Quick quiz: is dumpster diving

A) a sport
B) a popular hobby for the frugal
C) an environmentally and socially conscious way of life

The answer is all of the above. As the name implies, dumpster diving (known as “skip diving" in many parts of the world) is the process of scavenging trash—not always dumpsters, however—for useful or valuable items. Believe it or not, though, dumpster diving is quickly approaching mainstream status even in affluent countries. Whether you’re looking to furnish your home, fill your fridge, or cash in on other people’s trash, this guide will teach you the ins and outs of dumpster diving.

Remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure!

[edit] Steps

Know your local laws. In many if not most jurisdictions, trash is not considered private property, so dumpster divers cannot be charged with theft. Some municipalities have ordinances prohibiting scavenging trash, and dumpster divers may run afoul of laws regarding trespassing or invasion of privacy. Research the laws in your area or contact your local police department to inquire about the legality of diving practices.
Get over your squeamishness or adapt your methods to avoid practices you see as disgusting. Many people find entering a dumpster gross. If you follow the steps below, however, you may be able to make your experience a little less foul. If you’re still put off by sifting through trash, however, consider scavenging only items placed with trash but not in rubbish bins, such as furniture and, sometimes, crates of food.
Network with other divers. As you get into dumpster diving, you’ll likely meet other divers. Many, but not all, will be friendly and helpful. Share tips and experiences with them and you’ll probably get some good tips in return. Consider joining an online dumpster diving forum or a local club. There are a lot of dumpsters out there, and you can’t cover them all on your own, so word of mouth is extremely helpful.
Find the hot spots. If you’re just looking for unexpected treasures, you can look pretty much anywhere. Drive around your neighborhood on the night or early morning before trash pickup, for example, and look for furniture or electronic items sitting next to trash cans, or randomly search dumpsters. If you want to find food, go to dumpsters behind grocery stores, bakeries, and the like. Many stores simply throw out products once they hit the expiration date, and you can sometimes find good produce that’s just a little past its peak. Look online at dumpster diving forums for tips on where to go in your area.
Be in the right place at the right time. Usually late nights or early mornings are the best times to dive. Dumpsters are usually fullest at these times, and you have less chance of a confrontation. Obviously in a residential neighborhood you should wait until the night before scheduled trash pickups. Also, the 7th of the month is a good day for dumpster diving in planned communities in some regions, because those people who haven't paid their rent yet for the previous month will be evicted on the 8th, and they may be in a hurry to just throw stuff out and split. For businesses, you’ll generally find the best days and times by trial-and-error. Some stores, for example, throw out a lot of things on a certain day. Check online dumpster diving forums, ask other dumpster divers, or even ask friendly store clerks or business owners.
Wear the right clothes. Get some good gloves and wear them whenever you go diving. Long-sleeve shirts and pants will help protect you from dirt and cuts. If you’re going to actually enter a dumpster, wear sturdy fabrics such as denim, and cover as much of your body as possible. Protect your feet by wearing thick, fully-enclosed shoes or boots. Wear clothes that you don’t care too much about.
Equip yourself. Check the “things you’ll need" section below. At the very least carry a milk crate or stepping stool to help you see and access the contents of dumpsters and bring plastic bags to hold your treasures. Also be sure to bring a flashlight if you’re diving at night. Remember that you don’t have to dive right into a dumpster—bring along a long pole to poke around with or one with a grabbing apparatus on the end, and you may not need to venture in at all.
Make sure no one is around. As long as you’re not breaking any laws, you don’t have anything to worry about, right? Wrong—dumpster diving is somewhat controversial, and divers are frequently confronted by shopkeepers or homeowners. While a confrontation is no big deal if handled properly, you should still try to avoid it. If you see people in the area, wait a while.
Handle with care. Be very careful when handling trash or entering dumpsters. Broken glass and sharp objects can cut you, and you could be poked by a used needle. Protective clothing will help avoid these dangers, but you also need to be aware of your surroundings at all times.
Bring along a car or truck. Unless you’re collecting furniture it’s not necessary to have a vehicle, but it can increase the range of your diving and the size and quantity of things you can carry. Prepare your vehicle by putting bags or old blankets over the seats or cargo area—trash is frequently dirty.
Look for items you want. Sift through the trash and collect anything that you can use. Bag smaller items. Take only what you need or can realistically use. There are a lot of dumpster divers, and someone may have a dire need for something that you’ll just leave sitting in your garage.
Clean up after yourself. If you’ve thrown garbage all around, pick it up and put it back into the dumpster. While you’re at it, throw away other nearby trash that’s on the ground. Leave the area as clean or cleaner than you found it—don’t give dumpster diving a bad name.
Bring items home and thoroughly clean them. Cleaning is especially important with food. While most food will be packaged, take special care to wash produce, preferably in a mild bleach and water solution (the food you buy in grocery stores is usually treated in this way anyway, so this isn’t a drastic step). Clean up other items and test out and try to repair any electronics or other tools.
Dispose of unusable items responsibly. One of the best aspects of dumpster diving is that it keeps things out of landfills. Once you remove an item, however, it’s your responsibility to use it or properly dispose of it. If you can’t use an item, recycle it or try to give it away on sites such as freecycle or craigslist (see external links). Proper disposal is especially important with electronic waste, which is highly toxic to the environment. If you pick up a great printer but then can’t get it to work, don’t just toss it in your garbage.

