Ask Lemmy

old cables. because YOU NEVER KNOW

Those examples are not garbage, they are clean materials that can be repurposed. It is the second step in Reduce > Reuse > Recycle!

For years I've desoldered components from electronics that are destined for recycling/trash. I haven't needed them more than a few times but it's redeeming when I need a specific thing I've never needed before and can pick one out of my component box rather than buying a pack of 100 and never use 99 of them.

Tiny momentary SPST switches are definitely the most common thing I use from the bin but I've also reused some LEDs, capacitors, and resistors.

I keep the reddit app saved on my phone just in case

My "weirdest" would be used face masks. The little metal bit for the bridge of your nose works for tidying up cords like a twist tie. The ear loops work good for zipper pulls and tying up items that need held together. The mask itself works great for checking my car's oil, dusting the car dash, cleaning up a minor spill, etc. Is it gross I do this? Perhaps. Has it served me well? Definitely.

That’s a cool cat tent

Unless it's literal trash I'm saving it. I'm quite DIY minded person so I often also use those things for my projects.

This is a hoarders thread but it's ok cause me too lol

Grocery bags are useful as small bags to separate things, trash bags for small cans or cleaning up a cluttered space, or as temporary barriers she small jobs.

Large cardboard boxes are great for under the car during oil changes.

Lunch meat containers are intended as reusable containers; I use them for lunches.

Fast food cups get reused-as cups.

Cardboard rolls for crafts.

After thoroughly washing, wiping, washing, and wiping again, I will reuse 5 gallon cat litter containers for dog food.

I keep an entire truck in my back yard, because ya know, one day….

Metal scrap. I toss it in the old refinery and voila! Iron ingots

If I keep it, it’s not a garbage.

Any type of container that closes if it's in good enough shape (bottles, jars, cardboard boxes, bags). Also small open containers like yogurt or instant soup cups are probably the most useful for holding small items/snacks. When they become too many, you pick the best of each and throw away the rest. I also tend to keep foam packaging even though I've never found an actual use for it.

Fucking everything, to the point it's a problem. I replaced my windscreen wipers the other day, when I broke them to fit them in the trash can, I kept the thin metal strip that is inside and acts like a spring. I don't know if it's spring steel, but it sure is spring-y and you never know when they may come in handy.

I've got a box of boxes, all different sizes, cause you never know!, as well a bag of ziplock bags, there's got to be like 400 of them.

Inner wrappers for Green&Blacks chocolate bars. They are a beautiful shade of gold foil and I KNOW I will use them for something.. some day.. Pretty ribbons or twine used for attaching labels to items I've purchased. Also Oui glass yogurt cups. They're so little and cute. I use them for sorting seeds I collect until they are dry enough to put in a sealed container for next year, but I do go overboard and have to think my collection now and then, they aren't stackable and take a lot of space.

Cast iron pans anyone is getting rid of, no matter the condition. I am convinced that they will become currency in the apocalypse.

Depends on what you mean by garbage. Something that would decompose or otherwise cause a problem is a hell no. Cardboard is one of those exceptions simply because it's easy to store it in a way that prevents problems occuring, and it's trivial to recycle the older pieces as you obtain newer. Mind you, I just keep unfolded boxes in a bin, tightly packed.

When we get something in the mail, the new box goes in, the oldest goes out.

Means we have cardboard for projects, as well as boxes for shipping/Christmas/whatever, but we don't end up with critters making use of it. If critters did infest the bin, it's easy enough to dump and burn, then clean the bin.

I tend to keep jars and bins of hardware in the shed. Very useful for sure. And I keep a bin of useless computer parts for art projects. You'd be amazed how often kids and young adults get assigned "found materials" projects if you aren't known for being the go-to guy in your family for help with such things. While those supplies are space limited, the bin of computer/electronics parts are tucked away along with a box of "cool looking shit", and I keep basic art supplies around anyway.

Having a good sized shed and a big attic help lol

I dislike waste on principle, and I have enough space to keep a reasonable amount of stuff "in case", so there I am. I also have a corner of the attic that has durable medical gear I picked up over my years in home health. It's dwindling now, what with relatives getting older and my own disability, but as the items get used and no longer needed, they come back until they can't be reasonably passed on again. But some of those that reach end of life have gone into the "cool shit" box lol.

Trinket goblin reporting! I save tons of different little things and stuff for a while, then one day, for no apparent reason I get overwhelmed and throw away everything( or donate or whatever) Cereal boxes are great to paint gouache so I cut them up and use them as needed. Embroidery floss and yarn scraps are great stuffers for small amigurumi. Electrical wire can be used sometimes for kumihimo. Empty glass jars are my doom, I collect them all.

Old consumer electronics. Good to practice reflashing on old phones or tablets, if you brick one, it was trash anyway. Sometimes you can pull useful components off old computer boards.

Altoid tins. They're little metal boxes that breath mints come in for anyone who's not familiar. I fly fish to I'll use them as fly boxes, just glue some craft foam inside and good to go.

Scraps of cardboard for sure. Also little dumb leftover pieces of foam core. I used to put used box cutter blades inside the foam core scraps before throwing them away, thinking that was a safe way to do it. It's probably not. So now I just toss used blades into an old empty prescription bottle and just keep that on a shelf. (Therefore, I also hang on some of my prescription bottles).

I also tend to hang on to some empty plastic jars and food containers once in a while, too. I wash them thoroughly of course. I probably sound like a hoarder. I don't hang on to every scrap of this stuff, just a small amount. The plastic jars (like the ones corn starch come in) are handy for storing left over pieces and parts from various crafting projects.

Adam Savage has entered the chat

I keep plenty of scrap parts and supplies but the only "garbage" I tend to hang on to is large foam padding. I have one that I land the end of my kayak on when I'm getting it off my vehicle roof, one that's big enough to lay on when I'm working under a car and one that I put under heavy parts when working on the workbench. I have a small stack that I will throw away when I realize I'll never use them then slowly rebuild when I see one and think "I'll use that for something."

I'm an artist, a better question would be what I don't keep.

The brown packaging paper from shipper Amazon boxes has all kinds of uses.

I have more grocery bags than I'd like to admit. They are very handy though. I use them to hold compost, bags for smaller bins, and they're generally helpful to keep on hand whenever I go out

Margarine containers become a way to gift food or let guests take leftovers without needing to get your containers back

Tangentially, as an apartment dweller I would love to have a weatherproofed shed that I could store reusable materials in and work on projects. Obviously saving cardboard and other light, flattenable materials isn't much of a problem but there are definitely things I would keep in my shed like scrap lumber and metal and projects that would take place in my shed that I'd never attempt indoors.

I used to rent a room from a private homeowner who was like minded and properly using the garage/shed space was so... edifying. Helped us get a lot of home repair projects done that would have required a contractor otherwise. Unfortunate that the apartment life leads to such waste and inefficency.