Anyone else dumpster dive?

[meadow lark]

I’ve gotten into dumpster diving recently (not actually getting in to dumpsters, just pulling out the good stuff).   I’m having a blast.  It feels like a treasure hunt.  Last night’s haul was from a few elementary schools near me (school ended Wednesday).

[Zikoris]

I went to a dumpster diving meetup a few weeks ago and got an amazing haul. Our local group is more of a distribution thing, since in Vancouver you have to go out pretty far to get unlocked food dumpsters, so one family goes out every few weeks to the industrial areas in the suburbs and loads up their trucks, then hosts a meetup and distributes it to everyone. Dumpsters in Vancouver and North Vancouver are always locked because of bears.

[meadow lark]

That’s really cool!  I am running into the issue of wanting to take everything home and not wanting to be a hoarder.  Also not wanting to open a thrift store or spend my life deciding where to donate things.
Old picture for the fun of it:

[Eristheunorganized]

I used to get amazing grocery store hauls every week. I haven’t gone in a long time tho. The commercial composting here has made the food waste all one big gross heap now.

[meadow lark]

Oh wow, I bet.  I haven’t found good groceries, just processed junk food.  I’ve seen impressive hauls from Aldi on YouTube, but we don’t have one here.  I’ve found a few meats, but nothing I would feel safe eating.  It’s really hot here.

[2Birds1Stone]

What do y'all do with this junk you find?

I jest, but this seems like a slippery slope to ending up with a lot of clutter (both physical and mental), unless you already needed some kids school supplies?

[ptobest]

I went with a friend to a couple local universities around the time students were moving out from their dorms. Combination of scavenging from trash rooms on each floor, plus checking a couple of dumpsters. A lot of cheap unopened carbs were gathered, along with plenty of other goodies. For my part of the haul, I kept a good amount of it, gave a good amount of food to a friend, and anything else that was in new/good condition but not something I needed went into the donation pile. It was a lot of fun. I'd love to check out more places to dive, but most of the places I have scoped out (like grocery stores) have their dumpsters pretty locked down.

Here is a photo of the majority of my haul.

[Cranky]

What do y'all do with this junk you find?

I jest, but this seems like a slippery slope to ending up with a lot of clutter (both physical and mental), unless you already needed some kids school supplies?

I think a lot of people rehome things or have yard sales (like couponers).

Student moveout season is starting here and the free piles are worth investigating.

[meadow lark]

It definitely is a slippery slope towards clutter!  I don’t have hoarder tendencies - I’m much more likely to give away things, but yeah, I have to keep on top of it!

  I’m planning a trip to drop off donations today.  A lot of the candy I send with my grandson’s mom to her job, or give to friends.  I’m giving away a lot of the school supplies - and keeping some bc we use a lot with a 3 yo, and will have to send them to school with him as he gets older.

I am enjoying all the soap, toiletries and cleaners.  I’ve been doing this about a month and have gotten 4 containers of hand soap, 2 deodorant, 2 bottles of shower gel, 2 toothbrushes, 6 bars of Olay soap. 

@ptobest - how cool!  I tried to time dorm move out but I did a very poor job and missed it completely.
Even more than the actual value of the products, I think the novelty and variety of all the things takes away my desire to go buy stuff.  I’m not a huge consumer, but I indulge a bit.  This is so much more fun!

I’m also a lot more focused on avoiding waste after looking in so many dumpsters!

[J.P. MoreGains]

Dumpster diving... never thought about this. Looks like you found some great stuff.

[solon]

Has anyone read The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving, by John Hoffman?

It's an older book, but very blunt and funny. I found it reading the Tightwad Gazette so it's a contemporary of that.

The dude has done more thinking about dumpster diving than most of us, I bet.

[meadow lark]

I’ll need to look for that book!

I just peaked in a dumpster and got a humidifier (good when someone is sick), 12 pack of cat food.  18 apples from New Zealand!  The apples are fresh, the plastic containers they were in have some damage.

They had multiple gallons of milk and protein drinks but they were too hot.  I’m wondering if I should start looking at 9 am instead of the afternoon!

[meadow lark]

Found that book free to read online!  Thanks for the idea!

https://ia801207.us.archive.org/0/items/The_Art_and_Science_of_Dumpster_Diving_John_Hoffman/The_Art_and_Science_of_Dumpster_Diving_John_Hoffman.pdf

[Missy B]

Yeah, not possible where I am because everything is locked off. We have a large and determined population of binners, who do just about anything to get into our crappy residential dumpsters and fight with each other over the contents.

