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I’m £54k richer thanks to bin diving – people scoff but I’ve found lost artwork, 50 Dyson vacuums & a £10k wad of notes
When you hear about the goodies Leonardo's uncovered you'll be so jealous.
SCRAMBLING through bins in an upmarket area of Sydney, Australia, Leonardo Urbano reaches for a plastic bag and hears a telltale jingle jangle.
Tearing it open Leonardo, 30, from Northern Italy, who has lived in Australia for six years, sees a bunched up designer coat. But he bypasses that to reach inside a pocket.
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And there he finds what suspected and hoped for - a coin purse.
“And there’s more,” said Leonardo. “A folded up pile of notes. Initially I thought they were Balinese but then I saw they were dollars and Swiss francs.
“In total they were worth around £1k.
“I think someone must have chucked the coat away and simply not realised they were there - and it happens way more than people realise. In total I’ve made £10k cash.”
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He found priceless artwork... in a skip
Leonardo has been ‘dumpster diving’ - a popular hobby where people clamber through rubbish to find treasures - for around four years.
He found out about it while riding his bike to work and seeing so much decent stuff strewn around Sydney’s streets - especially in the prosperous areas.
And he might be the most successful dumpster diver in the world having found around £54k worth of items including a painting worth £2k by award-winning Australian artist Dapeng Liu which was thrown in a skip alongside everyday pictures of children's handprints.
Leonardo contacted Mr Liu who revealed it was donated as a gift. Now it currently hangs in the savvy bin-diver’s home but should he move, Leonardo might return it to Mr Liu and take half the profits if he sells it on.
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Fifty Dysons... no problem!
He’s also found 50 Dyson vacuum cleaners which he either sells on eBay or Facebook Marketplace for around £110 or donates to charity.
And he’s NEVER bought a cleaning product - instead grabbing half-used bottles from people moving house.
“There’s nothing wrong with them,” he said. “People just can’t be bothered to carry half used detergent bottles with them when they move.”
He’s got a keen eye for computers and computer games - which he says are chucked away often.
Leonardo has NEVER bought cleaning products
“Usually they are fine,” he said. “Sometimes they are just older models and the only problem is they’re dusty.”
He sells on posh furniture too including trendy G-plan sideboards which he might varnish or sand but nothing major.
“In total it’s saved me thousands,” the hospitality worker, who is single, said. “I’m going to quit my job soon and become a professional bin rummager.”
Leonardo’s entire Sydney flat is furnished by things he’s found - and he’s regularly complimented on it by his friends who love the “‘60s and ‘70s aesthetic.”
He blames the 'laziness' of Sydneysiders
He's also bagged designer clothes including brand new Burberry and Hugo Boss. What he's doing isn't illegal, he said.
He attributes his thriftiness to his dad Oliviero, 62, who is an odd job man, and still lives in Italy.
“In Sydney people are lazy and don’t take things to the tip, they just leave them on the street,” he explained. “About once a month the council comes and collects them. I’m part of a Facebook group where people take pictures of rubbish mountains and then pass on addresses.
“But I’m good at spotting things anyway. So if I see a broom sticking out of a bin I suspect that person might be moving house and will dig deeper and see what I can get.”
Something not working? Chuck it away...
He said he’s got “brilliant” things. “I wouldn’t necessarily say I am better than people but I am more willing to put the effort in.
“It’s crazy how people chuck away Dysons just because the filter stops working. That’s a real quick fix, if you just look it up.
“It’s the same if the battery stops working.
“But most people’s mindsets is 'just buy something new.'”
But there's a few things he can't let go of...
He said it was astonishing people bunged things in the bin rather than donate them. “They would rather things go to waste than help someone else," he said.
Leonardo moves around a lot so knows he will eventually donate a lot of his furnishings. “But I have fallen in love with a few pieces,” he said. “There’s an Atomic Coffee Machine - that’s from the 1970s and is an Italian brand - which I love. It’s worth around £475”
He also loves a painting which takes pride of place in his living room, above his reclaimed sideboard, and he’ll ship back to Italy if he returns.
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“I’m not going to stop,” he said. “People might sniff at it, but it’s brilliant.”
Follow him at on Instagram.
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