by Leon Pantenburg

Aboriginal people looked to the wilderness for food, tools and materials for shelter. Today, modern urban and possibly wilderness survivalists should be looking in the dumpsters, trash cans and  roadside litter.

All these materials were found in a vacant lot. I can't believe we found a hoodie, knife and hammer, either! All this trash could become a survival treasure!

There’s no need to launch into my usual tantrum/tirade about trashing the outdoors. It’s an unfortunate fact: trash is everywhere.

Trash in the ocean kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles each year through ingestion and entanglement, according to the Ocean Conservancy. Some of the debris they were entangled in, or had ingested, came from shore and includes plastic bags, fishing line,  six-pack holders, string from a balloon or kite, glass bottles and cans.

An enormous stew of trash – which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers – floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man’s land between San Francisco and Hawaii. 

And that’s just the ocean. I’ve found beer cans, trash bags full of trash, junked washers, dryers, refrigerators and cars – you name it – in the desert, woodlands and  otherwise pristine wilderness areas.  But knowing how to use this trash may help keep you alive in an emergency situation. One person’s trash may truly become another’s survival treasure.

In any wilderness or urban emergency, everything should be considered as a potential tool, says survival expert Peter Kumerfeldt, even if you already have a survival kit and a good survival knife. Leatherman 831087 Wave Multitool and Monarch 300 Multitool/Flashlight Combo Set While  natural items might be used to make survival items, such as cord, containers and shelter, these resources are finate and limited to particular environments.

Think of trash as a survival resource. One of the first actions during a survival situation should be to inventory all the potential survival items you have. Don’t overlook the garbage cans.

“Something you might have thrown away before, such as a paper cup or plastic bag, might later end up being your most valuable item,” Peter said. “In the desert, if you have to carry water, that discarded paper cup or plastic bag might be the only container you have.”

The same thing goes for shelter. Getting out of the wind and rain, in the aftermath of a tornado, earthquake or hurricane, could be critical to your survival. If you find a bunch of plastic bags, a piece of discarded plastic from a construction site and a pile of newspapers, that might be all you have to work with.

Here are some suggstions on how to make emergency survival gear out of stuff you might find.  Start by looking at the dumpster – can it be a shelter? Then, use your survival mindset,  look around inside the dumpster or trash barrel and think: “What’s in here? What can I use?” 

Plastic Bags:

• Start with the liner. It may be a 55-gallon heavy duty bag, that you can make a shelter or rain gear out of. There may be several large bags of trash inside. Pull them out and see what they are. The big 45 or 55-gallon bags have all sorts of uses. 
  

  This trash can in a park could end up being a veritable survival gear cache. The 55-gallon, heavy-duty trash bag is particularly valuable.

  Split the big bag at the seam and it can make a small tarp or rain poncho. Cut it into ribbons, and it can be braided into a rope.

• Small grocery store bags: Any small plastic bag can be braided into a rope. Or, put one on each foot, between your socks and shoes, to serve as a moisture barrier and keep your feet dry.
• Bread and produce sacks: There are typically stronger  than the grocery sacks, and will last longer. Combine several to make a water container, or use with newspapers to make a rain hat. Several double-bagged plastic potato bags could make a strong container for carrying stuff.
•  You might really luck out and find a burlap potato or feed sack. This strong, woven material could be used for any number of things, such as making clothing. (Cut a hole at the bottom for your head, and arm holes, and you have a vest that could provide warmth and sun protection.)  Or use it as a bag to carry all your other treasures in.

Bottles and Plastic jugs:

• A milk jug, liter glass bottle, plastic quart Gatorade container, gallon juice jug etc. would all make superb water containers. But know what was in the bottle before using it for a water bottle. Some liquids, such as antifreeze, gasoline or oil could be poison if ingested!
• Cut the top off a gallon milk jug (You do have your survival knife, right?) Frosts Master Craftsmen Triflex Knife
  and use it for a cup or bowl. This can help you eat your oatmeal, if you find some, and also be a critical tool you need to dip water out of a spring, stock tank or broken water pipe.

Paper Products:

• Newspapers, magazines and cardboard can all be invaluable. Use your wilderness survival mindset to think of ways to adapt these items to the situation. One their most important uses might be for insulation. Any of  these paper items provides much-needed insulation and padding when you have to sit or stand on damp or cold ground.
• Shred the newspapers or stuff them whole inside your clothing for additional warmth. Use paper as tinder to start your fire and save your firestarter for an emergency.Strike It, Matchless Firestarter. Use sheets of newspaper to cover up with for warmth, or integrate them into a shelter.  
• Paper cups can be re-used until they fall apart. Take all you find and store them one inside the other. Other survivors will thank you!

Wood Pallets:

• Many wood pallets are made of  hardwood, and make great firewood. If you have your hatchet Gerber Blades Backpack Axe; The Back Paxe; with Ballistic Cloth Belt Sheath or saw, Kershaw 7″ Folding Blade Saw w/Black Santoprene Handle Md: 2550 . you’ll have no trouble breaking them up into useable sizes. Avoid  using the pressure-treated woods if possible - some of  them produce nasty toxic smoke when burned.
• Wood Scraps: Any construction site dumpster may have wood scraps, already cut to convenient sizes and all sorts of other goodies. These might include pieces of fiberboard, plastic sheeting, insulating materials, nails, screws cord or rope – you name it. A construction site is definately a target-rich environment.

Trash is everywhere, even in the most remote locations.

Tin Cans

• Finding a group of tins cans can fill a lot of  your survival needs. Use the cleaned and sanitized containers to boil and purify water, over the scrap-wood fire you ignited with newspaper. Cook or heat up food in a can. Take them along to use as various containers.
• Cut up the tin or metal can with your multiool Leatherman Super Tool 300 Multi-Tool to make a pan for frying something. Use the bright metal to make signaling tools.

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the trash ice berg. There’s all sorts of other stuff out there that can be used, and that use will depend on the situation and your imagination. (If somebody can come up with a survival use for the plastic, six-pack rings, please let me know!)

Also, please don’t read this post, and think that any of these trash survival skills can replace the equipment you should  have. Rather, think  of trash gear  as another survival skill to add your wilderness and/or urban survial kit.   

Walk on any mountain or desert trail, along any stream or beach and you’ll find plastic bags, styrofoam bait containers, coolers, beer cans,  fishing line, fishing nets, six-pack holders, string from a balloon or kite, glass bottles and cans and other stuff. The trash may have survival value, someday, but for now, please pick it up.

The animals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians will all thank you. So will I!

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• Include a garbage bag shelter  in your survival gear
• STOP: Use this exercise to reduce stress and focus your thoughts.
• Write a note to let people know where you went, before you left.
• Take your Ten Essentials on every outing.
• Dress with the right fabrics.
• Have a plan to make a tarp shelter.
• Carry lightweight, compact firestarter.
• Find the most effective fire ignition system.
• How to make charcloth, a material that can catch a spark from any source.
• Use charcloth as an effective method of catching a spark to make a fire.
• It can kill you: Hypothermia
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
• About Leon Pantenburg

Recommended Compasses:

Brunton Classic Compass
Suunto A-10 Compass
Suunto MC-2G Global Compass
Silva Starter Compass

Recommended Reading:
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
Build the Perfect Survival Kit