Junkpunk (also known as Salvagepunk or Scavenged Punk ) is a stylized setting that focuses on technology and culture based on an unusual source: scavenged junk. Weapons, tools, clothing, and sometimes entire cities will be built out of repurposed/recycled materials. A key factor here is that said materials, often pieces of trash, are being used for something other than their original purpose (as opposed to simply being repaired and reused).

In speculative fiction, this often takes place in the remnant of society after an apocalypse . However, it can also be used to describe the reperpopusing rubbish in the contemporary era. This could include the DIY culture of Cuba discussed by Ernesto Oroza where people repurposed household electronic goods into new products due to the trade embargos on the country . The commonplace refurbishing of western e-waste in developing countries where they are resold and used again .

In music critique, the term has been used to describe the repurposing and reforming of cultural detritus. Mark Fisher described Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Nobodies here” as junkpunk due to its sampling of Chris de Burgh’s “Lady in Red”. Summarising Evan Calder Williams' Fisher says:

Junkpunk could be thought of as differentiated from less optimistic post-apocalyptic aesthetics as it draws heavily on rebuilding as a motif, these are the terms used by xenogothic to discuss it in “The Philosophy of Junkpunk” .

Colors in junkpunk consist mostly of neutral colors like bronze, brown, tan, and black, but also stretch to yellows, greens, and reds.

Post apocalyptic imagery is the staple of junkpunk. Rusted, old objects, broken machines, and vandalized decrepit buildings are some of the most present. Multi-purpose items, scrap metal, and other pieces of trash also create the reused nature of the aesthetic.

Barricades are another junkpunk motif, as are collage and photomontage similar to the kinds found in the Dada and Surrealist artistic movements.

Combines many different genres, but takes elements steampunk, goth, and grunge most. These elements may include:

Just like its fashion, junkpunk music elapses many genres, such as rock, heavy metal, alternative rock. Hip-hop, with its culture of sampling (as well as early DJ culture for the same reason), and derivatives of anarcho-punk, such as post-punk and post-rock, are especially junkpunk.