A student was shocked and devastated to find perfectly good books tossed into their school's dumpster.
In the Reddit r/DumpsterDiving forum, the OP shared an image of boxes filled with stacks of paperbacks and children's books that looked gently used. Some of the books were classic literary works, such as The Wizard of Oz and Great Expectations.


Redditors were also disappointed to see the books thrown into the trash but offered ways the OP could donate or reuse the books.
"That's insane," responded one user. "All they would have to do is tell the teachers and the teachers would come out and take that stuff out of their classrooms instead of spending their own money buying this stuff."
Unfortunately, dumpsters are filled with usable items, sometimes even brand-new, unopened products, thrown out by companies and large organizations. As this OP has shown, dumpster diving is a great way to rescue those items, scoring perfectly good products for free.
Dumpster diving is legal in all 50 states; however, it's still important to check your local trespassing laws before searching through any dumpster. Also, consider wearing protective gloves as you go through the dumpster in case there are sharp objects you can't see.
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When it comes to books, there's always a place that will take in secondhand donations; you just have to take the time to reach out to organizations. If you see books being discarded, consider donating them to your town's free library stand if you have one. This keeps them out of already crowded landfills that contribute to the overheating of our planet.
Redditors continued to discuss the problem of waste throughout the country.
"I don't know about school libraries in IL, but university libraries are required by law to throw away their discards, unfortunately," wrote one user. "It's disgusting."
"It angers me to no end when I see books being thrown away," added another Redditor.
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