Dumpster Diving (for electronics)

Where I describe my favorite Sabbath activity

Dumpster diving can be fun and profitable. I’ve personally obtained several thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment through it, some of which I use literally day-to-day. It can also be dangerous. Here, I aim to help you navigate the practice.

Preplanning

Dumpster diving (and related practices) are most profitable (and interesting) in a wealthy wasteful environment without much concern for security and possibly containing a hacker culture. For these reasons, I think that the wealthy urban technical university is the best target (especially if you’re a student or faculty!). Failing that, we have the urban corporation, which I’ve often seen throwing out their old computer equipment in huge dumpsters by the side of the road. Smartphones are excellent tools for scouting, especially with a privacy-respecting custom rom. You can use them to view satellite imagery, use GPS, mark positions on a map, and take pictures.

Risks

Before doing anything, make sure to check the relevant laws in your jurisdiction. It goes without saying that breaking the law in the process of dumpster diving is illegal (breaking locks, trespassing, etc). Even when dumpster diving is in-and-of-itself legal, it may still fall under corporate espionage or the like. You may in all cases be harassed by employees, the police, private security, or the homeless, especially if you’re a minority. Stuff found in the trash may itself be dangerous - a lead battery, for instance, may leak. Never mess with a trash compactor; you will probably die.

Practice

Resist the temptation to dress like your favorite cyberpunk character. “Grey man” is usually best - blend into your surroundings. You’ll certainly want to bring a bag for smaller goodies like RAM DIMMs or hard disks. A car is really helpful for hauling larger finds, like monitors, towers, and rack-mount equipment, but it comes with an inconspicious presence and a license plate - use your discretion. Car or not, it really helps to be physically fit, for obvious reasons. Besides the bag, consider bringing a screwdriver kit, a spare change of clothes, and cut-proof gloves. When diving, aim to be in and out as quickly as possible.

Stuff

What kind of stuff can you expect to find, and what can you do with it?

Oddball Hardware

Laser module interface cards. CRT dumb terminals. These sorts of things can sometimes be worth stupid amounts of money, as they only get rarer, and some industrial systems still rely on them. Failing that, they can be a collectible curiosity or something to tinker with.

Commodity PC Parts

Hard drives, RAM DIMMs, CPUs, office monitors, keyboards, maybe even a PCI card or two. At the time of writing, the PCs getting straight-up thrown out seem to be Core 2 Duo era, generally. Hard drives can be interesting to snoop through - think "tears in rain". PhotoRec is suitable for recovering files from improperly-wiped disks, and LaZagneForensic may be used to find secrets. Their needles make for good necklaces - you can collect them on a string like a warlord collects ears.

Rack-Mount Equipment

As those that buy used Xeon hardware can tell you, the IT equipment cycle can be pretty brutal. Of course, this is great news for the dumpster diver. I've found many patch panels, switches, UPSes, and even a quality Dell PowerEdge or two, bringing a whole new meaning to budgetless homelabbing.