r/DumpsterDiving Sep 09 '19

Dumpster diving tips and tricks: a thread

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Comment with your best diving tips and advice


r/DumpsterDiving Mar 25 '23

My dumpster diving list I created with 6 years of experience. Feel free to add.

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I was a vagabond for 6 years, I hitchhiked, hopped freight trains and bicycled North America from Mexico to Alaska, east coast to west. I learned all of this on the way and figure it's time to share it.

Food:

๐Ÿ•- all pizza places throw out pizza at 12-2am. It's a dumpster staple. [Yes pizza is still in the box, I wouldn't eat it otherwise]

๐Ÿฉ - all donut shops (including places like kolache factory) throw out at 2-4pm. [They usually put all donuts into one bag by themselves]

๐Ÿ— (fried chicken) - actually very common, also a staple. Usually throw out is around an hour after they close which varies from place to place. Anything fried in bulk you can expect to find throw outs. [Usually still in boxes]. Also, if you're feeling brave enough, after closing hours, just go ask. Fast food workers don't get paid enough to g.a.f. and they get tired of eating their own food, so they don't want to take it home themselves. Just walk up and say "hey, do you guys happen to be throwing out any leftover chicken from today?". I've gotten a week's worth of chicken just handed to me through the window or they'll leave it in boxes on top of the dumpster so you don't have to dig.

๐ŸŽ ๐Ÿฅ— (produce) - grocery stores (time varies, but you also have to find places without a compactor. Some compactors you can break into but it's luck of the draw).

๐Ÿฌ ๐Ÿซ ๐Ÿญ (candy, junk food, snacks) - CVS & Walgreens. They're the reigning Champs of throwing out hundreds of $ worth of candy a day. I kind of try to keep from telling people this one because you could get diabetes in like a week if you tried to eat it all. It's horrendous.

๐Ÿ‘• ๐Ÿ‘– ๐Ÿฉณ (clothes) - Washaterias or laundromats. People are infamous, especially in rich areas, for washing a load of laundry and then just leaving it, never to return. The laundromat workers will just gather the clothes and toss them, as they're pretty use to it. I've filled up a whole wardrobe on several occasions with expensive brands just by looking for a sack of already washed and dried laundry in the dumpster.

๐Ÿ›‹ ๐Ÿ–ฅ (furniture)(electronics)(decorations) - College towns, (Christmas & Summer break - these seasons are known as "Crustmas" in the dumpster diving community) anywhere students notoriously live. You can even find anything else your looking for really. College kids are the biggest dumpster diving source in history.

๐Ÿ“š books and comic books - Half Priced Books or any resale book store. I've accidently fallen asleep in dumpsters before because I drifted off while laying on top of all the hundreds of books while reading. Not even kidding, there isn't even any room for trash, they have dumpsters that are full to the brim with just books.

โ“๏ธ(Wild card) - Are you feeling lucky punk? - hotels are the biggest oddball dumpster diving experience you'll ever have. You can find drugs, clothes, anything that someone would bring in a suitcase. People get shit-faced drunk and stumble out of their hotel with a hangover leaving 1/2 their belongings behind. It's kind of scary some of the stuff you'll find...(sex toys, etc. ). The cleaning service ladies get first dibs obviously and rightfully so, for what they have to put up with, lol.

Raw materials: --------

๐ŸชตWood : Construction site dumpsters at expensive locations. Ask for permission from the contractor. Contractors are a mixed bunch, sometimes they'll say yes sometimes no.

โš™๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฉ๐Ÿ”—Metal : machine shops - you can honestly just call these guys and 1/2 the time they'll let you onto their property and take what you want from the scrap bin. I'm 3 for 3 just by calling and asking politely for scrap.

๐Ÿ”จTools - Harbor Freight tools, the return rate on tools at harbor freight is INSANE. So many people will buy a tool, use it one day and return it slightly bent or scratched. Most sites have a compactor but every now and then you can find with a regular dumpster. If so, you can score some pretty good tools. (Or mediocre tools for that matter lmao)

๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ ๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ ๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ ๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ ๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ ๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ ๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ ๐Ÿ—‘ ๐Ÿšฎ

Protip 1- Dumpster diving is all about schedule. Sometimes places only throw out the quality items once a month, sometimes they purge their inventory only seasonally, or sometimes it's daily. Finding out those routines is the key and all you have to do is probe the spot every now and then to figure that out; or if you know someone who has worked there before, ask. The better you know a schedule, the less time your loot sits in the dumpster/air temp/outside environment for someone else to find or for it to spoil.

2 - Heavy bags usually have the goods. In the end I could just feel the outside of a bag and then weigh it a bit. With knowledge about the store, the schedule, feel and weight, I would already know what's inside.

3 - consistent dumpster diving will get you fit. The more you climb the more you find.

4 - GEAR: โ€ข Headlamp โ€ข closed toe shoes (for when you get inside the dumpster) โ€ข gloves โ€ข a big box or bag for your car to chunk stuff in. โ€ข hand sanitizer

๐ŸŒŸ 5 - Clean up after yourself, if you leave a place a mess they will begin locking the dumpster. You'll ruin the spot for yourself and everyone else. This is the #1 reason why store owners tend to be against it ๐Ÿ”’

  1. ... get good at holding your breath while doing cardio ๐Ÿ˜‚

r/DumpsterDiving 8h ago

Two night wonderful haul

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I had a two day haul with most of it coming from last night. I got 5 big bags of dog food, 3- small bags of puppy food, 5 football shaped dog cookies, 32 pouches of cat food, 41 cans of cat food,1 flat of Gfuel energy drinks,5 Holland beers and a can of beer, 10 salad dressings, 4 flat breads, 15 crepes, 16 pigs tortillas, blueberries, apples, peaches, onions, grapes, lettuce, hand soaps, lotions, candles, lip balm, wallflower plug ins, scents, hair wave curl heat device, makeup and 2 pet food storage containers


r/DumpsterDiving 6h ago

Brand new shoes in my size barely used grill and brand new grill utensils

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r/DumpsterDiving 53m ago

Dairy deluge

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Looks like there was a fridge problem at the local supermarket, resulting in a dozen or so cartons of cheese, yoghurt, butter and small-goods being thrown out. Still cool, but I guess out of the safe zone to be allowed for sale.

