Sanitation company warns of dangers of dumpster diving

Dumpster diving is a pastime practiced by a wide variety of people, but the founder and president of a Michigan sanitation company warns that it can be a dangerous practice when people choose to search for items in dumpsters where toxic waste has been disposed of. Sherman Rogers is the founder and president of All Waste, a leading garbage removal and dumpster rental service. According to Rogers, “Dumpster diving is searching through industrial commercial or residential dumpster trash to find items that have been discarded by their owners that may be of value to the dumpster diver.” While traditionally people who engage in dumpster diving do so purely due to economic necessity, there are people who make their living sorting through trash and collecting salable items. Still other people engage in the practice for environmental reasons. So-called “freeganists” believe that it’s more environmentally sound to use waste products than to buy new items. Often, supermarkets and other stores which sell perishable goods are forced for a variety of reasons to throw away food and other items which are still usable, but which are close to expiration or are otherwise not salable. That’s where the freeganists come in: by choosing to dumpster dive for food and other items instead of buying new, they believe that they’re reducing their impact on the environment According to Sherman Rogers, however, dumpster diving can be dangerous for people who aren’t aware that toxic waste might be lurking in the dumpsters they search through. “In common cases people will use the cover of night to raid the trash which increases their risk of injury. Many times sites will have dangerous chemicals such as battery acid or lead and even toxic material like asbestos in their rubbish.” While it’s highly unlikely that the average supermarket or retail store will be dumping toxic asbestos or other chemical waste in their dumpsters, it’s not unlikely that dangerous waste might be present in dumpsters from construction sites, and industrial locations. One of the most dangerous aspects of asbestos is that diseases resulting from exposure, such as mesothelioma, generally take between three and five decades to develop noticeable symptoms. It’s impossible to tell immediately whether asbestos exposure has occurred, unless you actually know that asbestos was present and that you inhaled fibers: that means would-be dumpster divers need to be doubly careful when practicing their art. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)