Dumpster Dive

A dumpster dive happens when someone intentionally searches for something in someone else's pile of refuse.

Someone on a dumpster dive may be looking for things to reuse or to sell to recyclers, improperly destroyed confidential information to misuse, or evidence of a crime.

May lead to the discovery of a Grail in the Garbage. Not to be confused with Trash Landing (a pile of refuse breaks one's fall).

Film

 * The 2010 documentary film Dive! investigates dumpster diving in the Los Angeles area.

Literature

 * In 2001, dumpster diving was popularized in the book Evasion, published by CrimethInc.
 * Author John Hoffman wrote two books based on his own dumpster diving exploits; The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving and Dumpster Diving: The Advanced Course: How to Turn Other People's Trash into Money, Publicity, and Power, and was featured in the documentary DVD The Ultimate Dive.

Live Action TV

 * Several times in CSI, Law & Order, and similar Police Procedurals and Forensic Dramas. (Let CSI fans ENHANCE this.)
 * NCIS season 1 episode 12 "My Other Left Foot" opens with the discovery in the dumpster of what appears to be a Marine's freshly severed leg.
 * In NCIS: Los Angeles season 4 episode 20 "Purity", cyanide in the water supply leads to an investigation into the dumpster.
 * Steptoe and Son and its American counterpart Sanford and Son are about "rag and bone men".


 * British television shows have even featured home renovations and decoration using salvaged materials. Changing Rooms is one such show, broadcast on BBC One. Recovery of still-useful items from discards is well known in other cultures as well; James Fallows noted it in his book written about his time living in Japan. However, much of the richness attributed to dumpster diving in Japan ended with the collapse of the nation's economic bubble in 1990.

Western Animation

 * In the television show The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack the main characters regularly dumpster dive in search of candy.

Real Life

 * When a company replaces old computers with new computers, geeks will search the company's dumpster for equipment.
 * Freeganism, a sustainable living philosophy that includes dumpster diving to not waste food.
 * Dumpster diving is a living in Manshiyat Naser, whose residents live off Cairo's garbage, making it one of Cracked.com's The 6 Weirdest Cities People Actually Live In.
 * Identity thieves searching for people's personally identifying information in dumpsters, and hackers searching for passwords and other information they can use to break into corporate or government computers, are part of the darker side of dumpster diving.
 * Garbage picking is Older Than Radio: In 19th-century London, dumpster divers were called Rag-and-bone men. They still are, in fact -- after a brief disappearance during the middle-late 20th century, rag-and-bone men are enjoying a renaisssance in the age of recycling.
 * In 2009, pro-surfer Dane Reynolds salvaged a piece of polyester foam from a dumpster behind the Channel Islands Surfboard factory. He shaped the foam into a surfboard that, at the time, was thought to be "short, fat, and ugly." The goal of this new shape was to distribute volume to the width and thickness of the board, cutting down on the overall board length needed to use in smaller surf, while staying progressive on the face of the wave. The board was a hit and was dubbed the "dumpster diver". The board changed the way surfboard shapers designed boards for use in smaller waves.