5 ms·

Dumpster diving is one of those sub-cultures that is hard to commodify. One of my kids prefers the ethics of dumpster diving. What a privilege.

RiverCrochet 2y ago
Someone, somewhere out there is selling designer or artisanal-crafted dumpster diving shoes "for the very best comfort and agility during your homebrew solid-waste recovery activities."
- heavenlyblue 2y ago
  I was following this guy on instagram that makes the most amazing dumpster miniatures. Together with miniature trash that you can put in and out fo the dumpster.
  - andyjohnson0 2y ago
    Just needs miniature dumpster diver figures and the commoditisation is complete
  - lupusreal 2y ago
    Somehow I'm not even surprised. Train watching/spotting and train miniature making are both popular with overlapping communities, and apparently there is a smaller but still extant community of people who are big fans of garbage trucks in the way that others are with trains. Dumpsters seems like a natural extension of that. Incidentally, train fandom is definitely commodified, but I think not to the consternation or detriment of those into trains. I wonder why some subcultures are at odds with commercialization of their interests while others are at peace with it.
- moomin 2y ago
  U2 literally employ a stylist who buys their clothes from second hand clothes markets. An incredibly expensive way of supporting a “no consumption” aesthetic.
  - protonbob 2y ago
    They are still consuming less natural resources and someone is sharing in their wealth. I don't see the problem here.
    - namaria 2y ago
      Any demand pull will ultimately increase consumption of resources at the end. There's no ethical consumption under capitalism. The only thing that works is consuming less. Pretending like there is a way to do it only opens up avenues for guilty-free consuming.
      - bluefirebrand 2y ago
        > There's no ethical consumption under capitalism I've seen this catchphrase thrown around a lot online, but I've never seen anyone explain how consumption becomes any more ethical under any other system without leading to other systemic problems "Consume less" seems to imply that any consumption is unethical by default. If that's the case, then the only way to consume ethically is by minimizing consumption This seems like a reasonable stance, but it leads to other problems. Who gets to decide how much is enough? If each individual decides for themselves, then we clearly have a problem because some people will never be satisfied. If everyone lets them continue, then they will hoard resources for themselves. This is sort of the situation we're already in However, if we have the group (community, society, country, whatever) decide "how much is enough", then we have to have a group mechanism for making that decision, like a council, or government department Then we need another group mechanism to enforce it, police, courts, etc. "Ethical consumption" becomes very authoritarian very quickly If the idea is "We could have ethical consumption if people would just consume less" then you don't even have a starting point because "people will never just So feel free to consume less if you think that's more ethical. That's what I try and do, myself. But I know that I cannot simply expect others to do the same, and I also don't really have any interest in policing how much others are allowed to have
        namaria 2y ago
brendoelfrendo 2y ago
Dumpster diving specifically, maybe not, but thrifting and second-hand clothes definitely were. When thrifting was popular among the early hipsters, American Apparel would send buyers to thrift stores to gut them of all the best deals so they could offer curated collections of second-hand clothes at a steep markup. Companies like Urban Outfitters would send designers to Williamsburg parties to see what people were wearing so that they could start manufacturing knock-offs immediately. The hipster subculture is an odd one, itself a product of poor urban artists wearing and doing what they could afford being co-opted by college-educated urban Millennials trying to reject conventional symbols of elitism and instead crafting more "authentic" snobbery on the back of traditional working-class aesthetics. But if it had any potential to mean anything, it was murdered in the crib by those who cashed in on a demand for an aesthetic and divorced it from its meaning, which is the very thing that the early hipsters were rebelling against.
sitkack 2y ago
I was a pretty avid dumpster diver 15-20 years ago. Lots of yuppies were very interested, I toyed with some performance art in my head about having high end dumpster diving coaching for the affluent dumpster-curious. I did take some new people on cleaner, more mellow excursions, they absolutely loved it. This is what makes capitalism so insidious, it coöpts our very reality. It is an amazingly persistent mind virus.
- detourdog 2y ago
  I think it might not be capitalism alone that co-opts reality. Social structures of all kinds use words to co-opt reality into a coherent story.
MacsHeadroom 2y ago
I just tested an app that let's you pay $3.99 to get a bag of food about to go in the dumpster: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/ https://www.toogoodtogo.com/
- detourdog 2y ago
  I guess I was wrong. What a world .
- bradstewart 2y ago
  Is this really the same thing though? My family uses that app pretty regularly, and for us at least, it stops us from going out to restaurant or something instead. It's not replacing dumpster-diving, nor would I consider myself to be part of dumpster-diving subculture. I don't talk about it to my friends. It's just cheap food.
- 4k93n2 2y ago
  they should set fake dumpsters around the place (refrigerated obviously) where people can go and pick up this food while also getting the authentic dumpster diving experience

