Comments on: “Freegans,” Dumpster Diving, and the Limits of Frugality

By: de Ruiter

de Ruiter — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:52:09 +0000

Sandy #38 “you don’t know if there’s been fecal matter, vomit, blood, etc. thrown in there.” The woman got the infections while being treated IN a hospital. Medical waste must be disposed of by a special medical waste procedure or contractor, think the red Shaps boxes in your doctor’s offices. Do I dumpster dive? Nope, too old and stiff. Do I pick treasures off the top of the dumpster pile or walk in if the back is open? YES! One day while picking empty apple boxes for packing, I found three boxes half full of huge, bright red apples, each with one spot, speck or dent. Took them home for the horses. Then realized this was an even better resource, made and canned apple sauce, baked apple pies, and strudel, ate raw apples by cutting out the damaged bits and gave the horses the peels and cores. Plus I had the boxes for my project. “Waste not, want not.” And if you want to get some really nasty infections, go as a sick person, or for an operation, to a hospital! Actually, if you can arrange to go to a surgi center for an outpatient operation, you are less likely to get an infection as they don’t have all those diseased sick people hanging around which a hospital does.

By: Jaspenelle

Jaspenelle — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:13:34 +0000

Most of my furniture comes from dumpsters and looks quite nice (as I am relatively skilled with repair work and painting.)

When I worked at Walmart we had to defect food we weren’t able to sell (throw it out in a special way.) 90% of it was perfectly fine. If it was something I would eat (whole foods) I would take it (my manager knew.) I worked at a bakery once as well and rather then throwing out all the baked goods at the end of the day, each employee (there were 6 of us) could take home a box of goods every night if we liked (you get sick of Bostom Cremes very fast this way.) Whatever was left was picked up by a local guy who fed it to his goats I think.

Isn’t this the same was pulling a sealed container out of a dumpster? To me it is, and I would do it… if I could reach. (I’m short, I’d probably fall in and be lost forever!)

By: Teri Pittman

Teri Pittman — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:00:02 +0000

My husband regularly gets stuff from the local grocery store. They box up a certain amount of bad produce but he will dumpster dive if they have more food there. We eat the good stuff. The bad stuff goes to the chickens and goats, who are thrilled with things like bad green beans and tomatoes. Some of the produce is fine but I can see that they wouldn’t be able to get anyone to pay money for it. It has been a huge help for us this winter as we’ve been on a very limited food budget. In return, we shop that grocery store when we can.

By: Nadia

Nadia — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:29:55 +0000

Does anyone know where Drake’s Cakes are sold in the Atlanta area? Or how to find out? A friend of mine loves these and I would like to get them for her soon. Thanks.

By: KLevy

KLevy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:55:41 +0000

Compact fluorescents, while a cost savings to the end user, are not more environmentaly friendly than incandescent bulbs. Here’s why: Regular bulbs are made in the US. CFLs are made in China. Fuel is used to ship them that negates the energy savings at the user end. Also, CFLs have more dangerous insides, and release mercury when broken. They are a zero-sum-gain, except for the end user-who saves money. Environmentally- they are a wash. That they are good for the environmentis a common misconception.

By: reulte

reulte — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:54:32 +0000

oh, and I like your blog too.

By: reulte

reulte — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:47:23 +0000

Brent (comments 26 – 53 – 59), I won’t totally concede the point but I can see saving some selected books (or any other item) for family. I have a desk built by my carpenter great-grandfather and a first edition Mark Twain that I keep BECAUSE it was my father’s and has his name and handwritten notes about what he thought when he was a teenager but I don’t read because the book print is too small for me.

But sometimes you want or need the space or the freedom more than the books. Heirlooms do have to start somewhere – but they begin because they are important because of external factors (they remind us; I remember my father re-reading the book in his chair, occasionally laughing and reading aloud some selected paragraph) rather than any intrinsic value (Collected Works of Mark Twain – $2/used book store). I’ve saved the first baby tooth my boy lost — but I am not going to save the second or subsequent teeth. One is enough for my memory. Having too many ‘heirlooms’ become clutter, then trash. Seeing relatives throw everything out because they couldn’t deal with the entire collection somewhat defeats the purpose of having something worth passing down. You pass something on as an heirloom because it was important to you and you believe the person you hand it too will value the same things about it that you value.

I have to say Sacred-texts does great work. That is truly one of my favorite sites.

By: Kaye

Kaye — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 09:54:04 +0000

I was in the US late last year for a business trip. Coming from a developing country, everything about the US amazed me, including the penchant of many to consume too much or throw away still perfectly consumable stuff, like food, just because these items either could not be stored or that the staff would rather avoid the effort of storing consumables.

On Thanksgiving, I dropped by a nearby pastries shop–the only one still open at noon–for coffee and a donut. As I was paying for my order, the person at the register asked if I wanted a muffin. I hesitated since I wasn’t planning to buy one, and my coffee-and-donut combo was enough. He still insisted and mentioned it was for free. When he said “free”, I said ok, thinking I wouldn’t lose anything for taking the offer.

Truth be told, the food attendant stuffed a huge paper bag with four large muffins and three large donuts–enough to feed more than half a dozen people. I was happy with the loot, but it made me remember, too, that halfway around the world, there were people dying of hunger at that very moment that a pastry store offered me the food stuff that they could not store away. Something was just not right. Still, I was thankful for the freebies, of course.

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:57:23 +0000

I’m not above getting things from next to a dumpster but I don’t think I would actually dig around in one. I’ve scored a toaster, a toaster oven, and a few pieces of furniture that way. (The appliances had *just* been set out in the past day and, as it turned out, they both worked.)

