Dumpster diver finds valuable items

There’s life after the trash. What you throw away doesn’t always end up in the garbage and go off to a landfill. In fact, a Fort Wayne man has found out that there’s a lot of cash in the trash.

NewsChannel 15’s Matt McCutcheon was first introduced to Jim Lewis after McCutcheon somehow threw something away he didn’t mean to. Lewis is a dumpster diver and found McCutcheon’s work ID while sifting through the trash.

That prompted NewsChannel 15 to find out more about dumpster diving, so we followed Lewis along for what he calls a typical day at the office.

"The good stuff is normally toward the bottom," Lewis said as he was sorting through a garbage bin.

With a bad economy and slow sales for his alarm business, he started dumpster diving this year, and he's stumbled upon lots of personal items.

"If I were a type of person who was into taking someone's identity, that information is definitely there, I mean, it's very rare that I see those types of documents that are shredded. Very rare. If I find any sensitive items, I'm going to track those down and make sure they get to the proper place, like I did with your work badge," Lewis explained.

He estimates he's making more money now off other people's garbage, proving that age-old quote true that “another person’s trash is another person’s treasure”.

“This is probably a broken printer, but there’s some good copper in part of it," Lewis said as he stumbled upon a find.

And that's his main reason for doing this.

"I’ve found tons of steel, hundreds of pounds of aluminum, hundreds of pounds of copper, and this is just within a month,” Lewis said.

That can add up to some quick cash, and an occasional bonus.

"I found an X-Box 360 one night," Lewis said.

But the job can come with some consequences.

"One day I stumbled upon some dog do do and it got on me and I to smell that all day, but that's just part of the job I guess," Lewis said.

It's definitely a lesson that things still have a life after you throw them away.

Experts say that shredding documents is still the best way to avoid personal things from falling into the wrong hands. Lewis says you’d be surprised how many social security numbers or even blank checks he’s come across, but says it’s the metals he’s looking for.