What Stores Can You Dumpster Dive At? (10 Stores' Policies) (2024)

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Dumpster diving has taken off in popularity recently, thanks to viral internet videos of amazing finds outside high-end retail stores.

No longer is it just homeless people or freegans that keep me company at the dumpsters I frequent. Instead, tons of people have realized that they can outfit their homes and make good money from things that people and corporations deem “not good enough” to sell.

However, the hoard of people rushing to learn about dumpster diving has also ended up with a hoard of people getting caught by security guards and the police.

It’s an unpleasant lesson for newcomers to learn that not every dumpster is free-game.

The legality of dumpster diving is a bit gray and much of it comes down to individual store policies and most don’t look too kindly on the practice.

Regardless of the criminal status, the garbage cans are often located on private property, which opens up a potential dumpster diver to trespassing charges.

So, to keep us both safe, let’s take a look at ten major stores and what their policies are regarding dumpster diving outside their stores…assuming they have them.

Dumpster Diving Store Policies – 10 Popular Spots

1. Walmart

Walmart has no official policy either permitting or banning dumpster diving at this time.

However, because of the way Walmart operates, you won’t be likely to find anything of value here (at least I haven’t…)

Most of their items that have any value are sent back internally through the Claims Department, usually to be sold to liquidators.

Anything else that is judged to not be of sufficient value or is too large to return (like a broken bicycle, for example) is thrown into the store’s trash compactor, which destroys both the item itself and any potential value it may have had.

2. Dollar General

Dollar General is one of the most popular dumpster diving locations and has been featured in dozens of YouTube videos which have made it a popular destination.

Dollar General does not have an official corporate policy on it, as far as I can tell, and whether or not you’d get in trouble seems to depend on the store in question.

The reason it’s so popular is that they throw out a high volume of items, including full cases at times, because they receive a bigger tax break by throwing out the item and declaring it as a loss than they would if they donated it to a charity.

3. Target

Target has no official policy banning dumpster diving but much like Walmart, they send most of their products back through the corporate chain to be sold to liquidators or other outlets, which means they don’t throw out anything of value.

Also like Walmart, they use trash compactors to destroy their garbage, so even if you could gain access to a dumpster overnight, you wouldn’t find anything in any sort of working or usable condition.

4. Best Buy

Best Buy does not have an official policy against it, although from what I’ve heard, most locations take a hardline against it and may press charges for trespassing against anyone who gets caught. What you find or even have any success at all will also depend on the location.

All locations are supposed to recycle customer returns and electronic waste although most employees seem to be lazy as this doesn’t happen 100% of the time. Some places keep their garbage inside or use trash compactors as well, so it really depends on which of the 1,000 or so stores you visit.

5. Ulta

Ulta does not explicitly ban the practice, although it is the store’s policy to destroy all returned or unusable products to make sure that none can be retrieved from the store’s garbage.

A news story from Dallas a few years back involved two teenage girls who were caught in an Ulta dumpster by the police. Not only did they not find anything except empty packaging materials, but they were also warned against the practice by the officer. The main reason, he explained, is health and safety.

Since it’s impossible for a dumpster diver to know who returned the product, it’s also impossible to know whether or not it’s carrying harmful bacteria.

6. The Mall

Malls are very tricky because they can provide a gold mine from the dozens or hundreds of stores they contain but getting access to the dumpster may not be easy. The actual policy will depend on the location, of course, but most of them ban it for liability purposes. They don’t want you getting injured on their property, either by act of diving or from whatever you pull out of the garbage.

Larger malls will no doubt have plenty of cameras and security, in addition to a fence or a locked gate in front of the dumpster. Smaller malls may have fewer cameras and staff, but their security guards are probably bored and just waiting for the first sign of suspicious activity, which is usually an unauthorized person looking through the trash.

7. GameStop

GameStop is an interesting case and may be one of the exceptions on this list. Although they don’t have a policy one way or the other, in 2015, after some commenters on the video suggested that GameStop should donate to charity instead of throwing products away, the company responded to the controversy in a Facebook post.

After explaining that they do, in fact, make a lot of charitable donations, they followed it up by stating that it is the company’s policy to destroy or throw out defective or unrepairable merchandise, which they believed to be the state of the items seen in the video. They did not condemn the practice of dumpster diving and did not comment on whether it was allowed, leading some people to suspect that they were okay with it.

8. Home Depot

Home Depot does not have it listed as a corporate policy on their website but every location I have been to has signs near the dumpster threatening prosecution against anyone who tries to take anything from their garbage.

However, even if they didn’t, you probably wouldn’t find very many usable things here anyway, as their garbage is mostly filled with old lumber. Like most corporations, they return a vast majority of their products to the corporate, which then sells them to liquidators or returns them to the manufacturer for credit.

9. Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works has explicitly requested that dumpster divers not take things from their garbage. In a statement to the website “Daily Dot,” a spokesperson said, “Bath & Body Works discourages people from retrieving product from dumpsters as we cannot guarantee the condition of discarded products.”

The statement went on to explain that it could compromise the brand’s integrity if people started buying products that had been salvaged from garbage cans and it led to medical issues or other problems suffered by someone who unknowingly bought contaminated, recalled, or defective products.

10. Apple

It is not listed among its official policies but Apple takes a very dim view of dumpster diving, with nearly all of their stores’ dumpsters marked with “no trespassing” or similar signs. Despite this, there have been several high-profile videos of successful scavengers finding working, high-valued items outside various locations.

There are two main reasons for this stance. First, in their eyes, any product taken from their garbage reflects a sale not made. Someone who wants an iPad badly enough might save up for one…unless they find a working mode in a garbage can. Second, it means their employees aren’t doing their jobs, as they’re required to mail back all electronic waste to corporate for repurposing or recycling.

Conclusion

Most stores don’t have an explicit policy on dumpster diving, either for or against it. However, at the corporate level, they aren’t very big fans. It makes sense, as it’s people getting their products for free out of a garbage can instead of paying hundreds of dollars for them.

However, having worked retail, I can tell you that the attitudes of individual employees and even store management are often very different and you may find that most of them care very little about what happens to their garbage after they’ve taken it out to the bin. Most of them just want to finish their shift without incident and go home.

However, it’s still a good idea to be alert and respectful if you’re going to dive. Make sure to pick up your trash behind you and put it back in the dumpster and obey all signs and posted placards, as not doing so opens you up to trespassing charges. Above all, if a manager asks you to leave, you should apologize and do so right away to avoid further conflict. Good luck and stay safe!