We rescued over 50kg, about the limit of what we could fit on our bikes. We also left a few things for others who might come after us then went back a couple of days later and saw some of those things gone.

There was more than we could fit in our fridge, freezer and ice box, but fortunately itโ€™s hard rubbish collection in our neighbourhood at the moment. We found a fridge a few blocks away, wheeled it home, cleaned it out around midnight, turned it on andโ€ฆ

โ€ฆ it worked!

Within 12 hours we had passed on 90% of the cheese, all the butter and yoghurt pouches and even a few packs of vegan sausages.

The real heroes in this story are the other community members who are helping others in need. One woman makes weekly hampers for six families, another for four. Both of those women face their own health and financial challenges. Another woman in our neighborhood, herself with a disability, runs a few street pantry. Another couple of elderly gentlemen collect about 3.5T of food each week in their van and deliver to a range of crisis, refugee and homeless shelters.

I only had to send four messages.

Iโ€™m particularly enthusiastic about saving dairy since it has such a huge environmental impact and, except for some of the hard cheese would not have lasted very long in the bin.

And for those who might wonder if the fridge works when packed that full, yes, but it takes a long time to get the center items to temperature. I repacked some items into the new fridge after taking this photo to make a little airspace under each shelf. Everything in the freezer was solid within 8 hours.

And for those who recognize this profile, yes we have been diving every week, but most collections are pretty similar so I stopped posting.


r/DumpsterDiving 7h ago

Sry is this is a dumb question but I'm a mom of 3 and living in poverty. What are some places to dumpster dive without compactor or locks. Bonus if you can recommend places right outside of Chicago

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r/DumpsterDiving 6h ago

Posted yesterday about my first time. Second time was an even bigger score.

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Perfumes yesterday, wallflowers today.


r/DumpsterDiving 1d ago

First time and I kinda just wanna do this every day lol.

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r/DumpsterDiving 20m ago

Mini haul

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Donโ€™t normally find anything beyond fruit/veg and bread so a nice surprise.


r/DumpsterDiving 10h ago

Took one lol the other was bad shape

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r/DumpsterDiving 10h ago

my newst haul

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Yesterday i had the luck of finding a big loot!

I actually had come back a 2nd time to pick up everything.

The haul includes a Philipps 3d Blu-ray player with sound system (999โ‚ฌ when it was new, according to a website), a functioning Bosch drill hammer, a functioning Samsung laptop with i3 and 3gb DDR3 ram (HDD was destroyed), 2 mobile DVD player-screens and a bag full of cables, adapters and power bricks.

Im honestly very happy with that!


r/DumpsterDiving 11h ago

World of Warcraft pocket watch

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r/DumpsterDiving 15h ago

1950s mechanical Toy car made in occupied Japan after WW2 I found it in this dice tin can

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I found this in a dumpster of an old house in canada


r/DumpsterDiving 4h ago

I found more scrap tonight. I think people are leaving stuff setting on the side of the roll off dumpster who know I scrap and I was the maintenance man for 11yrs. It's not much.

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r/DumpsterDiving 19h ago

Found these dumpster diving

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r/DumpsterDiving 17h ago

Flannel Shirts, T-Shirts, Jeans, Shorts

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r/DumpsterDiving 20h ago

MEGA HAUL: Dell Precision 7730, Precision 5520, Z97-A motherboard, and R9 290

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That was such an insane day


r/DumpsterDiving 1d ago

Modded 3DS found in a dumpster

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r/DumpsterDiving 18h ago

Anyone ever seen herbal medicine bag like this

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r/DumpsterDiving 1d ago

I found this old doctor bag maybe from the 70s? What should I do with it?

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r/DumpsterDiving 13h ago

What's your craziest Diving Experience?

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I know you guys are dumpster divers rather than coral reef or freshwater scuba divers but damn it I still want to hear your maddest experiences


r/DumpsterDiving 1d ago

Another epic early morning dive :)

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All of this was gathered from various stores over the course of a couple hours this morning.
Highlights are tons and tons of candy and chips, a bunch of pb&j crepe rolls, and a bag FULL of medicine and supplements.
The little free pantry is gonna be stocked with goods this week ๐Ÿ˜Š


r/DumpsterDiving 18h ago

Any Suggestions for First Time Divers?

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I want to start dumpster diving In Grand Rapids, Michigan, but I have no clue on where to start! Any suggestions from senior divers would be greatly appreciated!! I hope yโ€™all are having a great day ๐Ÿ˜Š


r/DumpsterDiving 1d ago

update on the cards, gift bags and stickers: left some at a free little library

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since the other 2 cubbies have space, i just decided to fill one with bday cards and envelopes on the left and stickers and gift bags on the right. this is only a small fraction of my recent card, sticker and gift bag haul


r/DumpsterDiving 1d ago

kwik-waste

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My former favorite midwestern gas stationโ€™s dumpster was up to the brim. This was just from skimming the top of a bag. I was sick but definitely not cause of the food.