50 Times People Couldn’t Believe Their Luck While Dumpster Diving

One person’s trash is another’s treasure, and the ‘Dumpster Diving’ subreddit believes it quite literally, fully embracing the saying. It’s an online community of over 130k members that’s been celebrating the cool things (including pets!) found among the trash since 2009, the year it was founded. With a tagline like ‘Fun with Garbage,’ there’s no way that somebody wouldn’t be intrigued to open the lid and take a peek at what’s going on in the group!

The folks over on r/DumsterDiving are sharing their intriguing finds, and we’ve collected some of their most interesting photos to share with you Pandas. Not only are the pics the perfect metaphor for the fact that Lady Luck can smile on you at any moment, but they’re also a reminder to protect the environment. After all, why buy something new when you can reuse a perfectly good item?

Remember to upvote your fave dumpster finds as you scroll down and let us know if anything from the garbage ever found its way into your home. Be sure to read on for Bored Panda’s interview with Greenpeace about the reuse revolution and where the ultimate responsibility for eco-friendly decisions lies.

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Found This Rascal Next To A Dumpster, She Made A Great Addition To The Family And Is By Far My Best Dumpster Diving Haul

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50 Times People Couldn’t Believe Their Luck While Dumpster Diving

Found This Rascal Next To A Dumpster, She Made A Great Addition To The Family And Is By Far My Best Dumpster Diving Haul

Tonight's Find

I Found Her Dumpster Diving This Morning I Was Able To Find Homes For Her Two Sisters But Nobody Wanted Her. Looks Like Now I Have A Cat

Found In The Alley. It Weighed A Million Tons, Because Those Pillars Are Real Marble

Last Summer I Found 2 China Teacups, And Last Night I Found The Matching Saucers In A Different City!

When Out To Dumpsterdive And Play Pokémon Go Last Night, And Found This Little Cutie. Took Her In And Posted About Her On "Lost Pets" On Facebook. After She Had Been Missing For 2 Weeks, She Finally Got Back Home To Her Parents And She Was Only 3 Months Old

Husband: “Honey It’s Just An Empty Case, I Am Not Climbing In For That.” Wife (Me): “Just Get In And Get It The Case Might Be Worth Something, Plus I Have A Feeling.” Who Was Right? Well It Was The Wife Of Course

Found This 1934 First Edition Mary Poppins In The Trash Of The Building I Work In

We Are Such A Wasteful Society, This Was Found In One Cee-Vee-Ess Dumpster

Meet Our Special Find From Last Night! She Was Dumpster Diving Too

I Found This Ring In The Dumpster On Monday! Had It Appraised Yesterday And Found Out It’s A Handmade Gold Ring From The 60s-70s! It’s 14k Gold Band Is Worth $200+ (Stone Is Glass). I Also Found Those Tiny Hands With It Haha

Saved From The Landfill This Weekend!

Thought Someone Was Throwing Away An Old Violin. Nope, It's Roulette!

Our First Time Diving Last Night. Only One Find, But We Were Thrilled! (She Hasn’t Stopped Guarding It)

Found This Beauty In A Jewelry Box Mixed In With A Bunch Of Fake Jewelry. 14k Yellow Gold, With A 1k Tanzanite Gem In The Middle, Surrounded By 23 Genuine Baguette Diamonds. Having It Appraised In 2 Days

Don't Know What I'm Going To Do With It, But Couldn't See This Be Ruined

It’s Amazing What People Will Throw Away. Late 1960s Schwinn ‘Fair Lady’ Cruiser. My Wife Needed A Bike And Absolutely Loves It!

Got This Side Table From The Curb. It's Top Was Broken, So I Spend A Little Over 3 Hours And €4 Worth Of Rope And Glue To Upcycle It To This!

Drove Around Picking Up Pallets People No Longer Wanted And Made Myself A Headboard Out Of Them

My Dad Pulled This Gigantic Canvas Out Of The Dumpster At The School He Works At, I Taped The One Tear It Had, Covered It In Black Gesso And Painted This

Tenants In My Apartment Complex Got Evicted. Left This In The Dumpster. Just Needs To Be Cleaned Up A Little

I Just Don't Know How You Throw These Away. Too Cool

Little Haul ..it Feed My Kids For Bit .. Hard Times This Blessing Helps Alot

Why Would Someone Throw This Away??

Took The Back Way Home This Evening And Stumbled Upon This Beauty. The Boyfriend Has Been Shopping Around For A Gaming Chair, Too!

Rescued From A 3 Letter Pharmacy Dumpster And Headed For Donation To A Clothing Charity Run By A Local Church

Found Two Gift Cards In The Dumpster Of The Local Thrift Shop. I Just Checked The Balance On Them, And Each One Has $100 On It

$175 Watch Was Damaged Out For Having A Broken Clasp. Took It To The Watch Repair Kiosk At The Mall And He Said It Wasn't Broken, They Just Didn't Know How To Work The Self Adjusting Clasp

I've Always Wanted A Signed Book By This Author. Never Thought I'd Find It In A Dumpster

I Work As A School Photographer. Best Believe That When I Pulled Up At The Elementary School I Was Photographing And Saw The Giant Gorgeous Mirror Near The School Dumpster?? I Snuck Her Into My Back Seat Before Heading Into The School

Once Again! I Am Saddened By This, But What’s Really Sad, Is Others Might Say “I’m Gross To Take Stuff Out Of A Dumpster” All The While I’m Thinking, “No The System Is Gross That I Even Have To”

Pulled A Fully Functional 3D Printer While It Was Raining. All It Needed Was New Filament. One Of The Best Things I've Ever Found

Found In Someone Illegal Dumping, Such An Antique Prize

After A $35 Part, 55" Curved Samsung 4k TV Saved From The Dumpster Works Like New!

