Junk Raiders

2009

Junk Raiders is a 2009 Canadian reality television series that airs on The Discovery Channel and ION Life. The series follows the titular Junk Raiders, a team of seven professionals as they attempt to renovate an old steel factory in downtown Toronto and turn it into a high-end loft in one month with only a C$5500 budget. Because of the extremely limited budget, many of the materials needed must be found by freecycling: finding something unwanted for free and reusing it. For the production of the series, the team had commissioned a "junk hot-line", urging Torontonians to donate any garbage that they could use. In addition, as looking through other peoples' trash is illegal in Toronto, the show also has a special exemption that allows the team to do just that.