Dumpster diving (also totting,[1] skipping,[2] skip diving or skip salvage,[3][4]) is salvaging from large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers for unused items discarded by their owners, but deemed useful to the picker. It is not confined to dumpsters and skips specifically, and may cover standard household waste containers, curb sides, landfills or small dumps.
Different terms are used to refer to different forms of this activity. For picking materials from the curbside trash collection, expressions such as curb shopping, trash picking or street scavenging are sometimes used.[5] When seeking primarily metal to be recycled, one is scrapping. When picking the leftover food from farming left in the fields one is gleaning.
People dumpster dive for items such as clothing, furniture, food, and similar items in good working condition.[6] Some people do this out of necessity due to poverty,[7] others for ideological reasons, while still others do so professionally and systematically for profit.[8]