TikToker @dumpsterdivingfreegan posts regular "dumpster diving hauls" to expose extreme waste, and a recent video of a particularly fruitful trip to a Whole Foods dumpster has gotten traction online. It has started a conversation about all the wasteful store practices, and people are sharing the wasteful practices of their (former) employers. Stories range from reprimand for giving leftover pizzas to the homeless to an instruction to destroy unsold bras rather than donating them, as not to devalue to brand.
Various dumpster diving communities exist online, like r/dumpsterdiving (which boasts 140,000 subscribers!) and various Facebook groups, and dumpster diving practically constitutes a genre of its own on Youtube. Still, I'm consistently surprised to see trash cans full of perfectly usable products.
But exposing corporate waste is a two-sided coin. Making noise about wasteful practices may lead to meaningful change, but it also encourages companies to be sneakier about their trashy practices.
