13/07/2017 - 21:38

    If you are quick there is some wet carpet out the front of my place. Not too many paint splashes on it.

  • retiredfeline on 13/07/2017 - 21:50

    Wow, so many "bikies" on this thread. :)

  • TurkishDelight on 13/07/2017 - 22:31
    -2

    I once found a car (10-year-old Holden) on kerbside with a key in it, made an assumption in excitement and took the car away. Later when the police arrived to arrest me, I found out that it was just parked there on the curb.

    (Pun intended)

  • GreatTurkey on 13/07/2017 - 22:56

    I live in Brisbane and I have grown up scavenging the local throw outs (kerbside collection) I only pick up what I need and regret not collecting things that I should have. I don't remember everything, but a couple of highlights that I recently have collected include a DeLonghi portable air conditioner, a Classic Macario racing bicycle, tom tom sat nav, Dyson vacuum cleaner, a dozen bottles of very good wine (my Dad found a use for those), good clothes, kitchen things and appliances, headsets, PS1 with 2 controllers, pink PS2 with 2 pink controllers and matching pink memory cards 😄 and games, Nintendo DS lite, Gameboy Colour Pokémon edition, Samsung sound bar with wireless subwoofer, furniture, rare records, suitcase record player, perfect condition high quality leather office chair, lots of Lego, logitech harmony remote, non-broken ripstick, stuff for my guinea pigs, tools etc.My Dad and I mostly pick up non-treated fire wood for our fireplace, but also (neatly) look through good looking piles to see what we can find. My family usually will give us requests for things they want us to find😄.

  • GreatTurkey on 13/07/2017 - 23:18

    I once saw a guy looking really suspicious starting to attach a new registered trailer to his car. I started to write down his rego number when the owner came out of the house and had to tell him that "the trailer is not on the throw-out."

  • ozhamada on 13/07/2017 - 23:53
    +5

    The most recent find was sixteen PS2 games all in original case from Ashfield in Sydney - swopped at EB Games for 2nd hand games that worked in my game system. EB games did a store credit for a little over $100.

    A week before that I was walking the dog past a neighbor who was putting out stuff. Most of it was broken furniture. He is a pharmacist. A line of body wash had been selling poorly. Rather than fill his commercial bin at work he decided to put it out on council pick-up pile. I took three of the six boxes (twenty-four in each box) and gave most of it away.

    A painting by a Sydney artist (deceased). I took this to an art gallery and they offered to sell it on consignment with $800 price. I then checked catalogues and found that similar works by same artist sold for $1,200. I found a buyer through eBay at $1,050.

    A coffee machine, unused, in original box. We have not bothered to open it as it uses a coffee pod that is unique to the brand and we like our current machine. Thank you for triggering me to sell it.

    Bicycles - which I strip for parts - bells, pedals, reflectors. I give the parts to a men's shed. They need them to make up complete bicycles for sale.

    A 5kg capacity washing machine. It only needed a new power cord. This one still works well.

    Betamax VCR players - these are dinosaurs yet a neighbor is retired from the film industry and he has a hobby where he repairs them. He doesn't seem to sell them although I have seen some on his own council pick-up pile so he must be selective about the ones he keeps.

    And, I helped a neighbor empty his house of rubbish in advance of selling the house. He had a flat screen TV that he was throwing out simply because an area in the top left corner about the size of a five cent piece was not showing the picture. It was good as a games playing television for about four years until it finally died.

  • itsasteal on 14/07/2017 - 00:05
    +3

    My kids wanted to find a quad bike. I laughed at them and told them not to hold their breath. Guess what I found a few days later. Owner came out when she saw me and said it used to work but had been in storage for several years.

    Also got fully working 42" lcd with remote (again saw the owner and confirmed in good working order). Dining table, Webber BBQ, regular gas BBQ, 2 x gas bottles, desktop and free standing outdoor gas heaters, arb cooler box and some bikes and parts.

    Generally find a lot but takes some time and effort. Kids love it and it is basically recycling so I see no harm in it.

    • PJC on 14/07/2017 - 01:53
      +1

      Absolutely right. How can it not be recycling?

  • hedonistic on 14/07/2017 - 00:41

    how the hell do you guys find these things? wander around random suburbs hoping there will be stuff on the side of the road?

  • sweetnipples on 14/07/2017 - 06:17
    +1

    My current missus

  • ExtraSalt on 14/07/2017 - 09:21
    +3

    PIcked up an air guitar. All it needed was a quick clean and new strings. Flipped it for $3000.

  • SwarleyAUS on 14/07/2017 - 09:49

    Working whippersnipper, laptop that just needed a new HDD, studio microphone, PS3 (YLOD though), lots of DVD drives, dead mac pro (makes a nice PC case), perfectly good dining table seats, mint in box donkey kong country for SNES, harmony remote, corded hammer drills, digital keyboard, stacks of washing machine motors which have been used to make disc sanders and whatnot, plus more.