 I can't imagine the craziness if Safeway etc didn't lock and fence their dumpsters.

We did have some Walmarts with accessible garbage, but some TV show did a waste expose and now they fence everything off.
Which helps no one. shaming them doesn't change the laws or policy they have to follow, it just means no one can take the stuff.

[meadow lark]

That’s sad.
I’ve been disappointed with how many compactors or locked fences I’ve found.  As long as people are neat and respectful, I value that things are being taken out of the waste stream before they hit a landfill.

My father took me to the town dump a couple times when I was a kid.  I wish I knew of a few of those old fashion dumps.  (They aren’t like modern landfills).

I have 1 really good dumpster.  There are a bunch more I check, but I’d love to find 2-3 more good ones!

[meadow lark]

Well, I guess you just got to make a request out loud to the universe.  I checked out a midsized small chain grocery store.  I now have a favorite dumpster.  21 taco ‘family kits.’  I left a full garbage bag of bakery stuff, etc.

[meadow lark]

This picture was taken after I gave away 15 packages of gum, a gallon of milk, and some of the Ferrero Rocher.  I’m making cupcakes for my grandson’s 4th birthday party in a couple days and I’m thinking about putting a hazelnut chocolate on top of the chocolate cupcakes.  Or I could put a Lindt Praline on each one.

[Just Joe]

Amazing what these stores discard! SO MUCH WASTE.

[meadow lark]

Today I found 7 plastic light up teddy bears.  They plug in or use batteries, so they could be a large nightlight.

I have 4 small people and 3 big people who are happy!

Also found 27 pairs of monogrammed cozy socks.  None of them with my initial!  That’s okay - my wife owns a shoe store and I get basically unlimited socks.

[FLBiker]

Wow, this is awesome!  I did a bit of dumpster diving ages ago -- I worked at a university and would go around to the dumpsters on campus after dorm cleanout, but this is really inspiring.  We moved to a small town in Nova Scotia 4 years ago, and I have no idea what the dumpster statuses are.  I love the idea of checking at an elementary school, though.  DD's school ends in a couple of weeks...

My best find is an accordion.  We have bulk trash pickup here twice a year, and I always scour people's piles for anything good.  I thought it was a typewriter, but it's an accordion, and it's in pretty good shape.  I gave it a bit of TLC, and I'll play Christmas carols on it at the appropriate time. :)

Thanks for the inspiration!

[oneday]

No picture, but I got a pristine under-bed storage box this week. Perfect for storing the puzzle mat and some extra packing paper that's been hanging around in odd places.

The paper is a cat toy in my house...I got it not from the dumpster, but somebody left it in the mail room, which is where people leave small things they've decluttered. Books, art, kid's clothes...

[ptobest]

Another university near me had their dorm move-out day this past week, so a couple friends and I headed over to check out the dumpsters. Whereas the dumpsters I visited a month ago were public universities, this one was a private one. The findings leaned slightly less "bulk cheap carbs from Costco" and more "Wow, electronics!". I now own a portable iPhone charger that sells new for $50 (and works just fine), along with an HP Pavilion laptop. Finding a laptop in the trash is so wild to me. Wish I'd found the charger for it in the trash as well. The model came out in 2021, and seems in decent condition, so I'm looking forward to getting it powered up so I can check it out. Might be able to make a bit of $$ selling it, or make someone very happy to get a working laptop for free.

Unlike last time, there were more students still in the process of moving out, and actively adding stuff to the dumpster. Really interesting to observe people's reactions to seeing us poking through the dumpsters. At our first dorm stop, two girls with a bin full of stuff came up and asked directly if there was anything we wanted to take before they put it in the dumpster. Same thing happened at our second stop, where two guys started bringing us stuff and asking us if we wanted it. At the other extreme, we watched a girl toss several unopened packages of toilet paper into the dumpster, and later, a live plant, and then as she observed me taking the plant to my car, she exclaimed to (what I presume was) her father, "That's my plant!" I asked her if she wanted it, and she said "no". They both seemed very uncomfortable with our presence. At some point, a guy struck up a conversation with us. Turned out he was a student and had also been making the rounds at the dumpsters to get stuff and seemed surprised at all of the stuff he was finding.

I admittedly had a bit of anxiety to be doing the diving with people milling around, but most people didn't seem to care, security didn't care, and my friend is a veteran diver and so I eventually embraced her confidence and stopped caring as well.

Here's a photo of the haul. Not pictured are fridge & freezer items I managed to grab before they thawed too much (frozen burritos, ice cream, frozen fruit, 4 Amy's frozen meals, several yogurts) plus a large pile of jolly ranchers.

