Why Do Stores Throw Away So Many Perfectly Good Products? I Went Dumpster Diving to Find Out. [View all]

(Not me, Diamond_Dog, the author of the article).

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Before I flew to Texas to fully immerse myself in the reality of dumpster diving, I spent hours online watching videos of people pulling scores of discarded products out of various stores’ trash bags. As I scrolled, I saw influencer after influencer yelping with excitement as they found all sorts of delightful stuff for free — a bicycle! makeup! candles! Lego sets! luxury leather handbags! — just by digging through the garbage.

Dumpster diving is a treasure hunt and a game of chance. What will you find next? A bounty of gold jewelry? Or … a pile of trash?

And all I have to do is peek (or dive) into a dumpster to find out? Count me in!

So over the past few months, I descended into the muck — following dumpster divers both online and in person — to get an intimate look at what’s hiding in our trash bins.

The experience made me uncomfortable, dirty, tired, and a little nauseated.

And I had an absolute blast.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/dumpster-diving-investigation/?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20260530&instance_id=176410&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=74838209&segment_id=220702&user_id=a9aa4f5d6050c1b2fa535a7ed5551a5b