Barry Stevenson sidled up next to a Dumpster at the Quads Apartments in his '79 GMC pickup.

"It's an old beat-up truck but it's worth its weight in gold," Stevenson said. A full-size mattress set jittered in the truck bed as he eyed a futon frame by the trash bin and decided against it. He had already retrieved and resold two bedroom sets that day from students leaving campus for the summer.

"You don't need a college degree," said Stevenson of turning students' trash into cash "with a little ingenuity and something to haul it on."

Stevenson, who sells what he can and donates what he can't, spent the previous three days making the rounds behind dorms and apartments.

"I want big, non-perishable items, something I can store," said Stevenson, who lives in Carterville.

With only five years experience, Stevenson considers himself a new kid in the business of campus Dumpster diving, a practice locals say reaches back for decades.

"It's a regular thing, not only during this time but throughout the year," said Wayne Wheeles, Carbondale's manager of maintenance and environmental services.

While some do it for profit, others simply enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

"It's tradition," said Sindy Jones of Murphysboro, who has spent every Mother's Day for the last 10 years trolling students' trash with her mom. The two donate everything they find or divide the spoils among family and friends.

"We get on our old skeevy clothes, mom brings the baby wipes and I've got the gloves this year," said Jones while loading her Jeep behind some private apartments near the university. The two make their way through the garbage only this one day a year "unless we drive by and see something good," Jones said.

Mother's Day is an ideal time to dive into the trade because it often hits the same week students clear out of dorms. However, for those with a sharp eye and a trusty truck, the getting's still good.

"We'll probably be busy for another week," said Jay Cupp, owner of Midwest Cash, with locations in Carbondale and Marion. What students don't take or toss, they often pawn, and folks who pick up trash left behind may resell to pawn shops.

"It's across the board," Cupp said of the merchandise rolling in, "TVs, stereos, computer parts, movies, CDs, DVDs, all kinds of electronics."

Savvy citizens recognize this is prime time to shop at thrift, pawn and resale outlets, Cupp said. "They know how to save a dollar."

Finding a bargain isn't the only motivation though. Reusing goods also satisfies the urge to conserve. Including this weekend and last, the city will drag an extra 70 tons of trash to the Southern Illinois Regional Landfill.

"It's a lot more economical and better for the earth itself than throwing all that stuff in a landfill," Stevenson said.

"We know how wasteful people are," agreed SIU student Ben Grant as he filled his red Ford Windstar van with throwaways from Mae Smith Hall.

This garbage shopping season, Grant's loot included a leather ottoman, a full-length mirror, a coffee table and rugs to insulate the basement walls of his rental house for practices with his jam rock band JoBu.

Aaron Anderson, a resident assistant on campus, said in the week students scattered, he hauled out four TVs, a fridge, over $150 worth of art supplies, futon beds and shelving.

"I'm a scavenger," said Anderson, a graduate student in industrial technology from Murphysboro.

Anderson's job supervising the dorms gave him first pick of the plunder, before the waste even hit the basket. But he's not above getting his hands dirty either.

"I've been in the dumpster at times. If I see something, I just hop in and grab it," said Anderson, who prefers wearing surgical gloves for the procedure. "It doesn't bother me."

The trashy environment is not as nasty as people might think, Jones said. The only occupational hazard: "sometimes the cops come by and make you stop."

Once the trash hits the curb, it is public property. But treasure hunters digging around in dumpsters could get nailed with trespassing, warned Randy Mathis, community resource officer for the Carbondale Police Department.

"Really it's up to the individual resident whether they allow this to happen," Mathis said. "Those looking to find items in the trash may want to make sure they have the permission of the property owner or you risk having the police called on you for trespassing."

marleen.shepherd@thesouthern.com

(618) 351-5074