Pinching from a skip. Yes or No?

[Rainyrunway]

My NDN are having renovations done and they have a skip outside their house full of random stuff. I just saw someone drive past, then reverse the car, get out and start rummaging. They grabbed a couple of bits out, stuck in their car and drove off. I found it quite funny (but a bit cheeky) personally and dont think id mind if someone knicked something from a skip outside my house. But it got me thinking. Would you do it? Is it ok? Or is it's stealing?

I personally would ask by knocking on the door. But I do think in general it's going to landfill so might as well be reused by somone.

Same thing happened to me - talk about nosy neighbours!

Yet when my husband reported a woman being assaulted the police were nowhere to be seen, simply never arrived 🤔

Much better than putting stuff in!

But with anything just left outside and not physically in a skip, I think people should ask.

Im torn as to whether Id rather people knocked to check with stuff in a skip (and therefore obviously being disposed of) as generally I’d rather people didn’t knock at my door unnecessarily.

I called the police @SeeingSpots because there was an aggressive bloke on my drive stealing things from my property. No I didn't want them but while they're on my property they belong to me. And yes you bet he put them back once he knew I was serious about it being theft.

Just to dispel a myth here. Most skip contents don't go to landfill in the UK. They go to a waste transfer station where the contents are sorted for various destinations, including recycling, incineration, other facilities or landfill.

Landfill is an expensive option, skip companies will pay landfill tax to dump waste so try to avoid it wherever possible. A substantial amount of the contents of your average skip will get recycled because that's how skip companies make their money.

In my opinion skip diving is OK if the person who ordered the skip agrees it. However, if you half empty a full skip and the owner hasn't any other waste to fill it, they may be charged a fee for sending back the half empty skip to the skip company. So you should get permission first.

Would you have also called the police if he wasn't being aggressive? Wouldn't it have just made more sense to go and say look I would have appreciated it if you had asked first.

You didn't want the items hence throwing them in the skip, if he had been polite when you'd approached him would you still have called the police or just been pleased they were useful to someone else?

If there is a skip on private property, then I’d say it’s necessary to ask permission. Otherwise you are trespassing for starters and possibly even stealing.

Technically it's stealing but I doubt police would bother

I once walked past a skip whilst about 7 months pregnancy with DD. Walking used to help stop me getting leg cramps so bad I thought my legs were broken below the knee.

Skip had some lovely lamps in it and a couple of, very in at the time, leather beanbags.

So I knocked the door to ask if it was OK to take them?

Lady was lovely, she was surprised I had knocked to ask, expecting people to help themselves. Turned out her husband had left her and she was getting of everything in his taste to replace it.

When she noticed I was pregnant, she said she had some baby bits if I'd like them. She had three sacks of the most stunningly beautiful, mostly brand new, blankets, bedding sets, grobags, baby clothes and toys. I gladly took the lot. I told her about Freecycle too to save her the cost the skip!

I don't mind a look in a skip, I found a box of vinyl records once and old hifi equipment, knocking to ask for it, the man was chucking his father's stuff away after he had passed and no one in the family wanted it. I actually gave him £50 as I said I felt bad for just taking it.

I dont understand why this is regarded as stealing. Its all going to the tip and freeing up space for the householder for more stuff.

If he'd knocked and asked me @SeeingSpots then I would naturally have said it's fine. Or if he'd been apologetic and gracious when asked why he and his vehicle were on my drive then I'd also probably not have called them.

But his entitled attitude and aggression when I told him to put it back meant that I did feel the need to call the police. And since I had his reg number he had to put it back and leave since he could have been traced.

No @Hannahsbananas the metal went to someone else who knocked and asked me if they might take it for scrap. Which is exactly what the skip company would have done. They wouldn't have sent metal to landfill. I'm sorry if you disagree with my not giving my property to any abusive dickhead that rocks up! Perhaps I should have invited him in just to check there wasn't anything else of mine he fancied!

I'm honestly surprised at the number of people that think stuff on drives or private land is fair game! If I'm giving stuff away (and I do often) I leave it outside my wall with a note on.

If there's anybody to ask, I ask.

If there isn't, I just dive in.

@katmarie snap.

So many people think if they don’t ‘recycle’ something themselves it goes to landfill which couldn’t be further from the truth

It’s not “regarded as stealing”. It is stealing. The stuff doesn’t necessarily go to landfill.

Poor Benji the Binman, forgotten so soon.

It is so odd to be clutching your pearls over someone taking away your waste and likely preventing it from polluting our Earth. Is it shame from being so wasteful that motivated you perhaps?

You're right a lot of it gets incinerated to pollute our air and contribute to climate change instead, my brother and his family live near one of these huge incinerators.

She wasn’t clutching her pearls she was responding to an aggressive man on her property.

I’m pretty sure he was only aggressive when she threatened to call the police if he didn’t put the rubbish back in the skip so it could be taken to the dump…
Obviously not ok to act aggressively - but that’s not why she challenged him on the first place, is it?

Yes I'm sure he was being aggressive alone with the skip before she had a fit of the vapours at seeing a working class oik rifling through her cast offs and came out all guns blazing, makes perfect sense doesn't it?

I mean if it clearly belongs to (whatever: house/building).
Usually if there's a skip on a residential road it's clear which house it belongs to, and if not sure - ask.

When we had a skip clearing - it was on a driveway - some people did ask if we were around.

We were quite happy as it made room for us to fill again!!

When we had a skip someone put in a perfectly serviceable wooden toy kitchen! It was the day after my then 3 year old had said "I really want a new toy kitchen"

I’m lolling at the idea of a lot of skip waste going for incineration.

All waste collected in the uk by licensed waste carriers has to be processed. It goes to waste transfer stations or materials recycling facilities where all reusable or recyclable material is removed. This includes bricks, concrete, soils. Only residual waste is disposed of in landfill. This is because it costs the carrier more than the hirer has paid in landfill tax and handling costs.

I’ve worked in the waste industry for decades. Waste is money for skip firms. They want to maximise reclamation and minimise disposal

I'd rather they take stuff out of the skip than put their stuff in!

Having said that I got really annoyed (probably irrationally) that some old geezer was actually on my driveway almost at my door doing an in-depth dumpster diving on a regular basis whilst I was doing some renovation. I kept telling myself the stuff I was throwing out was better at his home than mine... 🌹