The Art of Dumpster Diving

For many, the thought of going near a smelly dumpster--let alone touching, wearing or using the contents from inside--is dirty, if not completely revolting. But I say it's wonderful!

Ok, ok, rewind. Though I have never riffled through the trash myself, I must admit to having tremendous respect for those who do. "Dumpster diving," aka urban foraging, skally-wagging, garbage picking, binning, skip-raiding, skip-weaseling or trashing is an eco-excellent way to cut back on today's excessive landfill waste, pollution and rampant squandering of non-renewable resources. Think about it! By salvaging that which is still usable, garbage scavengers, or divers as they're commonly referred, lower landfill levels while preventing the energy-sipping manufacture of resource-robbing objects.

As Americans hold the not-so-spectacular distinction of producing more garbage per person than any other country (source: Energy Information Administration), "Dumpster Diving" is gaining a newfound respect and practice amongst the environmentally concerned. It's no longer just for Vancouver's gutter punks and the hopelessly broke. Now, eco-sophisticates from Scobey to San Francisco (well, duh) are rolling up their sleeves in what many are calling an act of "consumer defiance" and "common sense conservation." It's very groovy!

If you think our consumer society and its willy-nilly throwaway mentality have become unbearable, here are 10 tips for taking the plunge--into a smelly dumpster near you.

1. Bring A Friend . . . Just in Case the Lid Closes on You

2. Quality, not Quantity
Don't take items that are beyond repair or flat out unsanitary. Do a sniff test, check for burrowing holes and critters. The last thing you want is a four-legged roommate with typhus.

3. Timing is Everything
Not to capitalize on other's misfortunes, but the 7th of the month is an excellent day for diving. Evictions happen on the 8th and, well, it's a tough world out there.

4. Hit Up the Gold Mines
Nothing says, "plethora of barely-used stuff" like college move-out day. Hungover and drained from finals, most college students can scarcely move, let alone pawn off their Bed Bath and Beyond booty. Take advantage. If you live near a university, especially one with rich and lazy students (i.e. Princeton . . .), make friends with the janitors. From pop-up hamper to multi-colored Yaffa Blocks or a water bong . . . you'll be glad you did.

5. Beware of Compactors
Please, never EVER enter a dumpster that includes a compactor--yes, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'" Shredder survived, but he's a black belt certified villain. He's also a cartoon.

6. You're Not Above the Law
It's no surprise that identity thieves use dumpsters to scam your social security number and bank statements. Frustratingly, these few bad apples have ruined it for the honest diver. Several cities punish dumpster diving with heavy fines, even hard time. Research your local laws.

7. Beware of Biohazards
Best to pass up those dumpsters labeled "medical equipment," "hazardous waste," or "radioactive." Also smart to keep up with immunizations.

8. Let God's Creatures Forage, Too
Always best to knock politely on the side of a dumpster before entering. This gives the rats, squirrels, possums, coons, black bears or fellow divers a heads up before you bombs away.

9. Dress for Success
Sturdy clothing and gloves are a must. If injury-prone, consider investing in a rubber onesie (Batman's rubber bat-suit recently auctioned for 103K). Some seasoned divers advocate a costume to keep hecklers, law enforcement and archetypal do-gooders off your tail. I recommend the double-knit polyester food service uniform and matching hairnet. This makes you look like a hard-working employee, minding your own business and taking out the trash.

10. Tools of the Trade:
If you're especially on top of your game, get one of those poles with a grabber at the end. Those are also awesome and come in handy when playing tricks on annoying siblings. A miner's helmet with attached light is great too, especially for night dives and buried loot.

For more on the dumpster diving trend . . .
Oprah: How Far Would You Go?
Freeganism: Do You Buy It?
New York Times: Not Buying It

and check out what Huffington Post Green bloggers are saying . . .
4 Easy Ways to Be a Freegan
Top 10 Most Useless Items of Crapola

Follow Olivia Zaleski on Twitter: www.twitter.com/oliviazaleski

Comments

[Jacksonian]

Obviously today's professional dumpster diver was a worm in a previous life-- nature's recycling champions!
:o)

[ProWarDem]

Ah, the counterculture world's great contributions

[dawlishgal]

Isn'[t it easier to just take an early morning (very early) stroll when people put stuff out on the curb?

I made my husband stop the car once and pick up a beautiful victorian doll house that some real estate agency that was moving its office had left on a curb with a lot of bagged garbage. He still talks about the humiliation of making HIM be the one (in broad daylight) to have to chance being seen dragging somebody's else's "trash" into the car. (Later, when my niece adopted a lovely 5 year old girl, we were happy to have that doll house). A few weeks ago (in our current house in PA) he came home with a door mirror that he found in somebody's trash during his early morning walk...we were about to buy one, and the one he found is just fine. I guess he has changed his mind about trash rubbling.

