Dumpster Divas — How Bargain Shoppers Are Turning Trash Into Treasure
By: Lottie Smalley
Beauty gurus and dumpster divers may appear like polar opposites, but a surprising number of makeup lovers are scouring through the depths of Ulta Beauty garbage bins around the nation.
These cosmetic treasure hunts are anything but glamorous. Those on the hunt typically gear up with flashlights, gloves and sweatpants. They literally climb into the dumpster in the middle of the night and sort through boxes and trash bags for hours to search for any useable products. There’s nothing quite like a 100 percent discount.
Ulta, a national chain of beauty stores that carries everything from cosmetics to hair products, fragrances and skincare, has become a garbage-grabbing hotspot. Numerous accounts report young women diving in Ulta garbage bins in Dallas, Arlington and other metro areas.
Julie Anitra Deberry is an Arch Expert at the Benefit Brow Bar in Chattanooga’s Ulta Beauty. Deberry says, “when they were taking the trash one day, there were two younger girls, very pretty girls, with hoodies on, just inside the dumpster, doing their thing.”
Just as grocery stores toss out milk, eggs and cheese, beauty stores must throw away their unsold products too. Over the last several years, there’s been an emerging shift in the composition of makeup. More and more companies are transitioning to organic and natural products. As a result, these products have a more limited shelf life. Celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg identifies mascara as one product that needs to be replaced in as little as three months.
A variety of other beauty products expire on average within six to 18 months. When asked about company protocol for disposing products, Ulta claims, "We properly dispose of our products per manufacturer requests."
Meredith Marciewicz, an Ulta employee at the Chattanooga location, works primarily with the truck and stock. Marciewicz explains that “every week we take all of the damages that we get from our returns, and we take them to the back in big bins. A manager has to audit the bins every week. When she is certain that it actually is damaged, we destroy it.”
According to Deberry, “All Ultas are supposed to damage it all out, break it, pour it out, squeeze it out, whatever it takes.” What keeps divers busy is, as Deberry declares, the fact that “some
Ulta stores don’t always follow the policy, and they do find full size products that haven’t been touched, but not ours.”
The Supreme Court decided in California vs. Greenwood in 1988 that dumpster diving is legal. The Court declared that trash on public streets “readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public” had no assumption of privacy.
While it may technically be legal to rummage through the rubbish, is it safe? It’s not without risk.
First, many would describe it as, simply, gross. Divers never know what kind of smelly, curdled filth they’ll find. Next, they never know what animals may have been attracted to the foul aromas aforementioned. Rats and snakes are possible surprise finds, or as one “live dive” video shows, even a raccoon has been dumpster diving.
People who are willing to dumpster dive, according to Deberry, “don’t mind to get nasty.”
Additionally, many makeup compacts include a mirror. This trend can lead to broken glass or other dangerous shards mixed in the bin. There’s also the concern that local law enforcement will interrupt dives with a littering or trespassing ticket. Is the risk worth the reward?
For many types of people the answer is yes. Marciewicz reports that, “One time a lady came in and asked if she could have our damages to resell because she was a struggling mother of five.” The Ulta staff said they wouldn’t allow it, but they found her outside in the dumpster later that day. According to Marciewicz, after this experience the store put a lock on the dumpster.
Marciewicz says, “most of the time it’s because they just want money. They do try to resell the product. They also just want the product and don’t want to pay for it, and they don’t technically want to steal.” Some “live dive” vloggers on YouTube claim to have found up to $7,500 worth of product.
Shelbi, an eco-friendly vlogger known as Shelbizzleee on YouTube, is an experienced diver. She says, “the best time to go is on Sunday, specifically Sunday evenings.” This is because all Ulta stores close at 6 p.m. on Sundays instead of the typical 9 p.m. on other days. In this way, divers don’t have to be out as late waiting on staff to leave after store closings.
“Just make sure they’re gone before you go. You don’t want them to come out and catch you in the act. If they don’t know, they’re less likely to destroy the items, and you’ll be able to get a lot more quality makeup items” from the dive according to Shelbi.
Marciewicz explains, “Ulta staff will go in with scissors, pens, knives, anything. Tear everything apart and make sure that it’s unusable. It’s just powder or liquid in the bottom of the bag. Just because we don’t want y’all to get weird infections or something if somebody else has used it.”
“They think,” Marciewicz says, “because some Ulta stores don’t entirely crush up everything like they should, that if they just go in there they’ll find full products.” Despite the risks, a number of brave or foolish folks will continue to dumpster dive for beauty.
