4 of the Strangest Things Found in Skip Bins

At Junk2Go, we don’t make you rent a skip bin – instead we offer a skip bin hire alternative where we load our bins for you, clean up afterwards, and only charge for the rubbish we take away. As a result, we are able to make sure that everything we take really is junk.

Skip bins aren’t usually loaded by the same people who take them away, however, and this can sometimes lead to some strange things turning up in them. We’ve done a little fossicking, and come up with 4 of the more peculiar things that have been found in skip bins.

1. Several Thousand Pounds in Cash

Cash in the trash is perhaps not the most remarkable find. Although money is by no means something that people usually want to throw away, we are probably all guilty of having  accidentally tossed away a few coins at some time or another. But £7000 is a bit of a different story.

A Lancashire employee of a skip company discovered a bin bag filled with £20 notes which, when counted, were found to total £7000. Not only had the cash been thrown out, many of the notes were also soaked and a number were moth-eaten or cut into pieces.

The cash was turned over to the police, but a month-long appeal to find whoever the money belonged to was unsuccessful. The owner of the skip company pointed out that it isn’t uncommon for people emptying out the houses of dead relatives to accidentally throw away valuables, and that this could even apply to cash as older people sometimes distrust banks and prefer instead to hide the cash themselves.

2.  A Priceless Stolen Painting

Well, technically it was found beside a dumpster, but this one is remarkable enough that we think it’s worth counting.

Back in New Orleans in 2015, a burglar managed to walk into George Rodrigue Studios and pluck from the wall a $250,000 painting by the artist. The following day, The band Studio Fire Empire had just finished playing a gig when the band’s bassist, Elliot Newkirk, stepped outside to see the painting leaning against a wall beside a skip bin! The band’s guitar player had read on Facebook about the painting having been taken, and the band members soon realised that this was the same painting. This discovery was followed by a nervous walk to a local police station carrying the priceless artwork.

3. A WW2 Artillery Shell

While a bundle of cash or priceless painting is something we all might wish to find in a skip bin, this next one might not be quite as sought after a discovery.

Back in 2006 in Cornwall, somebody somehow decided to pop an artillery shell, dating back to World War Two, into a local skip bin. Once it was discovered, The Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Squad were quickly called and it was concluded that the shell was still live. To make things even worse, the skip bin was right next to a petrol station!

Luckily the Bomb Disposal Squad were able to move the shell over to a quarry and detonate it safely. Hopefully whoever put the artillery shell in the dumpster will opt next time for a safer means of disposal.

4. Two Lost Films by Peter Sellers

For us, this one takes the cake. Back in 1996, building manager Robert Farrow pulled a couple of old 21 film canisters out of a skip bin while in the midst of emptying a Park Lane Films building. At the time Farrow had thought they would be an easy place to store his Super 8 collection.The cans were put away and forgotten for over 15 years until one day Farrow rediscovered the cans and finally opened them.

Inside there turned out to be two Peter Sellers films , Dearth of a Salesman and Insomnia is Good for You – no other copies of these films existed and they were believed to have been lost forever. Actor Peter Sellers is best known for playing Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther films. Amazingly, the canisters even contained outtakes, negatives and titles for the films. As a result of this amazing skip bin find, the two films were digitally remastered and went on show at the 2014 Southend Film Festival.

While these certainly aren’t everyday finds, it does illustrate the fact that it’s worth paying attention to what we throw in the skip to make sure it’s not either something that we’d rather keep or something that really shouldn’t be there. As we mentioned at the start of this post, that’s where Junk2Go’s skip bin rental alternative can help – since we fill our bins for you, we always do our best to make sure what we’re taking really is junk. If you’ve got rubbish that needs removing, be sure to give us a call on 0800 586 524 today.