RiverCrochet 2y ago

Someone, somewhere out there is selling designer or artisanal-crafted dumpster diving shoes "for the very best comfort and agility during your homebrew solid-waste recovery activities."

heavenlyblue 2y ago
I was following this guy on instagram that makes the most amazing dumpster miniatures. Together with miniature trash that you can put in and out fo the dumpster.
- andyjohnson0 2y ago
  Just needs miniature dumpster diver figures and the commoditisation is complete
- lupusreal 2y ago
  Somehow I'm not even surprised. Train watching/spotting and train miniature making are both popular with overlapping communities, and apparently there is a smaller but still extant community of people who are big fans of garbage trucks in the way that others are with trains. Dumpsters seems like a natural extension of that. Incidentally, train fandom is definitely commodified, but I think not to the consternation or detriment of those into trains. I wonder why some subcultures are at odds with commercialization of their interests while others are at peace with it.
moomin 2y ago
U2 literally employ a stylist who buys their clothes from second hand clothes markets. An incredibly expensive way of supporting a “no consumption” aesthetic.
- protonbob 2y ago
  They are still consuming less natural resources and someone is sharing in their wealth. I don't see the problem here.
  - namaria 2y ago
    Any demand pull will ultimately increase consumption of resources at the end. There's no ethical consumption under capitalism. The only thing that works is consuming less. Pretending like there is a way to do it only opens up avenues for guilty-free consuming.
    - bluefirebrand 2y ago
      > There's no ethical consumption under capitalism I've seen this catchphrase thrown around a lot online, but I've never seen anyone explain how consumption becomes any more ethical under any other system without leading to other systemic problems "Consume less" seems to imply that any consumption is unethical by default. If that's the case, then the only way to consume ethically is by minimizing consumption This seems like a reasonable stance, but it leads to other problems. Who gets to decide how much is enough? If each individual decides for themselves, then we clearly have a problem because some people will never be satisfied. If everyone lets them continue, then they will hoard resources for themselves. This is sort of the situation we're already in However, if we have the group (community, society, country, whatever) decide "how much is enough", then we have to have a group mechanism for making that decision, like a council, or government department Then we need another group mechanism to enforce it, police, courts, etc. "Ethical consumption" becomes very authoritarian very quickly If the idea is "We could have ethical consumption if people would just consume less" then you don't even have a starting point because "people will never just So feel free to consume less if you think that's more ethical. That's what I try and do, myself. But I know that I cannot simply expect others to do the same, and I also don't really have any interest in policing how much others are allowed to have
      - namaria 2y ago

brendoelfrendo 2y ago

Dumpster diving specifically, maybe not, but thrifting and second-hand clothes definitely were. When thrifting was popular among the early hipsters, American Apparel would send buyers to thrift stores to gut them of all the best deals so they could offer curated collections of second-hand clothes at a steep markup. Companies like Urban Outfitters would send designers to Williamsburg parties to see what people were wearing so that they could start manufacturing knock-offs immediately. The hipster subculture is an odd one, itself a product of poor urban artists wearing and doing what they could afford being co-opted by college-educated urban Millennials trying to reject conventional symbols of elitism and instead crafting more "authentic" snobbery on the back of traditional working-class aesthetics. But if it had any potential to mean anything, it was murdered in the crib by those who cashed in on a demand for an aesthetic and divorced it from its meaning, which is the very thing that the early hipsters were rebelling against.

sitkack 2y ago

I was a pretty avid dumpster diver 15-20 years ago. Lots of yuppies were very interested, I toyed with some performance art in my head about having high end dumpster diving coaching for the affluent dumpster-curious. I did take some new people on cleaner, more mellow excursions, they absolutely loved it. This is what makes capitalism so insidious, it coöpts our very reality. It is an amazingly persistent mind virus.

detourdog 2y ago
I think it might not be capitalism alone that co-opts reality. Social structures of all kinds use words to co-opt reality into a coherent story.

MacsHeadroom 2y ago

I just tested an app that let's you pay $3.99 to get a bag of food about to go in the dumpster: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/ https://www.toogoodtogo.com/

detourdog 2y ago
I guess I was wrong. What a world .
bradstewart 2y ago
Is this really the same thing though? My family uses that app pretty regularly, and for us at least, it stops us from going out to restaurant or something instead. It's not replacing dumpster-diving, nor would I consider myself to be part of dumpster-diving subculture. I don't talk about it to my friends. It's just cheap food.
4k93n2 2y ago
they should set fake dumpsters around the place (refrigerated obviously) where people can go and pick up this food while also getting the authentic dumpster diving experience