In most big cities, there is a market that has organically formed that most people don’t talk about or aren’t really aware it exists. I’m referring to the addicts/homeless people who scavenge through dumpsters for a living. At first glance you might be thinking “gross”, but this dirty job actually plays an important role within the metropolitan ecosystem.
When most people walk by and see someone who is head first and ankle deep in a dumpster, they might scoff and think how horrible it is a that a person can be reduced to such activity. While the job is indeed dirty, the people engaged in it are doing their part in helping the environment, and they didn’t need any government decree to do it.
The most common items these folks are looking for are cans and bottles, because they can both be taken to recycling centers in exchange for some cold hard cash. The for-profit recycling model works far better than government mandated recycling schemes or the variety of carbon taxes. This model works because of two things: incentive and the profit-motive. These two things are basically combined, because the ability to make a profit is what incentivizes the dumpster diving in the first place.
They aren’t making chump change for this either. Dumpster diving can be rather lucrative for the person willing to stick to it. While many of the divers inevitably use their profit to support their addiction, the fact of the matter is they are helping the environment by finding so many recyclables that other people have simply thrown out. No government mandate will accomplish what these hard workers are doing day in and day out.
Some companies lock their dumpsters in order to avoid people going through them, and while there is a legitimate concern about the divers being on private property in the first place, the ownership rights of the garbage is more or less being relinquished once it’s tossed in the dumpster. Certain cities have also banned dumpster diving, which is something they clearly shouldn’t be involved in. In this regard, companies and governments should free the dumpsters!
Some people who go dumpster diving have deemed their efforts a sort of 'food rescue' and it's amazing to see the amount of high quality produce and other items that can be found right there inside a dirty overlooked bin.
Let the market in dumpster diving continue, and the environment will benefit as a result.