On the Portland streets, one woman found beauty in the unexpected
Published on Jul 6, 2026, 5:00:00 AM
Total time: 00:29:18
Published on Jul 6, 2026, 5:00:00 AM
Total time: 00:29:18
Becky Lange became enamored with all the goodies you could find in a dumpster.
“You never know what you're going to get,” she said on a 2025 podcast called American Wastepickers.
Lange lived unsheltered on the streets of Portland. Things she found in dumpsters, like nail polish, art supplies and hair dye, were treasures to her. She saw the value in what most people consider garbage.
“I would like people to reassess the value of the items that they're throwing away, just like I would like society to reassess the value of the people that we tend to throw away because we don't see the value that they have,” Lange said.
On May 22 2026, an acquaintance allegedly hit Lange in the head with a metal rod and left her crumpled on the sidewalk in Portland’s Old Town. She died 12 days later. Lange was 44-years-old.
On today’s episode of The Evergreen, OPB reporter Alex Zielinski remembers Becky Lange and the way she fought for the rights of unsheltered people amid a housing shortage and homelessness crisis that have gripped the city for more than a decade.
Read Alex’s full story here.
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