Laws
From Trashwiki
In most countries there are no laws against recycling trash. Some countries or states like Germany or certain US states do have regulations.
Some dumpster divers have been known to be fined or even imprisoned for a short time (for instance, this case in Germany, or Ollie's case in Belgium...), although generally it is not a very common thing to happen. If you act according to diver's etiquette, you reduce your chances of legal implications.
In England in the United_Kingdom, the police may use Section 1 of PACE (the Police and Criminal Evidence Act) to stop and search people who they have "reasonable grounds" to believe may be carrying, among other things, stolen goods or equipment to break and enter. In practice, this means that if you are carrying a bag at night and look "suspicious", the police can stop you and harass you for a while. They have the power to compel you to remain, to take your name and address and to search your bags and clothes. They may also ask you to account for your behaviour. One skipper chose not to cooperate and had a very difficult time of it until admitting under threat of arrest that the goods were skipped; the police took their information and let them leave without charge. In any future Section 1 PACE S&S, they'd choose to reveal immediately that the goods are skipped and hope to avoid giving their details; YMMV.
As of January 2009, activists in Reno (Nevada, US) are running a campaign to "keep laws regarding dumpster diving in Reno off the books".
This article is a stub. If you have any information for this article, you can help by expanding it.
