Wiktionary
n. (context US English) the act of recovering, for any purpose, discarded items that would otherwise be sent to a landfill
Wikipedia
Dumpster diving is a popular form of modern salvaging of waste discarded in large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers. Dumpster diving is an American English term. In the UK and many parts of Europe this activity is commonly referred to as totting, skipping, skip diving or skip salvage. Dumpster diving is the practice of sifting through commercial or residential waste to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but that may prove useful to the picker. It is not confined to dumpsters specifically, and may cover standard household waste containers, landfills or small dumps.
Different terms are used to refer to different forms of this activity. For picking materials from the curbside trash collection, curb shopping, trash picking or street scavenging are sometimes used. When seeking primarily metal to be recycled, one is scrapping. When picking the leftover food from traditional or industrial farming left in the fields one is gleaning. It is viewed as an effective modern foraging technique. Other related forms exist and are referred to by other terms.
People may often dumpster dive for useful items such as clothing, furniture, food, and similar items in good working condition. Some people do this out of necessity due to poverty, while others do so professionally and systematically for large profits.
Usage examples of "dumpster diving".
Other lessons in this series include Shoplifting, Beating People Up, Picking Locks, Climbing Trees, Driving, Housebreaking, Dumpster Diving, and How to Use Oddball Things like Venetian Blinds and Garbage Can Lids as Weapons.
But most kids didn't have invisible friends who talked back via the expensive net implants their parents had shelled out for, much less taught them skills like steganography, traffic analysis, tail spotting, and Dumpster diving.