[fuzzy math]

I used to DD frequently when I lived in the midwest. Aldi had non locking dumpsters and I got tons of produce and other food from it. Once I got a mini wine fridge in the box from one of their dumpsters (and nearly sprained my back trying to hulk lift it out of the dumpster).

Here things are locked or the food is diverted to the local food bank. I did find 3 orchids that had frozen in the winter in a trader joe's dumpster. Took them home mainly because they were in nice pots. 2 of them lived. After checking 10 places and not finding anything (I really don't need things I just like finding food), Ive given up and don't intend to do it here again unless I magically hear of a place that is easy to go to.

Winter DDing is the best! Things don't go bad.

[iris lily]

For three decades I lived in a city that had giant dumpsters placed in the alleys. DH and I dived for years. And for many years, all of our sofas came from the alley. They weren’t even in a dumpster, they were just put out in the alley for trash hauling away. This was in the days before bedbugs invaded everything. Now of course I wouldn’t touch a piece of upholstered furniture from the alley. But the sofas we got were pretty nice for our purposes because our house was under construction and our dogs who sat on the sofas were very destructive.

Anyway – yeah you bet, we got tons of things from dumpsters over the years. When we were getting ready to move, I had to consciously dial down the diving  Because we were getting rid of stuff right and left.

But one thing I always thought was fun to do was to take something from the alley dumpster, fix it up a little bit, which usually just meant a bit of paint, and donate it to our Park Conservation Sale each year.

We moved to a tiny town that has bulk pick up twice a year. Honestly, I can’t resist driving by the piles of stuff and looking even though I’m no longer collecting much stuff, but ya never know.

It was just last year, after we had already moved to our small town, that we drove by our old house in the city  and drove down the alley and good Lord, there was a wonderful, beautiful, treasure trove of stuff! There were three garden implements that were practically brand new and high-quality. There were three solidly built pedestals, which I’m now using as plant display pedestals.

[iris lily]

Oh yeah, and then there was the time I got 85 cans of food from a dumpster, placed there by someone who got it from a food bank.

It was a lot of canned vegetables which I washed off to get rid of some of the sodium and fed to our dogs.

[meadow lark]

Wow!  I love all the stories!
Yesterday was a good day between $ General cereal and the grocery store’s pancake mix and syrup.   Left a lot in the dumpster, bc you can’t save it all.

[samanil]

I had a spell over a decade ago where I went dumpster diving regularly. On several occasions I got a massive haul of artisan bread loaves fresh out the oven. One loaf was hot to the touch and steam came shooting out when I squeezed it. I also got a bag full of Krispy Kreme doughnuts once.

[JLee]

I had a spell over a decade ago where I went dumpster diving regularly. On several occasions I got a massive haul of artisan bread loaves fresh out the oven. One loaf was hot to the touch and steam came shooting out when I squeezed it. I also got a bag full of Krispy Kreme doughnuts once.

Panera can be a gold mine - we have found soooo much bread!

[samanil]

I had a spell over a decade ago where I went dumpster diving regularly. On several occasions I got a massive haul of artisan bread loaves fresh out the oven. One loaf was hot to the touch and steam came shooting out when I squeezed it. I also got a bag full of Krispy Kreme doughnuts once.

Panera can be a gold mine - we have found soooo much bread!

Haha wow you outdid me with that haul!

[markpst]

Not allowed at the shopping center where I live. Probably a liability thing.

Police report:
5/10 15:05 3900 Block of xxxxx Rd. While on patrol, an officer located two subjects dumpster diving behind xxxxx shopping center. Those subjects were interviewed, warned and advised for being on private property, and sent on their way.

[JLee]

Not allowed at the shopping center where I live. Probably a liability thing.

Police report:
5/10 15:05 3900 Block of xxxxx Rd. While on patrol, an officer located two subjects dumpster diving behind xxxxx shopping center. Those subjects were interviewed, warned and advised for being on private property, and sent on their way.

Are there private property signs there?  Most of the dumpsters in my area aren't signed, so there's no legal issue.

[ptobest]

Yesterday was a good day between $ General cereal and the grocery store’s pancake mix and syrup.   Left a lot in the dumpster, bc you can’t save it all.

What a glorious haul! That is breakfast & dessert for months right there.

Panera can be a gold mine - we have found soooo much bread!

What a great haul, I need to check out Panera now. Looking at Google Maps, the closest one to me may have the dumpster behind a locked door. Worth checking out just in case, though.