An eagle-eyed salvager scored an incredible haul and shared the results with the r/DumpsterDiving Reddit community. The items they picked up are on a fine line in the community, however.

"I was doing my usual rounds and ran into the situation where a cooler went out and entire cases of refrigerated items were thrown out," the original poster said. "Boxes of shredded, blocks and sliced cheese, cases of eggs, sausages, yogurt, deli meats, Parmesan chunks, a case of shiner, BBQ gloves, italian meats, milk, coffee creamer and other stuff filled my car up completely. I had no space for any other boxes unless I put it in my lap."

One of the golden rules in dumpster diving is to avoid meat and dairy since they're prone to going bad when left to warm up for a lengthy period of time. The diver in question knows this well enough, however, and even tossed out a few items because they didn't cool down fast enough once they were returned to refrigeration.

Dumpster diving is a great way to save a few bucks, but that's just where the benefits start. About 24% of American landfill waste is food.  By preventing food from going to landfill, it's possible to prevent methane emissions from its decomposition. Methane is a gas that traps heat the atmosphere and exacerbates destructive weather patterns such as floods and droughts, which end up hurting agricultural yields and ultimately raising grocery prices.

Several businesses have found the opportunity in recovering food before it goes bad and help streamline access to it without the need for dumpster diving. Too Good To Go, Flashfood, and Misfits Market are just some of the options out there.

The original poster saved so much food that they're working to give away as much of it as possible. They've also been keeping a close eye on the stuff that goes bad, and they compost what they can't use. The Reddit community was impressed with the haul.

The top-voted reply said: "Nice work saving all of that from the landfill!!"

"Have fun bein fed for the next 4 months," another said.

What single change would make the biggest dent in your personal food waste? Not buying food I don't need 🧐 Freezing my food before it goes bad 🧊 Using my leftovers more effectively 🍲 Composting my food scraps 🌱 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.