Although Garbodor primarily feed on toxic chemicals, and are typically used to absorb factory emissions and clean up hazardous waste dumps, these pokemon are capable of feeding on most types of garbage, and are therefore often used by protesters to demonstrate that certain items are in fact trash. Garbodor are often fed items ranging from the texts of rival religions and political ideologies to copies of violent video games as a show of contempt, typically in well-advertised public ceremonies, although the actual attendance of this ceremony varies dramatically based on the unpopularity of the items being fed to this pokemon.
The size of the crowd, however, has far more to do with whether the items in question are truly trash than the appetites of the Garbodor do, for it is human society which separates garbage from useful items. Garbodor care not about the contents of their food, but their chemical composition, and will devour discarded books or toys regardless of the messages contained within; they require only that their owners have no more use for them before they feast.
There are two occasions where a Garbodor will refuse food. The first is when the metal content of the food is too high, for these poison pokemon struggle mightily with steel and other metals. The second is when an item has been thrown away by accident or malice, for these pokemon possess the mysterious ability to read the feelings of the object's rightful owner. In these instances, not only will Garbodor refuse to devour the items, whether fed directly or from a garbage can, but they will waddle for as long as it takes to carry the discarded "garbage" back to its owner. Sadly, many people refuse to take these items back, for they consider them contaminated by a Garbodor's touch.