    • ruddiger7 on 14/07/2017 - 15:02

      YLOD PS3s aren't worth the effort. Have a 1TB Fat CFW backwards compatible that has been reflowed twice and reballed twice. Too scared to even use it and don't want to sell it cause its probably a time bomb.

  • crob on 14/07/2017 - 12:22

    most of my furniture, an old army helmet, a shit tone of CD's n DVD's, this manikin http://i.imgur.com/M68pYHr.jpg ….

  • Shambler on 14/07/2017 - 12:54
    +2

    I had a BMW E30 when I was a teenager (terrible first car) and clipped a kangaroo late one night and dinged the front bumper.

    Didn't fix it for a few weeks until one morning out the front of my apartment building there was a unmarked, untouched bumper, exact model and series for my car just sitting on the kerb!

    Got a few bonus lights and grills out of it too as spares!

    • PJC on 14/07/2017 - 18:07
      +1

      And some people say there is no God.

      • retiredfeline on 14/07/2017 - 19:22
        +2

        And He's not a kangaroo.

  • desert eagle on 14/07/2017 - 15:56
    • Delonghi Magnifica - Spent $45 on a new pump, still needs repairs
    • Handheld radios
    • Office chairs
    • A bunch of computers
  • ozbargaingal on 14/07/2017 - 17:44

    I live in West Brisbane and on a afternoon walk a few months ago, hubby found a double pram. It was dark and I told him to just leave it (we could hardly see anything!) but he wheeled it home and found out it was a Valco Snap Duo Pram (http://www.getprice.com.au/valco-snap-duo-stroller.htm) worth about $500.. Worth so much more to us though because I'd been looking read Dreaming about a pram like this for when our 2nd bub comes along. Parents/Carers will also appreciate that it fits our newborn capsule too!! All that was needed was a wash and Valco sent me some strap covers for free. We are sooo stoked and love the idea we have been able to upcycle it :) The only downside is that hubby is now unofficially crowned the OZBargainer of the family… which doesn't sit too well with me.

  • love2buy on 14/07/2017 - 19:24

    I found a box of hentai comics but decided against bringing it home for fear of where its been.

  • altomic on 14/07/2017 - 23:21
    +2

    I went out yesterday to have a look at the hard rubbish near me.

    scored:
    leaf blower (working)
    leaf blower/vac (working)
    Ford car fridge (yet to test - needs ciggy lighter PS cable)
    42" AWA TV (appears to be working, no remote)
    NEC top loader washing machine - yet to test
    Dunlop 6 speed adult "mountain" bike - excellent condition/near new
    couple of lawn mower leaf catchers
    2 fold out camping chairs
    5 solar garden lights (working)
    2 x BMX wheels&tyres - replacements for the worn tyres one of my kids bmx
    5-man tent (yet to fully examine - but poles and pegs included)
    tosca hard cabin case
    Steel tool box (medium size)
    FlyMo -push mower
    a large bag of christmas lights (with power adapters)
    2.1 computer speakers
    Rover/ Briggs&Stratton lawnmower - have not had a chance to play with it.
    some drawers (to replace the missing ones from the 1950's timber side board I picked up a few months ago)
    a bosch front loader door (grabbed it as a replacement)

    • PJC on 15/07/2017 - 01:42

      That is an impressive haul. There are no kerbside collections in my area.

  • stealthpaw on 15/07/2017 - 00:17
    +2

    $800 Breville Coffee Machine.
    One of the parts needed to be replaced, so i called the company and found that the serial was still under warranty, so they shipped out the part to me for $5 postage.
    Once I replaced the part (easy), it worked like brand-new and i've been using it for 4+ years now.

  • Sage on 15/07/2017 - 00:22

    Never found anything particularly useful or valuable, though I keep an eye out.

  • DiscoJango on 15/07/2017 - 09:37
    +2

    i remember in high school, just leaving school one day, was about year 10, the garbos were doing a hard rubbish pickup. anyway, as were walking past the truck, the guy hanging off the back (yup, back in those days) was like here you go boys! and threw us a stash of porn mags! like 10 +. me and my mate kept one each, but no way could you hide that many at home and risk getting busted by the parents. so we proceeded to randomly curl them up and place into peoples letter boxes like regular catalogues as we walked home :)

  • leTintin on 28/07/2017 - 11:10

    Fully working 32" LCD TV. I'm sure everyone else who saw it assumed it wasn't working, but plugged it in and was fine. Also got a home cinema amp which works well.

  • sandman87 on 18/08/2017 - 12:08

    My best finds have been a set of late model Holden commodore SS alloy wheels with good tyres. Sold them for $300.
    Recently found a Dyson upright vacuum cleaner in working condition with some of its parts in original packaging. Sold that for $150. Kerbside cleanup is my favourite thing!

  • KingZombody1 on 22/11/2017 - 11:00

    Me and my mate went to look through some in hopes of finding parts for computers, ended up finding an MSI motherboard still in the box with manuals and everything.

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