I've been living in Yellowknife since the late 90s. Our dump is very unique, like the community itself, and has even been the subject of several documentaries and stories and has earned an international reputation of some sort. The people who salvage there represent a very interesting slice of society: on any given day, you will find policemen, welders, homeless folks, lawyers, engineers, recyclers, politicians, regular joes, dads with kids, hipsters, all looking for the elusive treasure. Yellowknife is a very tight-knit community, but it is also very transient, with people moving up for work for an average on 2 or 3-year stints. Because of its remoteness and the cost of shipping/moving, it usually doesn't make sense to take everything back with you when you move out, so practically everything ends up at the dump. But don't be fooled, people don't throw trash at the dump, they bring stuff they can't take with them or that they didn't have time to sell, knowing very well almost everything will be reused, recycled or repurposed. Saturday afternoons in the summer are the best time to hang out at the dump, as in the morning, people sell their treasures in dozens of garage sales across our little city. In the afternoon, they'll unload to the dump everything that didn't sell in the morning.
http://salvagemovie.com/about-the-film/Over the years, I got a long list of treasures from the dump: cowboy hats (resold on eBay for $75 a piece), camera equipment (also resold on eBay), jeans and clothing from a fashion shop that closed down, Canada Goose jackets, Sorel extreme cold weather boots, hand and electrical tools, wood, steel siding, bags of nails and screws, a gas ice auger, bicycles and parts, kitchen appliances, pots, pans, dishes and utensils, car parts and accessories, etc. My best find was a double kayak in perfect condition, with paddles and flotation jackets, that the owner had not been able to sell before leaving town later that same evening. I was there at the right time and the right place and just moved it from his pickup truck to mine.
Summer is approaching and soon, our dump will come back to life after a long and dark winter. I can't wait, I am planning to build a cabin entirely from materials recycled from the dump!