You know the saying: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Carter Stevens, a 31-year-old Nashville resident, has taken it literally, pulling about $140,000 in sales out of dumpsters in just 12 months.
Working near office parks and luxury condos, Stevens salvages discarded items, cleans them up and sells them on eBay and Facebook Marketplace, according to CNBC. His hauls include Persian rugs, iPads, West Elm furniture and even samurai swords. His biggest score was 190 Steelcase office chairs dumped next to an overflowing bin, which he sold for a combined $27,600.
Stevens launched his dumpster diving business in March 2024, when he was about $12,000 in debt after years of addiction and reckless spending that briefly left him living in his car. “The amount of waste in this country that you’ll find is unbelievable,” he tells the outlet.
He admits most of his income came from a handful of big hauls and that it may not happen again. So he’s saving as much as he can and studying real estate wholesaling as a steadier backup plan.
You know the saying: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Carter Stevens, a 31-year-old Nashville resident, has taken it literally, pulling about $140,000 in sales out of dumpsters in just 12 months.
Working near office parks and luxury condos, Stevens salvages discarded items, cleans them up and sells them on eBay and Facebook Marketplace, according to CNBC. His hauls include Persian rugs, iPads, West Elm furniture and even samurai swords. His biggest score was 190 Steelcase office chairs dumped next to an overflowing bin, which he sold for a combined $27,600.
Stevens launched his dumpster diving business in March 2024, when he was about $12,000 in debt after years of addiction and reckless spending that briefly left him living in his car. “The amount of waste in this country that you’ll find is unbelievable,” he tells the outlet.
He admits most of his income came from a handful of big hauls and that it may not happen again. So he’s saving as much as he can and studying real estate wholesaling as a steadier backup plan.