Do people know about "Freecycle" ....it is a website to match up people who have stuff too good to throw away and people who are looking for the same items so that they don't have to buy them. I think that there is a branch available for almost every city or town of any size. People are supposed to both give and take, but there seem to be a lot of compulsive "takers." But it is certainly an alternative to Craig's List.

[saltpeter]

My roommate has gotten some big scores. Stacks full of records; a complete (and expensive) stereo system and that's just this week. We do tell him to be mindful of things such as bed bugs (which are on the rise in our city). He's our little Free-gan (rhymes with vegan).

I will take a look at things when they are thrown to the curb. A remnant from my days living next to a college. We even used to sing a little song when we would see a free couch on the side of the road. (to the tune of Le Freak by the band Chic) we would sing "Awwww, Free Couch!"

[loki]

I will say, now that it is becoming more a necessity rather than an oddity, it does re-enforce the fact that we are a disposable society. Even when it comes to people, because the elitist, capitalist , and politicians have certainly started tossing the American people into the trash. Maybe some 3rd world country will someday dumpster dive to recycle us?

[loki]

Have you ever seen the people in the beat up pick up trucks cruising the alley ways collection the metals. Not bear cans but water heaters, dryers, ovens, fridges, and anything metal? Some of those people make thousands a week just doing that. Some make next to nothing. I guess like everything else, its all how you do it.

[loki]

I know someone who build 80% of his house this way. Dumpster diving and becoming friends with people who tear down buildings for a living. It took him 2 years to build, and he had about 40 grand into his house when it was done, and the bank appraised it for $380,000. Beautiful too. Mahogany all over that came from a 100 year old library. Spiral solid brass staircases, Italian marble flooring from a old bank and a lot more. No dumpster, construction, or destruction sight went unchecked every night he came home from work.

I also know someone who makes a good side income from ebay off of dumpster diving and cruising the second hand/ goodwill stores, yard sales, ect... . Kids toys are the biggest seller. Cleans them up with a scrub pad and bleach, takes a picture and puts them on ebay for a dollar. She has sold some for over $100 dollars and had literally nothing invested. Last year around Christmas she made over 4 grand in one month and had a couple hundred invested.

A lot of good stuff is tossed into dumpsters. You just have to get past the embarrassment of pulling it out of there.

[nippersdad]

Isn't it amazing what people will throw away! I once found an antique, ten arm Schonbek cut crystal chandelier with all of its' crystals intact at the dump. Some contractors had broken three of its' arms on a remodeling job. I had it fixed for one hundred dollars and it is as beautiful as it was when it was new! It appraised out at six thousand dollars. It is now in our dining room and I love to tell that story ( "You found that at the dump!"). Nothing compared to your friend's finds, of course. But it really is amazing what people will throw away.

[loki]

I'd say you did very well with the chandelier, and not a lot of physical labor involved either. Although I have no idea what something like that weighs. I wouldnt say my friend just "found" it all, He worked at it. He worked hard building a relationship with a couple owner of destruction companies too. I remember going with him and making 15 trips when the library was torn down. Lot of tongue and groove & finely detailed trim pieces that we had to carefully take apart by hand, load on the trailer and transport to his place. We had one day to do it before the bulldozers came in to take the building down.
The spiral stairs came from the 8th floor of a building and we had to be there the day the crane was there to take some support beams out. The stair case was one piece about 30 feet tall. We had to manually hacksaw it into 2- 15' sections. There was a lot of sweat equity went into his house. A lot of friends helped him too. Found old bricks in dumpsters that he used to build his 30 x 55 sunroom ,with 8 foot polarized plate glass from the same building the spiral stairs came from. Again, He also spent a lot of time stripping and refinishing wood, metals, fixtures, and more. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. I dont think I could take on that kind of project though.

[dawlishgal]

I haven't bought anything for myself at a regular store since we moved here. Several of our thrift shops get donations from outlet malls , and some sell the new stuff at used clothing prices or just slightly more . I just bought a brand new pair of 40-buck Keds for 4 bucks. I have two drawers of new SILK tees and turtle necks, none of which I paid over 4 bucks for. And I recently found a classic black trench coat with the tags in the pocket for 2.50. I still buy gifts for others at department stores, but I feel like a moron when I spend the money.

At one of our big flea markets, there are people who clean up after estate sales in return for the leftover merchandise. One of them gives stuff away if you buy other stuff . I got a gorgeous shiny new red cashmere turtleneck free when I gave back some of the books from a two bucks for a whole BOX lot. He gives toys away to kids, and once I saw him give away an enormous old and beautiful oriental rug because it had a few easily repairable rips. Another one sells everything for a dollar, no matter how much it was marked for the estate sale

The fleas here also have great greengrocers at a fraction of supermarket prices.

