78 Dumpster Diving Finds That Prove That One Person’s Trash Is Another’s Treasure (New Pics)

Dumpster diving used to be associated more with people who are financially in the dumps (pun intended). But as we mentioned earlier, times have changed drastically. 

The #dumpsterdiving trend on TikTok, for one, has drawn hundreds of thousands of views, showing people rummaging through piles of garbage and them boasting about their unique finds.

One prominent dumpster-diving social media creator today is Kelly Sparks, who runs the YouTube channel breafkast. As of this posting, she has 236,000 subscribers who tune in to see what she finds next in her dumpster-diving adventures. 

In a 2024 interview with The Guardian, she says, “Dumpster diving is the epitome of a treasure hunt.”

“It was overwhelming, the amount of food that was in their dumpster. We would dumpster dive every night. We got so hooked on it,” said Sparks, who dumpster dives in Northern Texas. 

According to her, most of her international viewers are often surprised, almost shocked, by how much waste America produces. She says some of them are even left asking why there are bottled waters in US dumpsters. 

What counts as “trash” can also differ from person to person. As University of Chicago scholar and anthropologist Sarah Newman explains, food scraps may be garbage to one person, but valuable fertilizer material to another. 

“There are also cultural differences in terms of the types of things that people see as being reusable or the attachments that people have to even things that are mass-produced products,” Newman said. “There are certain things that you or I might think of as a kind of disposable commodity, and other people might see as something more valuable.”

Dumpster diving isn’t for everyone, and understandably so. It can be hard to dig through waste, some of which could even be toxic. 

But if you can bring yourself to take on the adventure, you’re likely to stumble upon cool finds, as these people did. The best part: you don’t even need to pay much for these items, and they could add value to your life in the long run.