[edit] Tips

Check out community websites for more free things. The free section of craigslist is a good resource if you live in a metropolitan area, and many communities have freecycle groups where people give away their unwanted treasures to keep them out of landfills. If you participate in one of these communities, remember to give as well as receive.
If you live near a university, especially a rich one like Princeton, for example, you are in luck! When graduation rolls around the seniors have to move out fast and leave lots of great stuff behind. Also, underclassmen do, too, but usually that occurs right before graduation. So get in tune with the local college. Some janitors are nice and allow you to paw through the bags of stuff they leave outside the dorms to be picked up by the trash guys...
Dive with a friend. Dumpster diving is a lot more fun with company. It’s also a lot safer. A friend can help you out if you become injured or can help defuse confrontations and keep look out.
Empty your pockets and take off any jewelry before entering a dumpster. You don't want to lose anything in the trash.
If confronted by a business owner, resident, rubbish hauler, or police officer, be polite and explain what you are doing. Many times people will assume that you are illegally dumping trash and will not bother you if they understand that you are not. In any case, always be friendly and respectful, and try to understand the other person’s point of view: business owners who tell you to leave the premises, for example, may be concerned about their legal liability if you were to be injured.
While diving, keep a few cardboard boxes around outside the dumpster in a little pile. If confronted, you can say you were searching for some boxes to help with a move. The employees are more likely to give you a better reaction than if you tell them you were looking for products they sell.
If you see something you want, it doesn't hurt to ask the dumpster owners before you grab. There are times when they haven't finished tossing stuff and you'll get firsties on the rest!
Let it be known in your neighborhood that you find homes for discards. Many people can't be bothered to call a charity shop, but are all too happy to ask a neighbor to haul things away for them.
Tips for finding food. You don't want full dumpsters, you want freshly filled dumpsters. That only happens on Mondays. So Monday night is grocery night. Monday all grocery store dumpsters get emptied of the weekend trash that accumulates because the trash companies usually work Mon-Fri. So nothing has been in the dumpster longer than a few hours if you dive Monday nights.
Certain delivery trucks like dairy, Lays, Entenmanns, Fisher and Planters, Breads and Pastries, candy, etc., will dump the days collected expired dated items in the dumpsters at their last delivery stop of the day so they go back empty. Those items are always neatly packed in large garbage bags in the truck so they can be easily disposed of. That means they are clean and protected in the dumpster. Monday they have the largest load of expired stuff because of the weekend. Also they are most likely to find more empty dumpsters on Monday than other days of the week.
Before vaulting into a dumpster you hit the side of the dumpster a few times and disturb its contents on the top. That gives the rats, possums, raccoons and squirrels opportunities to surface and escape. Coons leave quickly as do squirrels. Possums will fight. Rats will run over the top of you to get away.
A white butcher smock makes you look like a grocery store employee and you are seldom bothered by other dumpster divers or law enforcement when they see that smock. A cheap set of long handled fireplace log tongs work wonderfully for retrieving items if you don't want to climb in. A miner's cap with the light is better than a flashlight because it allows you to work two-handed, and then you aren't always losing that light into the bottom of the dumpster. I had a rigged light that fit on my left arm, but this sometimes wasn't good because I couldn't see behind or to the right without turning my body. That cap light will not look like a grocery store clerk, however.
If you don't like to get very dirty, you can try magazine dumpster diving. The magazine recycling boxes are usually very clean, and sometimes you can find some very good reading material in them if you don't want to buy a subscription to a magazine.
If you are worried about safety, you can park your car in front of the dumpster to make it impossible to have it dumped. In some cases this is illegal, but if you are diving on a day close to trash pickup day, it could save your life..

[edit] Warnings

Never try to access a dumpster or other trash that is fenced in or that has “no trespassing" signs posted nearby.
Always wear moderately thick gloves so that you do not cut your hands or prick them with used needles.
Never take documents containing personal information and / or use such information for illegal purposes.
Do not escalate confrontations. If someone asks you to leave, do so, even if you know your activity to be perfectly legal.
Do not enter a dumpster when garbage trucks are in the area; if a truck approaches, get out of the dumpster immediately.
Beware of dumpster lids slamming down on you because of wind or gravity.
Know how to tell when canned products have spoiled, they may contain botulism toxin. Botulism is a foodborne illness which can be fatal.
Clean up after you’re done. Take a good shower to wash dirt and germs off.
Consider keeping your tetanus immunization shots up to date in case you get cut. Tetanus is rare, but it can be fatal!
Never enter a dumpster that is equipped with a compactor.
"Dumpster Diving" is illegal in the United Kingdom and is classed as theft. Property which is put in a bin remains the property of the person who owned it until the council (or other body) collect it. After it has been collected, it becomes the property of that body. People have been prosecuted over this. If you wish to do this you should seek the permission of the legal owner to take any item.
For open topped industrial dumpsters, do not lean over the edges of the bin - you can crack ribs this way.
Be careful, you don't want to stick your hand into a needle.
Do NOT collect beds, this can contain bedbugs, and it's hard to get rid of them. It's also not a very good idea to collect food (unless it's properly packaged, you checked it, and there's no bugs inside)

[edit] Things You'll Need

Comfortable, sturdy clothes you don't mind getting dirty
Cheap pants with leather or denim patches sewn over the knees for added protection
Strong, fully-enclosed shoes or boots
Gloves
Milk crate or stool
Plastic bags
A stick or grabbing device for poking about
Flashlight
First aid kit

[edit] Related wikiHows

[edit] Sources and Citations

A Shout Out To Eating Garbage: On Dumpster Diving A CBC National News story (4 minute video) and personal reflections on dumpster diving.
FrugalVillage.com An introduction to dumpster diving
Craigslist.org A great section for free stuff—choose your city from the list on the right side of the homepage
Freecycle.org List items to give away or items you need—search for your local group
www.freegan.info/ Freegan.info Anti-capitalist lifestyle movement with a strong emphasis on dumpster diving.
foundclothing.blogspot.com An online archive of clothing that has been found, washed, and worn by the site's operator and random contributors
trashwiki.org - a wiki about dumpster diving around the world.