[enilorac]

HuffPost's Pick

When I was a teenager we used to have a vacation every year on the Canadian border in Maine. My parents liked to get away from it all and there were not other summer people where we went. One summer my father took us on a long evening drive away from the coast. He said we had a surpise when we got there. Well, we got to a dump on the edge of forest and there were all kinds of other cars parked by the side of the dump with their headlights on low. Sure enough at sundown scores of bears came out to go through the garbage. Amazing sight and we would joke about how you only had to go to nowhere Maine to be on safari. The bears turned everything upside down and inside out and had all kinds of great techniques using tongue and paw and foot and big teeth to pick up the leftovers. They couldn't have been all that hungry, as they also took time to play with abandoned toys and balls etc. So they also were re-cycling. Any kind of re-cycling is good for Mother Earth, so Hurray for Olivia for pointing out the benefits of dumpster digging. Some of our families best furniture has come from dumps, ebay is a kind of a dump. Cut the Crapola and re-cycle and maybe we can save ourselves and the bears too!!!!!!!!!!

[browndog2]

My dad did the same when I was a boy here in Michigan. Thanks for the memories.

P.S.: my sisters were scared!

[Ohg]

Dumpster Diving is for some, and not for others. Why? What satisfaction does one achieve by diving in the dumpsters?..........
http://thefiresidepost.com/2007/11/24/maslow-and-dumpster-diving/

[dawlishgal]

I don't know about dumpsters, but I can tell you about thrift shops and flea markets. I get the satisfaction of saving money for something more important--like TRAVEL. Also, I absolutely hate the department store atmosphere of dressing rooms and trying stuff on. My mom made our clothes when we were growing up, and (I suppose to prevent us from being too seductive when we were teenagers), she always made stuff too big....the result is that I don't much give a damn at this point in my life if my clothes fit, but I do like them to be good quality and comfortable.

I also like the conversations with people in thrift shops and at flea markets. It is a slice of life that charms me, and I haven't found it anywhere else in this country, at least. Last week some luddites like me were lamenting the decline in the quality of life, and a guy said that he drove past a hitchhiking teenager on a busy big road who was not watching out for the traffic, but rather yammering on a cell phonel. He said he pulled over and told the kid, "CALL YOUR MOTHER."

Stuff like that.

[lamarguerite]

Besides the shock value, I am not sure what dumpster diving accomplishes for the larger climate cause. More interesting to me, is taking a look at behaviors from mainstream Americans, and using that information to figure out behavioral change strategies. If you do not live in the Bay Area you may have missed a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, on 'Dollar's Fall Forces New Standard of Frugality'. This gave me hope, and shows that people do respond to unavoidable limits. I wrote about it today in my blog:
http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/the-green-power-of-shrinking-wallets/

[DramaQueen101]

"I am not sure what dumpster diving accomplishes for the larger climate cause."


One of the mantras of the environmental cause- the 3 R's: Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle.

I have a very good friend who is an avid diver. She has used her finds to help furnish her home, and has even used some of this loot to sell at garage sales and second hand stores. So instead of going somewhere to rot in a landfill, these items, by being "rescued", have accomplished something for the larger climate cause. And in our present state of environmental awareness, every little bit helps.

[MaracaKabob]

Dumpster diving is not an art.
Making art is an art, everything else is just 'doing stuff'.

[doesitexplode]

so there is no art to anything else? what about math, or sex for that matter? anything can be art if it is done artfully. as an artist (and yes, i mean i make art) by trade, id have to disagree with ya friend.

[OtayPanky]

Olivia Zaleski writes: Though I have never riffled through the trash myself, I must admit to having tremendous respect for those who do. "Dumpster diving," aka urban foraging, skally-wagging, garbage picking, binning, skip-raiding, skip-weaseling or trashing is an eco-excellent way to cut back on today's excessive landfill waste, pollution and rampant squandering of non-renewable resources.

===

It always bothered me to see all that food going to waste in the fine dining establishments I frequent.

It's truly comforting to know how the poor feast on our leftovers: cutting down waste, recycling, and providing fine (if slightly used) fare to the least among us - all at the same time!

Like Martha says...it's a good thing.

[stalkervision]

American's throw away all knds of very usable stuff they just get bored with and toss. Personally in this day in age things being what they have become on our planet I belive it is criminal..

[bar1ed]

I'm a dumpster diver --- i prefer to think of myself as a garboligist !

[bluecash]

I have been fortunate to have found a few full dumpsters near my home where the family just wants to empty the house quick so they can put the house up for sale. Everything goes in the bin regardless of the value. I even found coin collections, literal money just thrown-away.

I am lucky to have a decent full-time job but in this economy, any extra income helps. I sell collectibles and antiques on the side and have found many $$ items for free. It takes work to learn what's valuable and how to sell it to so I refuse to let the government tax me on what I earn (besides I pay enough tax from my day job). Digging the stuff out is hard work and one must be extremely careful but the rewards can be high if you are lucky enough to find the right bin.

I carry gloves, a flashlight and filtering mask in my car just in case I get lucky. My motto is: never underestimate the power of a dumpster! Sick, isn't it?