UNITED STATES. (THECOUNT) — It’s estimated that around 40% of purchased food in the United States goes to waste. This means that there’s an endless supply of food that’s perfectly edible ending up in the trash. But it’s not just food that gets thrown out.
All across America, people bin perfectly good furniture, clothes, books, electrical gadgets, and an abundance of goods. This means that there are all kinds of treasures waiting in the trash for anyone brave enough to go looking for it. As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this is the philosophy behind dumpster diving.
|
Advertisement |
Diving For Life
Many people dumpster dive for fun, while others do it out of necessity due to poverty and hunger. Some people, like the Freegans, practice a dumpster lifestyle to prevent wastage and save money. Whether done for survival, to make money, or to reduce environmental impact, it’s an activity that’s on the rise.
What Does the Law Say About Dumpster Diving?
Dumpster Diving is technically legal in all 50 states. The legal question that underpins dumpster diving is whether, when a person throws something into the trash, it enters the public domain and becomes open for ownership to the next person who picks it up. This legal question was answered in the 1988 Supreme Court case of State of California v Greenwood, where the court had to pronounce on the legality of trash searching.
The final verdict ruled that taking items from the trash and appropriating them as your own is legal, so long as it does not conflict with city or state ordinances. However, there are some caveats that make dumpster diving illegal, such as when there are locks on a dumpster. Picking or removing those locks to access trash is considered trespassing and is illegal.
A Free World
From the perspective of a dumpster diver, the legality of the Act in question makes sense, as they are simply appropriating what others no longer wanted. An argument made on behalf of dumpster divers is that if they don’t brave the trash, eat the food, or take unwanted items that have been thrown away, then it will all simply go to waste for no reason. Those who live in poverty would suffer if dumpster diving was made illegal as many people in the United States rely on what’s thrown away, such as food items or pieces of furniture, to survive. People who live in community housing, shelters or other forms of rented accommodation might need to rely on this kind of activity to keep their living costs down further. And that’s not to mention those on a Freegan diet that believe in living this kind of lifestyle, not only to save money but to decrease worldwide wastage too.
A Privacy Question
Looking at dumpster diving from the perspective of homeowners and business owners, the question of privacy and integrity emerges. Small business owners would most certainly not approve of people rummaging through the dumpsters outside of their buildings as it might drive away customers and cause a stench. Private homeowners might also believe that a dumpster diver is encroaching on their property and their privacy and might want to keep stragglers away from their homes. However, at a federal level, dumpster diving is legal throughout the country and there are no privacy issues at play when someone re-appropriates something that has been thrown in the garbage.
Dumpster Diving Success Stories
Ella Rose, a rising star on video-sharing platform YouTube, is a renowned dumpster diver who shares her hauls and finds when heading out to rummage through the trash. She currently has an audience of just over 100 000 loyal subscribers who tune in to watch her dumpster dive and see what she finds.
In 2022 Ella Rose uploaded a video documenting a massive find. She snagged a Burberry bag from the trash as well as multiple apple items including airpods and charging cables. The average Burberry bag costs around $300 – $500. This is an incredible find and only proves the worth of some items that are simply being thrown in the trash. High grossing finds like these provide an argument for the legality of dumpster diving, as wastage such as this is what contributes to a society based on waste and consumerism.
Feeding A Family For Free
Dumpster diving is not only for lone warriors who are simply doing it for themselves, and it most definitely is not only practiced by the impoverished who do it to survive. A United States father of five was recently interviewed by the Sun explaining that he rummages through trash to provide for his family.
Stories told by the father point to the reality that he finds more food for his wife and children in the trash every day than he could ever afford from the supermarket. He runs a YouTube channel called GrabItFast and has videos that document his massive hauls. He’s often able to fill his entire car trunk with wasted boxes of snacks, bread, fruit and vegetables, and other completely edible foods.
A Court Approved Activity
Although dumpster diving might not be for everyone, it certainly is a viable means of providing for yourself should you have no other means. The amount of wastage in the United States means that dumpster diving should be legal, and the Supreme Court agrees.