discarded devices. school supplies. at the end of each school year many people throw away perfectly useful supplies like pencils, pens, notebooks and art supplies. electronic waste. some consumer electronics are dumped because of their rapid depreciation, obsolescence, cost to repair, or expense to upgrade. owners of functional computers may find it easier to dump them rather than donate because many nonprofit organizations and schools are unable, or unwilling, to work with used equipment. occasionally, vendors dispose of unsaleable, non-defective new merchandise as landfill. the atari video game burial in alamogordo, new mexico after the video game crash of 1983 is a well-known example; a 2014 excavation recovered about 1300 games for curation as museum exhibits or auction. two iraqi girls pick up a cloth from garbage, al-fathel neighborhood of baghdad. clothing. while thrift stores routinely refuse used goods which they cannot cheaply and easily resell, the items which they do accept cost them nothing. there is therefore no shrinkage cost associated with discarding mendable garments, repairable appliances or even working donated items which are overstock or find no buyer after some arbitrary length of time. metal. sometimes waste may contain recyclable metals and materials that can be reused or sold to recycling plants and scrap yards. the most common recyclable metals found are steel and aluminum. wood. called urban lumberjacking, to salvage wood either for home heating, or home construction projects. empty cans and bottles. several countries, particularly in northern europe have enforced a system in which empty cans and bottles can be returned to stores for money. usually the amount received per can/bottle is relatively low, so many simply discard them in dumpsters. other sources residential buildings. clothing, furniture, appliances, and other housewares may be found at residential buildings. college dormitories. items may be found at colleges with dormitories at the end of the semester when students throw away many items such as furniture, clothes and electronics. notable instances in the 1960s, jerry schneider, using recovered instruction manuals from the pacific telephone & telegraph company, used the company's own procedures to acquire hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of telephone equipment over several years until his arrest. the castle infinity videogame, after its shutdown in 2005, was brought back from the dead by a fan rescuing its servers from the trash. in october 2013, in north london, three men were arrested and charged under the 1824 vagrancy act when they were caught taking discarded food: tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese and cakes from bins behind an iceland supermarket. the charges were dropped on 29 january 2014 after much public criticism as well as a request by iceland's chief executive, malcolm walker. in 1996, the source code for the atari 7800 was discovered in the dumpster of the atari office when the company closed. in popular culture books author john hoffman wrote two books based on his own dumpster-diving exploits: the art and science of dumpster diving (1993; isbn 978-1-58160-550-1) and dumpster diving: the advanced course: how to turn other people's trash into money, publicity, and power (2002; isbn 978-1-58160-369-9), and was featured in the documentary dvd the ultimate dive, which was directed by suzanne girot and described by the internet movie database as a "tongue-in-cheek how-to film on the art and science of dumpster diving." in 2001, dumpster diving was popularized in the book evasion, published by crimethinc. in kim stanley robinson's science fiction novel fifty degrees below (2005), the character frank vanderwal joins, for a time, a group of freegans (referred to as "fregans" in the novel) who frequently prepare feasts culled from dumpsters; kind-hearted restaurateurs aid them by setting aside foods which have not been touched by the public. jeff ferrell, professor of sociology at texas christian university, is the author of empire of scrounge: inside the urban underground of dumpster diving, trash picking, and street scavenging (2005; isbn 978-0-81472-738-6). cory doctorow integrated garbage picking characters into the plots of his novels someone comes to town, someone leaves town and pirate cinema. david boarder gilles' a mass conspiracy to feed people: food not bombs and the world-class waste of global cities (2021) is an ethnography of this global movement of grassroots soup kitchens that recover wasted grocery surpluses and redistribute them to those in need. television programs british television shows have featured home renovations and decoration using salvaged materials. changing rooms (1996-2004) is one such show, broadcast on bbc one. tlc's extreme cheapskates and extreme couponing featured people who regularly dumpster dive to avoid spending money on different items. films surfing the waste: a musical documentary about dumpster diving, a film by paul aflalo, sandra lombardi and tomoe yoshihara, with music composed by alden penner and nic boshart. dumpster wars: reno's trash politics (2008) i love trash (2007), a 30-minute documentary by david brown and greg mann. oclc's worldcat provided a synopsis: "i love trash is a documentary about the art of dumpster diving. starting with an empty apartment, only the clothes they were wearing and a flashlight, david and greg find everything they might otherwise buy, in trash cans and dumpsters. all their food, clothes, electronics, art materials and entertainment, all out of the trash." accolades: skyfest film and script festival, (won 2nd place for documentary films); and lake michigan film competition, (won 3rd place for documentary films). the 2010 documentary film dive!, a short documentary written and directed by jeremy seifert, investigates dumpster diving in the los angeles area. dive! premiered in october 2009 at the gig harbor film festival, where it won the audience choice award. it has gone on to win awards at many other film festivals, including best documentary at the dc independent film festival and best film at the dutch environmental film festival. spoils: extraordinary harvest. a short film/mystery film and documentary by alex mallis. (2012) accolades: official selection, new orleans film festival. official selection, independent film festival of boston. official selection, doc nyc. the leftovers: a documentary about people who eat trash (2008), a 28-minute swedish documentary by michael cavanagh and kerstin übelacker. mykel bently, paul hood, krystal trickey, nick gill, and sofia arborelius (the latter two were exchange students) joined together for this dumpster diver adventure. from dumpster to dinner plate (2011), an award-winning new zealand short documentary directed by vanessa hudson. "as the cost of food reaches record highs an underground movement of dumpster divers is rapidly gaining momentum fuelled by consumers who are forced to find creative ways to feed themselves."