One man's trash is another man's treasure

Sanford & Son has more than 20 years of doing the dirty work: Hauling trash, demolishing and cleaning out properties, estates, homes and everything in between. While it’s a dirty job, at the same time it can be very interesting. There’s almost always a story behind each job – and whether from an estate dissolving, abandoned homes or businesses, instances of hoarding – we’ve got a lot of stories…

Well, THAT’S odd
You’ll find the oddest things in the trash: prosthetic parts, old exercise equipment (the kind from the oldest Sears catalog you’ve ever seen), wigs, pornography collections, unused (unwanted) Christmas gifts like liquor and Old Spice gift sets. Re-gifting on steroids!

True value
While it’s harder to place value on antique tools and other unique items – jars of change and a coin collection worth nearly $1,000 have been snagged on a haul.

It’s a keeper
It’s not uncommon to spot a treasure nestled within the trash worth bringing home: coins, old weapons and knives. While these items are sold before long, items such as kitchenware, generators, snow blowers are far more useful. And batteries and lightbulbs are in never-ending supply.

As seen on TV
During the nineties, a clean out of a home where a woman was murdered revealed the couch on which it occurred. The entire home was a crime scene.

Now I’ve seen it all
Over the years there have been some stories that stand out more than others. Perhaps there’s no greater example than the time a man’s washing machine broke and he insisted on buying new clothes rather than washing them – or buying a new machine apparently. Over time we cleaned out a basement that was packed with clothes that could fill 5 trucks. We’re still not sure if the ends justified the means!

There’s probably stories waiting to be discovered out there and their time will come. But for now, it’s business as usual at Sanford & Son.