I think they should just make "junk" useful. Make it so that "junk" seems like it has no value to player, but there are ways they can use them. Food can be eaten or maybe given to people to get them to talk to/do stuff for you. Random other things can be used as substitutes for crafting or potions. Or maybe just quests where people are collecting certain types of junk. Or turning junk into crafting materials (e.g., melting down metals).
There's a lot they can do.