Dumpster diving

Dumpster diving, commonly referred to in the UK and many parts of Europe as totting,skipping, skip diving or skip salvage, is a popular form of modern salvaging of waste in large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but that may prove useful to the picker. It is not confined to dumpsters specifically, and may cover standard household waste containers, landfills or small dumps.

Different terms are used to refer to different forms of this activity. For picking materials from the curbside trash collection, curb shopping, trash picking or street scavenging are sometimes used. When seeking primarily metal to be recycled, one is scrapping. When picking the leftover food from traditional or industrial farming left in the fields one is gleaning. It is viewed as an effective modern foraging technique. Other related forms exist and are referred to by other terms.

People may often dumpster dive for useful items such as clothing, furniture, food, and similar items in good working condition. Some people do this out of necessity due to poverty, while others do so professionally and systematically for large profits.

The term "dumpster diving" emerged in the 1980s, combining "diving" with "dumpster", a large commercial trash bin. The term "Dumpster" itself comes from the Dempster Dumpster, a brand of bins manufactured by Dempster Brothers beginning in 1937. "Dumpster" became genericized by the 1970s. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "dumpster diving" is chiefly found in American English and first appeared in print in 1983, with the verb "dumpster-dive" appearing a few years later. In British English, the practice may be known as "skipping", from skip, another term for this type of container.

Alternative names for the practice include bin-diving, containering, D-mart, dumpstering, totting, and skipping. In Australia, garbage picking is called "skip dipping."

The term "binner" is often used to describe individuals who collect recyclable materials for their deposit value. For example, in Vancouver, British Columbia, binners, or bottle collectors, search garbage cans and dumpsters for recyclable materials that can be redeemed for their deposit value. On average, these binners earn about $40 a day for several garbage bags full of discarded containers.

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Wikipedia