Hand-Carved Vintage Liquor Cabinet On The Curb!

Found This On Top Of A Glass Recycling Bin On My Way To Pick Wildflowers

Okay I Know I've Said This Before And I Know I'll Probably Say This Again, But I Think I Just Made My Best Find. Found A Little Money Pouch With A Bunch Of Old Money In It

We Dumpstered Wood Samples From A Floor Store And Created A Counter For Our Tiny House

This Beautiful Chair I Saved From A Skip Today!

Posted By A Friend

So Excited About This Curbside Find!! The Wife Wanted New Barstools To Replace Our Crappy Wood And Cloth Ones. Found A Set Of 4 Of These With A Sign That Read “Free! I’m Vegan Now” Ha! Cleaned Up The Leather Already Going To Do Some Chrome Repair Good As New! Thank You Vegan Stranger!

Lane Midcentury Modern Desk I Picked Off The Curb Last Night In My Neighborhood

Bo Won 6 Medals During The 1991 Special Olympics, Hosted In St Louis Missouri. In 1992 He Died In A Dentist Chair From Complications With The Anesthesia. I Found His Medals In A Dumpster And Now I Would Love To Find Photos Of Him. Stephen "Bo" Anich. He Was Born In 75 And Had Cerebral Palsy

Not In The Dumpster But Next To It. Mid Century Cherry Red American Tourister Nesting Suitcases!

Found This Dumpster Diving Tonight... Everything But The Chain Strap Marked And Tested As 14k Gold

Local Greenhouse Is At It Again

One Of My Best Dumpster Finds Ever. 1940s Chest Type Coca Cola Cooler. Another Guy Showed Up With His Wife And Said Too Bad You’re All Alone You Cannot Pick It Up By Yourself. Well It’s In My House So I Guess I Did

Found A Very Cool Couch This Morning- Only Had To Dive For The Cushions!!

Didn't Even Have To Go Far...sitting Right By My Apartment Dumpster

Best Find Yet! It Amazes Me What People Throw Away (Rescued All This From The County Dump)

Found A Ms. Pac-Man In The Dumpster And Yes, It Works

While Walking The Dog In The Rain, We Stumbled Upon A White Whale Among A Pile Of Trash. A Working Kitchenmaid Mixer That Cleaned Up Pretty Well

My Apartment Doesn't Have Dishwashers And I've Been Lusting After One Since Moving In. About A Month Ago When Taking Out My Trash Look What Was Just Sitting Next To The Recycle!! It Was Maybe 1yr Old And Barely Used! Heavy As Hell So Getting It Back Upstairs But Oh So Worth It! Happy As A Clam!

I Go To A Private School, And Many Students Are Very Rich And Very Wasteful. I Found Everything I Am Wearing In The Trash At The End Of The Semester (& Like Half My Closet Lol)

I Saw That Someone Crashed Into My Local Liquor Store So I Went To Check The Dumpster That Weekend. Found $215 Of Good Stuff That Will Last Me For A While!

Campus Move-Out Day Has Blessed My Friend With A Full Drum Set!

Didn't Realize How Heavy Old Sewing Machines Are Until I Found This One While Riding My Bike And Had To Walk Three Blocks With My Bike In One Hand And This Guy In The Other

I Got E. Coli From A Dumpster

So, Uh, I Found A Saxophone

Update On M’lady, Safe In My Bedroom! It Has Been Steam Cleaned And Checked For Pests, Thanks For The Suggestions!

$300 Headphones Still In Shrink Wrap Who Does This?

Watched A Guy Put A Box In A E-Waste Bin And Had To Take A Look

1925 Dragon Ashtray! Another Day. Another Dive!

Ivy League College Move Out Weekend

Probably The Cutest Things I’ve Pulled Out Of A B&n Dumpster

Christmas Eve Dive

Got This 32” TV Out Of My Apartment’s Large Item Dump! Had A Spare Universal Remote And It Works!

Found Today, Tag Still On... Just A Week After I Discovered An Unfixable Rip In My Boots!

The Trash Gods Giveth! This Congo Drum Is Worth $150. I’m A Professional Musician So This Will Get Used Often!

Found This Vase By A Dumpster During A Lunar New Years Traipse In Chinatown, It's Now Become My Baby

Just Scored This Unit In An Alleyway

This Mornings Dive Revealed A Bunch Of Nicer Paints. Mostly Acrylics But All Are Sealed

When Your Fashion Forward Neighbor Starts To Watch Marie Kondo And Dumps Half Her Wardrobe

So My Wife And I Recently Got Into Dumpster Diving. I’ve Been Saying For Weeks That We Ought To Get One Of Those Grabber Thingies To Reach Down Into The Dumpster. Well.... Look What We Found In A Dumpster This Morning

Found A Dyson Dc25. Power Button Wasn’t Working. Cleaned It Up And Fixed The Button. Good As New

Had A Nice Haul Today!

Dumpster Jesus, Turning Trash Into Wine

Double Bee Werks Haul Tonight!

Pulled This Out Of A CVS Dumpster At My Little (14 & 17) Sisters Request. They Want To Use Him As Decoration