Dumpster diving

Video of impoverished individuals "dumpster diving" at a neighborhood trash dump in Kabul

Dumpster diving (also totting,^[1] skipping,^[2] skip diving or skip salvage^[3]^[4]) is salvaging from large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers for unused items discarded by their owners but deemed useful to the picker. It is not confined to dumpsters and skips specifically and may cover standard household waste containers, curb sides, landfills or small dumps.

Different terms are used to refer to different forms of this activity. For picking materials from the curbside trash collection, expressions such as curb shopping, trash picking or street scavenging are sometimes used.^[5] In the UK, if someone is primarily seeking recyclable metal, they are scrapping, and if they are picking the leftover food from farming left in the fields, they are gleaning.^[6]

People dumpster dive for items such as clothing, furniture, food, and similar items in good working condition.^[7] Some people do this out of necessity due to poverty;^[8] others do it for ideological reasons or professionally and systematically for profit.^[9]

^ "Hand sorting of recyclables ('totting') with vehicle assistance" (PDF). Health & Safety Executive. May 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
^ Boisseau, Will; Donaghey, Jim (2015). ""Nailing Descartes to the wall": Animal rights, veganism and punk culture" (PDF). In Nocella, Anthony (ed.). Anarchism and animal liberation : Essays on complementary elements of total liberation. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7864-9457-6. OCLC 913784877.
^ Lewycka, Marina (2 July 2009). "So, I'm a skip addict - avocado bath suite, anyone?". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
^ "Issue 561". SchNEWS. 22 September 2006. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
^ Ferrell, Jeff (2005). Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving, Trash Picking, and Street Scavenging. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-81472-738-6.
^ Vinegar, Russell; Parker, Pete; McCourt, George (2014-08-26). "More than a response to food insecurity: demographics and social networks of urban dumpster divers". Local Environment. 21 (2): 241–253. doi:10.1080/13549839.2014.943708. ISSN 1354-9839. S2CID 154452776.
^ "The Do's and Don'ts of Dumpster Diving". Wilderness Survival Techniques. Archived from the original on 28 August 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
^ Cite error: The named reference Rufus & Lawson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Randall Sullivan (February 3, 2015). "The Pro Dumpster Diver Who's Making Thousands Off America's Biggest Retailers". Wired. Retrieved March 31, 2015. his claim that he can make a quarter-million dollars a year from trash

[HSE-1] "Hand sorting of recyclables ('totting') with vehicle assistance" (PDF). Health & Safety Executive. May 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2016.

[2] Boisseau, Will; Donaghey, Jim (2015). ""Nailing Descartes to the wall": Animal rights, veganism and punk culture" (PDF). In Nocella, Anthony (ed.). Anarchism and animal liberation : Essays on complementary elements of total liberation. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7864-9457-6. OCLC 913784877.

[Lewycka-3] Lewycka, Marina (2 July 2009). "So, I'm a skip addict - avocado bath suite, anyone?". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 2009-10-31.

[Issue_561-4] "Issue 561". SchNEWS. 22 September 2006. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-11.

[5] Ferrell, Jeff (2005). Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving, Trash Picking, and Street Scavenging. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-81472-738-6.

[Vinegar-6] Vinegar, Russell; Parker, Pete; McCourt, George (2014-08-26). "More than a response to food insecurity: demographics and social networks of urban dumpster divers". Local Environment. 21 (2): 241–253. doi:10.1080/13549839.2014.943708. ISSN 1354-9839. S2CID 154452776.

[Dos-7] "The Do's and Don'ts of Dumpster Diving". Wilderness Survival Techniques. Archived from the original on 28 August 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.

[Rufus_&_Lawson-8] Cite error: The named reference Rufus & Lawson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[9] Randall Sullivan (February 3, 2015). "The Pro Dumpster Diver Who's Making Thousands Off America's Biggest Retailers". Wired. Retrieved March 31, 2015. his claim that he can make a quarter-million dollars a year from trash

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