Dumpster Diving

I'd never truly understood the term until our longtime neighbor passed away, quite unexpectedly and very young (from our point of view), a couple of weeks ago. Her grown children, who live a time zone away, have the sad duty of cleaning 35 years of life out of the house they now need to get rid of. They did the sensible thing and rented a dumpster. In the past few days we've seen no fewer than four different couples--dumpster divers--standing inside the contraption, picking over furniture, clothing, books, knickknacks, and what have you. I suppose they fulfill an economic function since they are presumably paying the survivors for what they take. Even if they're not, they lighten the load so that it's cheaper to dispose of the remainder. Reduce, reuse, recycle.