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For uses of this term in reference to espionage or identity theft, see Dumpster diving

Garbology is the study of refuse and trash. It is an academic discipline and has a major outpost at the University of Arizona long directed by William Rathje. The project started in 1971, originating from an idea of two students for a class project. It is a major source of information on the nature and changing patterns in modern refuse. Industries wishing to demonstrate that discards originating with their products are (or are not) important in the trash stream are avid followers of this research, as are municipalities wishing to learn whether some parts of the trash they collect has any salable value. Image File history File links Information_icon. ... Dumpster diving is the practice of rummaging through trash, whether commercial or residential, to find items of use that have been discarded. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Waste Waste inside a wheelie bin Waste, rubbish, trash, garbage, or junk is unwanted or undesired material. ... The University of Arizona (UA or U of A) is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. ... William Rathje (born 1 July 1954) is an archaeologist and Professor at Stanford University. ...

The studies of garbology and archaeology often overlap, because fossilized or otherwise time-modified trash is quite often the only remnant of ancient populations that can be found. For those who left no buildings, no writing, no tombs, no trade goods, and no pottery, refuse and trash are likely to be the only possible sources of information. In addition, ancient garbage sometimes contains information available in no other way, such as food remains, pollen traces (of then local plants), and broken tools. Archaeology, archeology, or archology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... For other uses, see Building (disambiguation). ... A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... A tomb is a small building (or vault) for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. ... A fruit stand at a market. ... Unfired green ware pottery on a traditional drying rack at Conner Prairie living history museum. ... SEM image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), hollyhock (Sidalcea malviflora), lily (Lilium auratum), primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis). ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta - rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta - zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta - trimerophytes Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta...

In addition, Rathje's research uncovered some misconceptions about landfills. In particular, it was revealed that the rate of natural biodegradation is far slower than had been assumed (eg, in capacity planning). A landfill compaction vehicle in operation A landfill, also known as a dump (US) or a tip (UK), is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment. ... Biodegradation is the decomposition of organic material by microorganisms. ...

Garbology has been a recognized act of corporate espionage for many years now. The use of garbology in this connection not only includes physical sorting of papers form the rubbish bin but analysis of files found in the computers recycle bin. Many users of modern computers tend to be careless with their passwords, so they are written down on pieces of paper and often stored somewhere near the user's workstation. Passwords recovered from such caches give an attacker has full access to the user's files, and may lead to other passwords, including access control to other accounts or cryptosystem passwords. Analysis of a user's discarded files (on disk or on paper) can contain not only information about passwords but information about the user. Increased knowledge about a user increases an attacker's chances of guessing passwords (eg, those based on pets, sports teams, relationships, etc).

Another type of garbology is the analysis of temp files. Temp files are created on a computer's hard drive by many applications, and in some cases by the operating system, and is usually used as a form of safety backup. Sometimes, temp files are not deleted. Some encryption software does not effectively destroy plaintext files after encryption, leaving them as temp files.

Garbology, in the sense above, is an often successful way of discovering user passwords and personal details; it can be sometimes be used even when the physical computer (and hard drives) are not physically available. In cases in which an attacker has only remote or partial physical access to a computer, the degree of difficuty is increased to an large amount.

The term 'garbology' is also used as an amusing term for the 'science' of waste management, with refuse workers called 'garbologists'. Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal of waste materials, usually ones produced by human activity, in an effort to reduce their effect on human health or local aesthetics or amenity. ...