Back in December, a post in the Ohio State football subreddit came to my attention. In it, the poster helpfully alerted fellow Buckeye fans about their discovery of some brand-new Ohio State football swag in a dumpster:

Those who have not checked your dollar general dumpsters yet you should do so immediately! While doing my weekly dumpster run I found tons of OSU gear!

The responses to this non sequitur came in fast and funny. My favorite was one commenter, speaking for nearly all participants, who asked “What if I have never checked any dumpsters? Ever?”. Many suspected the post was a troll, but no, it was all in earnest. Pictures were even included.

I applaud the reuse of things, and I certainly won’t poke fun at folks turning unnecessarily trashed items into treasure. But I am greatly amused at the original poster’s mindset that of course everyone is out there dumpster diving, it’s just a matter of when. Said poster is active in the dumpster diving subreddit, and I fear it’s warped their perception of normalcy.

Then again, perhaps dumpster diving is more common than I think. I was reminded of the above post just a few weeks later, when I saw a news article with the title “How two dumpster divers found love and a living combing through trash”. It details the positive effects dumpster diving has had on the life of Western New York resident Dave Sheffield. The activity is central to how he makes his living, and it’s also how he and his wife Erin met. Good for them!

But boy did author Chris Bentley let Sheffield throw himself under the bus:

Big scores are rare, but Dave is fond of an espresso machine he plucked from the trash. As for Erin’s favorite find?

“People always ask me that,” she laughs. “Obviously my husband!”

Jeez, WBUR, doesn’t Dave look like a real asshole now?