One person's trash is another person's treasure... with a little bit of work to get it out of their dumpster sometimes.

If you've ever been to an outdoor strip mall, you know all the green dumpsters are pure gold mines for hustlers looking to upcycle, resell, or redecorate their own homes.  When businesses have merchandise go out of season or can't resell an item that was returned damaged, most of the time they throw out the items.

Where at, though?  The dumpster in the back of the building.

They're basically just asking for people to take their "trash", right?

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I'll be honest, I've jumped into a big, green dumpster at GameStop one too many times to get cardboard cutouts and posters to resell online.  Let me tell ya, I made a pretty penny off just those items alone.

I know good and well you've been tempted, at least once in your life, to dumpster dive after seeing a business throw out merchandise that has little to no damage.

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You can make a lot of money, but at some point you question whether or not you could potentially get fined or arrested for doing it at certain establishments.

Is dumpster diving legal in Illinois?  

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The answer is yes and no.

"In Illinois, dumpster diving is completely legal." - moneyworths

You can legally dive into public dumpsters, but if you do it on private property in certain cities in Illinois you could 100% get fined for trespassing.  So to all you hustlers out there, happy scavenging!

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