Start bringing good coffee and treats to your local recycling center for the person/people who work there when you recycle stuff. After doing that a couple of times, ask nicely if you can take some hardware people are throwing.

Alternative approach, hang out outside your target location to figure out when/where they throw stuff, and when trash collectors come. Arrive somewhere in between and dumpster dive :)

Beware that both approaches might be considering stealing in some jurisditions.

How often that is taken into consideration is another matter.

It’s actually so sad. Last time I was at the recycling center a couple of years ago there was a Nintendo 64 in the electronics waste. I bet that it probably still worked. And even if it didn’t it would have been fixable. But I wasn’t allowed to pick it up.

Instead this console just has to get destroyed. And for what? It’s not even like a Nintendo 64 is going to have any personal data on it that poses any danger to the previous owner.

And on the flip side if the argument is that the electronics could be dangerous because they are broken. I probably run the same risk when buying electronics second hand anyway. So I don’t think that should prevent them from letting people pick up things either.

> Beware that both approaches might be considering stealing in some jurisditions.

Yeah, most definitely, which is why you need to befriend them before asking, otherwise it's a guaranteed "No, we cannot do that".

FWIW The fact that stuff is in a open dumpster doesn't make it legal for you to collect it.

As the case is with so many things, the answer is it depends. https://www.findlaw.com/injury/torts-and-personal-injuries/d...

Start a business to recycle old hardware.