Dumpster Divas In Our Midst
Once, in the 1960s, my mother remodeled an entire bathroom using cast-offs from the Marin dump. My sister, Kelly, recently acquired a beautiful Kohler pedestal sink in perfect condition from the dump in Petaluma, for a whopping $5.00. I remember living in an apartment complex, where you would leave items outside the dumpster for folks to help themselves to- headboards, shelving units, chairs, desk. Naturally, some of us were more comfortable with the idea than others, and we ended up with dozens of headboards, random chairs and barbecues on our patio. Often, we would wind up regifting them back to the side of the dumpster. My mother went "junking" since we were children, and we have all followed in her footsteps. Aunt Bonnie and Mom even picked flowers out of the dumpsters at the flower market in the City.
We can't all be dumpster diving divas like the women in my family... some of us prefer to do it online from the privacy of our own homes. Online dumpster diving can have the same results; saving items 
from the landfill.
I discovered something called Freecycle while watching a story about Freegans on Oprah. Freegans are a community that takes recycling to the next level. Basically, the Freegan tries to live in a way so as to completely, or severely, limit buying anything new. I'm not suggesting that we all go totally Freegan, but there are ways to recycle and have fun, while helping the environment.
Craigslist has a 'free section' where people post items they want to get rid of for nothing. There are numerous organizations in the Bay Area devoted to recycling everything from building materials to furniture to everything you can think of. Also, don't forget garage sales!
Think globally, act locally! One woman's trash turns out to be someone else's desperately needed pedestal sink for her newly renovated bathroom. Where there's a will, there's a way! When visiting my sister, Tracy, in Champaign, IL, she found a Louis French-style cane headboard that she wanted to ship to Marin. Fed Ex and UPS both told me that the package was too big & bulky for ground, but we were determined. Armed with turkey leftovers, I bribed the airline skycaps, and they checked my headboard all the way through to SF.
Here is a list of some Bay Area recycling & freecycle organizations:
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