Picking your newspaper from the waste bin

OK, This was mentioned today, and I regularly see this on my way to and home from work. People picking newspapers out of the bin.

OK, if there is a newspaper sitting on the sit next to me on the S-Bahn and its not all crumped, I might pick it up and read it, but I would never pick anything out of a public rubbish bin, you just don't know what's been in there.

Is this just me, or does anyone else find this a little disgusting ?

OK there is the argument of recycling, or is this being lazy/stingy.

I expect your problem with picking a paper out of a bin has more to do with fastidiousness than stingyness. I can see how you might imagine germs on the paper, even if it isn't obviously soiled. I myself don't have any problem with a paper taken from the top of a bin if it doesn't have anything sticking to it.

Slow day at work?

I pick them out of the bin if there's nothing on them.

You have to wash your hands after reading a brand new paper anyway before you say shake hands or handle food or whatever.

I don't have the time to read a whole paper every day or the inclination to pay for what I can get for free.

it's recycling and if I finish the paper quickly I leave it on the chair down the side on the U bahn for the next person.

My ex doesn't like it cos he's a prissy queen. Any stranger who passed comment at me dong it in the U-Bahn would get told to f*** off and mind their own business.

I would have no qualms about reading a newspaper which I found on a ubahn seat, crumpled or not. Especially if it was "Bild".

I'm not so keen on newspapers out of a bin, but if it was a UK paper and obviously untainted by generic binness I'd consider it.

I would never scavenge anything out of a rubbish bin!

Not even a 500 € bill? Seriously though, neither would I, at least not a newspaper or the like.

yeah if it's on top grab it, but dont dive on into the bin and start sifting for it

I'm probably just a tight git, but in my student days I furnished a house partly from skips. Standard walk home from a night out was through the posh bit of Nottingham (The Park), and could yield all sorts of goodies: a TV, a gate, coffee table, nice chest of drawers - it's amazing what folk throw out.

Did manage to get stuck in a skip one night though, which wasn't much fun until my mates rescued me. Bloody microwave didn't even work neither.

don't 'do' the picking-newspaper-out-of-the-wastepaperbin thing at all.
seems a pikey-type of thing to do...sorry but that's how it is

Dumpster diver myself. It is an art in the Pacific NW. Also The Gleaners and I is one of my favorite films.
recycle man recycle!

As said above, if i saw a UK paper lying on top and not soiled i would probably grab it but not otherwise

The guys I see, are usually wearing a suit, and digging dip into the paper section of the bin. I am glad I am not the only one that finds this at least a little odd.

Heh heh but I've just saved anythingbetween .50 and 1.50 in beer tokens!
And you get a good chance read sometimes!

I've had some really good articles out of the SZ that Ijust wouldn't have got to see as I couldn't buy a paper every day.

I do leav the bottles though for people that need the money.

In Toronto, there are special bins just for newspapers (with recycling in mind) in the subway stations. I always got my paper from there. Plenty of people did. Twas a good idea
T

Underground, Overground, Wombling Free,
The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we.
Making good use of the things that we find,
Things that the everyday folks leave behind.

Uncle Bulgaria,
He can remember the days when he wasn't behind The Times,
With his map of the World.
Pick up the papers and take them to Tobermory!

There's a difference between the recycling aspect which certainly is a good idea and the rummaging around in bins into which people spit, throw dirty tissues etc.
In fact should I finish reading a newspaper in the train I will leave it on the seat. More chance of somebody else using it than if I chuck it away, wherever I chuck it away.

My cooker was dumped on the street when I rescued it, half my every day china too.
Must be a bit of a pikie - put me in a pit and burn me!

Dont think there is anything wrong in it. I've often given away my newspaper to someone when I've finished it. Like MT said, its recycling innit.

Now if your talking about those twats who lean over your shoulder and read it whilst you are, now thats out of order.

I think a lot of people suffer from weird-science syndrome. For those who think there's some germ danger when you pick up a paper from a bin, just take a glance at your own saliva under a microscope. The bacteria residing in that tossed Tempo tissue is as a grain of sand on the beach compared to what's in every breath you take. Recent studies in Scandanavia have found that babies who grow up in very clean environments are much more likely to contract illnesses throughout their childhood. In other words, there's no rational reason to be disgusted at bin scavengers. Quotidian dirt is not a health threat. The question therefore is: to which childhood trauma do you attribute this irrational revulsion?

If I forget to put any found paper back on the seat when I get off the U-Bahn I put them on the bench or on top of the waste bin before I leave the station so someone can grab it (depending on which I walk past first).

I only do this if nobody is looking, I`m shy, and yes I do often wear a suit.