picker
n.— «The city has seen a rash of “pickers” going through curbside recycling bins and removing aluminum cans, Devaney said.» —“City trash ‘pickers’ are spilling the bins” by Bernard Harris Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania) Nov. 24, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1916, a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania printed a fanciful item about a local gathering with a guest list that included, among others, Miss Ella Vader, Mr. Ray Zor, and other punny names. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
The first person on your street to put out the trash and recycling? That’s your street’s binfluencer, a combination of bin and influencer. In the UK, this term is sometimes used to denote someone who encourages recycling and waste reduction. In the...
“Picker” is not new. At least in the antique trade, a picker is someone who goes through what might look like junk in order to find an item of value that he can peddle to a dealer. It has a slightly derogatory feel, because a picker is not over careful about who the ‘junk’ belongs too. My mother used this term in the 1940’s.
As it says right above the submit button, words don’t have to be new to be recorded here.
I recorded this use of “picker” because it seemed specific to can-collectors.