Coins in the trash

[mws_1984]

Ah this killed me. I was reading an article in the local paper and it was about the local trash burning facility. It mentioned how they burn the trash after dangerous materials and metals are removed. It said they find $1000 in coins everyday. I will go take it off their hands. Gotta wonder if anything good in there!

 

[MIhunter]

I dump my coins at a bank with a coin counter in the lobby, next to it is a trash can. I look inside every since I started finding coins in the trash!! They are always foreign coins and never worth much, but throwing away money makes no sense. I usually find Canadian coins but also, Euro coins, Mexican, and Caribbean.
I am not surprised about find money in the municipal trash. I read an article that in Germany they are digging up their landfills to extract the metals that have been dumped their over the years. A generation of dumping consumer electronics has left them full of copper, steel, aluminum, nickel and even PMs. The yield per ton of trash searched is greater than the yield of most current operating mines!

 

[mws_1984]

I dump my coins at a bank with a coin counter in the lobby, next to it is a trash can. I look inside every since I started finding coins in the trash!! They are always foreign coins and never worth much, but throwing away money makes no sense. I usually find Canadian coins but also, Euro coins, Mexican, and Caribbean.
I am not surprised about find money in the municipal trash. I read an article that in Germany they are digging up their landfills to extract the metals that have been dumped their over the years. A generation of dumping consumer electronics has left them full of copper, steel, aluminum, nickel and even PMs. The yield per ton of trash searched is greater than the yield of most current operating mines!

I'd wonder what happens to all that coin. You would hope it goes towards something useful but I really wonder. Like it should go towards some state fund or extra cash or whatever. So many instances where stuff like this happens. For instance my city has alot of empty abandoned schools. My solution is sell them and put the money towards things that need to be fixed in they city, rather than them sit empty. It's basically money sitting there doing nothing.

 

[buffhunter]

about a year ago, while waiting for my dump bank to open, i saw one of the bank managers walk outside and over towards the dumpster. Instead of throwing out trash, i see him picking up stuff off of the ground. From where i was at, i could not see what he was picking up, but it appeared small as i could not see anything large like trash on the ground. When the bank opened and i was unloading my dumps, he walks in. He knows my daughter and i collect coins, so he asked if we collected foreign coins. I said that my daughter has a jar full and would gladly take anything he did not want. He extended his had out with 30 or so foreign coins. He said the cleaning crew throws out the garbage and there is someone rummaging thru the garbage at night. they must find the coins and after they realize they are foreign, they dropped them on the ground. Long story short, they now lock their dumpster at night.

 

[omga747]

Well according to this article: http://waste360.com/mag/waste_money_trash_part
there's at least one county that gives em all back to the mint to be recycled

 

[mws_1984]

I'd love to see what they pull out of the trash before it is incinerated. Heck the other day there was people moving a couch into my building. They have to cut thru my garage to get at the back stairs. So anyways I just get home and they are waiting for me. They tipped the couch to maneuver it, one guy is like oh is that what I think just fell out. Well some coins fell out. And I ended up having to go back out there and I grabbed them, just clad. But it's coins lol.

 

[cuttybce]

Trash finds are no joke. One of my best dump bank finds ever was a 1921-P Morgan in the trash can next to the coin counter.

HH,
cuttybce

 

[mws_1984]

Trash finds are no joke. One of my best dump bank finds ever was a 1921-P Morgan in the trash can next to the coin counter.

HH,
cuttybce

I wish my banks coin counter was in the lobby but it is behind closed doors and they take the coins in there. But think I could ask if they ever find anything unique in the reject slot without seeming too shady?

 

[usandthem]

About two months ago I acidentally threw away a pair of earrings made from Mercury dimes. I was sick about it. I kept thinking about those precious bits of silver buried under tons of trash. I hope someone found them before they got that far but I doubt it.

 

[Generic_Lad]

Trash finds are no joke. One of my best dump bank finds ever was a 1921-P Morgan in the trash can next to the coin counter.

HH,
cuttybce

I wish my banks coin counter was in the lobby but it is behind closed doors and they take the coins in there. But think I could ask if they ever find anything unique in the reject slot without seeming too shady?

Just ask your bank if you can have any rejects/foreign coins they have. Most banks treat it as little more than trash. Sometimes the Canadian is kept separate and given to employees going to the Canadian border, or it is cashed in by the bank when they get enough of it. But most of the time into the trash can it goes.

 

[Immy]

Don't forget those Coinstar trashcans! I found a 1929-S Merc in there once. Used to gladly "take out their garbage" on a regular bases till they stopped providing one.

 

[MIhunter]

Today's trash can finds

Canadian:
Quarter- 1969
Dime- 1979
Nickel- 1979
Penny - 1943 George VI, 1958 Elizabeth II, 1965-1979 x4, 1982-1996 x 3

2 cent Euro Coin

Not a bad haul for free!