They went through my skip!

[IncognitoUsername]

Is this a thing? We have a skip outside as we have been doing some decorating/clearing out. I heard a van outside the house which seemed to have stopped so I looked out and two blokes were rummaging in the skip! I went downstairs to ask what they were doing but they had just left. I noticed some metal items had gone out of the skip.
Is this normal? Do people just drive round looking for skips to have a nose in? I’m not bothered by them taking stuff out but surely it would have been polite to ask?!

I had three skips last year and was definitely ‘targeted’ by people looking for metal.

To all those saying if it’s in a skip it’s rubbish that’s not always true. Some of my stuff was in there as temporary storage and actually went back in the house when work was finished so I would have been most put out if it went walkies. Also, the skip was in my garden and I had to get quite firm with people who were trespassing. I would have been fine with them if they had asked first and it was something I didn’t want but coming onto my land and taking something without asking is theft.

Scrap metal the skip company would sell it on. They recycle as much as possible so there's less waste costs. I've had some taking garden waste for compost. Doesn't bother me means we can get more in.

@Dotjones
The police?
Don't be ridiculous 🤣

I agree it's great things get reused recycled etc and wouldn't have a problem with them asking and respectfully doing it. Last time we had a skip and people uninvitedly dived in it, they deliberately smashed a bathroom door all over the road in order to have the metal frame and then fucked off and I had to sweep it all up!! Still makes me furious now and less inclined to let anyone take anything from a skip if I have one in future.

You can get skips with lockable lids if this helps?

My dad used to take us skip diving when we were kids. He knew all the best places. I remember going to an old commercial unit where the offices used to dump their old equipment and furniture and dad found a skip with pc’s and monitors - this was early 90s so wasn’t a thing most people had in their houses. Me and my siblings and cousins all had computers that year as well as office chairs that swivelled!

😂😂😂

It’s definitely a thing, we’ve had so many skips over the years (remodelled our whole house while living in it, it’s been… fun 🫠). Loads of stuff has been taken out which is great really as it just frees up space. Some have knocked, some haven’t - either way, we don’t mind.
I was annoyed one morning when we woke up and found someone had dumped a bedframe in it!

I agree.
"One man's meat" and all that.

People saying call the police are not just insane, but irresponsible.

The police are massively under resourced and calling the police over stuff you were going to throw away anyway is deeply selfish. That’s police time taken away from dealing with crime that actually has a victim.

Furthermore, if you think the CPS would ever prosecute this you are delusional.

And if you think a jury would convict someone trying to make a living by reusing stuff you are chucking away, you are on another planet.

I love her style, & the garden. If I had a spare £5 million...

I only ever took things from my own skip! I had one for the kitchen fitters & when they left I sidled up to it myself & found all sorts of treasures in there: tools they didn't want any more, leftover tiles, etc. Jolly useful.

We've had people knock and ask if they can have items from the skip, sometimes it's the scrap metal dealers, and once a neighbour asked if he could have the kitchen sink which we were getting rid of.
I'm happy to let anyone who asks take whatever they want.

We had a skip but our builder had also left some of his equipment neatly stacked away behind it. Luckily spotted a metal collector happily loading it all into his van, there was no way he thought that was rubbish!

This.

Yes, is ok although not as frequent as use to be. Some people trade with metal. Time ago was a thing and they came one a month collecting metal, fixing metal stuff and trading stuff. Some people use to make a living collecting metal, glass, cardboard and old newspapers. Recycling wasn't invented at the same time that the coloured bin bags.
Agree with PP that said that the CF is to use your skip to dump their rubbish, not to scrap metal or other materials from a skip.

Why would you even care about this?
They might be really poor, it stops stuffs going to landfill, aids recycling, good for the environment.
Just ????????

Any time I've had a skip I'm always delighted if people take things away and I certainly don't expect them to ask - that would be quite annoying tbh. I came home one time as someone was having a good rummage and the poor guy jumped about ten feet and looked terrified. I am not a very scary person btw. I told him to take whatever he wanted -why would I want to hang on to rubbish? The more people take away the more I can put in.

Anyone who puts things they actually want or need in a skip is being a bit idiotic IMO. Generally it's not a good idea to put necessary items in a bin!

A skip is just a large bin, just because you decided to use it as as a temporary storage solution doesn't mean it stops being a large bin. It's like storing something in your wheelie bin then complaining when the bin men empty it.

That would have been their defence though.

Which is why it is a really bad idea to encourage them onto your property if you have stuff on there that you don't want taken.

Surprised how many people are saying the police would laugh if you reported theft from your skip. They wouldn't.

What if you had a skip when replacing a full central heating system, all pipe-work and the electrics in a house, etc, etc. and were expecting to get £500 for the scrap, but someone just came and took it?

You think that's ok because of the receptacle it's in?

If you ever see those traffic police programmes on TV they often stop people with scrap metal in their vans and ask them to prove they obtained it legally.

Certainly not saying I'd be calling the police if someone took stuff from my skip - help yourself! - but it's not true to say that it's not theft and that the police would just laugh.

We had 4 skips last year and people took stuff out of all of them without asking, I was glad they did - we had so much to get rid of and it made more space! There was one man who used to take the wires and I felt sorry for him because he looked desperate.

The rag and bone man comes twice a week round our way too and they’ll take metal out of the skip and our front yard. They ask if it’s in the yard but not a skip, I guess because if you’ve put it in there you definitely don’t want it.

There’s a van drivers round where we live & takes things off peoples drives (not in a skip) - anything that they seem to think is fair game. We once left an oven on our drive for the scrap man, was still well onto our property - by the time he arrived (same day) these buggers had already taken it!

I wouldn’t mind if they knocked & asked, but taking stuff off people’s property is theft, whether it is in a skip or not.

Dumpster diving normal here. A friend lives on a busy road, they were moving so put her kids outgrown bikes, prams Etc out on the grass verge, they all vanished. A neighbour then did the same again it all vanished. Up cycling works.

No its normally people trying to put stuff in not take it out! The latter I wouldnt have a problem with at all- get more rubbish in!

You really shouldn't be skipping things someone can put to use. Have you never used Freegle?