I’m iffy about taking food out of a dumpster for another reason. We have lots of homeless people in this neighborhood. Now, I don’t think homeless people should be relegated to picking food out of the trash but unfortunately, sometimes that is their reality. And if I take that bag of Tastycakes out of the trash, that could have fed someone who was really hungry.

By: jaylin

jaylin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:58:25 +0000

Check out this Washington DC article about gleaning at the Georgetown University dumpsters the day dorms were closing and students had to move out.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1705

They found new refridgerators, subwoofers, cd-players still in packaging, a bowl of change, toasters, blenders, computers.

We are a wasteful society. PF blogs talk about living beyond your means, but that only implies that you should go out there and buy everything as long as you can afford it. I’m more interested in not even buying things I COULD afford but don’t need. Actually, maybe free-cycling isn’t even about reducing the number of possessions. I really believe that the things you own, end up owning you.

By: Sherry

Sherry — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:46:20 +0000

I remember being 11 or 12 years old spending the night at my grandparents house. This was always exciting because the next morning I knew dumpster diving was in store for us! My grandfather, an educated person, retiree from Nasa, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, dumpster dove. We got mystery cans, dented but with the wrapping removed, perishables, bread, etc. He never actually jumped inside a dumpster, he created a hooked spear by sawing off the handle to a broom and attaching a hook at the end so as to stab any desirable items he found. Now, I know he wasn’t hurting for money, I was too young to know if it was for political reasons but my gut tells me it was simply because people throw away perfectly good items! We are a wasteful culture and those willing can benefit, frugally, from those actions of others.

By: Amy T.

Amy T. — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:23:54 +0000

My freegan friend makes the rounds with Food Not Bombs. They are revolutionaries, pointing out our society’s disrespect for people as other than customers.

It is actually *illegal* to take food from dumpsters, and there are arrests some places, although I have not heard of it happening here. Some stores and restaurants set the good stuff aside, on a table, so that no diving is involved.

Right now, the world grows enough food to feed everyone, if there were a perfect distribution system, and no political situations that prevented it. That will not be true in the near future. Given the way we farm now, the day when the food couldn’t go around is not far off.

By: AnKa

AnKa — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:33:26 +0000

I might have pointed this out on here before but I will repeat myself. In our town, and I know of some other towns that also do this, there is a swap shop at the local dump.
You bring your trash and recycle (we don’t have municipal trash pickup) and you bring your usable but unwanted items to the swap shop. What lands there never ceases to amaze us.
We have gotten for free:
A baby grand piano (mahogany, free for the move), two dehumidifiers that worked, a dining room chandelier that needed minor fixing, fireplace tools, a trike, countless gardening implements and tools, a cordless drill, a microscope, …

Seriously, I could go on. When we get comments on our ‘new’ stuff and we tell people where it came from, we get anything between obvious weirded-out-ness and sheer envy.

I think it would be instructive for Americans to be confronted with the trash they produce in particular compared with the trash that someone in another country might produce. It is so different!
(Even between here and Europe).

IMO if I found cans or other wrapped food that was not expired, I would take it. Unless it is junk food that I wouldn’t want to put in my face anyway (what on earth is a tastycake?????)

By: AlsoSusie

AlsoSusie — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:12:05 +0000

You’d be amazed at the quality of the food you can find dumpster diving. I mean literally amazed.

People imagine half eaten sandwiches or rotting fruit, but most of what you find is packaged, bagged, and boxed. For example, I used to regularly find pre-packed veggie trays…plastic trays filled with veggies, factory wrapped in cellophane, 6 trays to the sealed box. Cleaner from the dumpster than the open-air veg at the grocery!

Ah, the good old days. I miss dumpster diving.

By: luvleftovers

luvleftovers — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:01:29 +0000

My ‘nightstand’ is a really cool little mahogany table from the 1920s that my ex-husband found placed carefully next to the complex’s dumpster. A new tenant just didn’t have room for it and hoped someone would take it. 20 years later, I still have it.

By: Sangrail

Sangrail — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:50:29 +0000

I’m from a poor background,
and ok, I was embarrassed by my Mum dumpster diving as a kid, but not as worried about that as say, having food and toilet paper for the week.
Still, you grow up, you figure – if you can’t beat ‘em, join em (and to hell with people’s middle class attitudes if they think scavenging otherwise wasted goods is the real problem there :P ).

And even though I’m a computer geek, I’m happy to conclude from acidspit’s comments that I must have skipped lower/middle class values on my way up.
It’s not the people who had extreme poverty who have problems with it, it’s the people who like to think they’re a step *above* that, and they’re so insecure with their keep up with the Joneses mentality, that they get bunch of new crap on credit, rather than *anything* used.

The responses some people have against it dumpster diving are a little disturbing…
Waste means it’s being *wasted*. Actually, in many places, once it’s in the garbage – it’s not yours any more. That’s the point, you didn’t want it, now let someone else have it or take it away.
Using it, prevents it being waste. I’m a little weirded out at the assumption that…
Ok, I’m having a little trouble wrapping my head around it, but it seems like it’s – the assumption that not only do you have the right to conspicuously waste stuff (sure, whatever), no one ELSE no one is allowed to interfere or rescue your conspicuous waste! How could such a destructive attitude be justified?

All the comments about ‘it should go to a food bank’ – yes it should.
So – are you taking it? No.
Are the businesses taking it? No.
Are the freegans more likely to take it to a foodbank than anyone else, or at least stop it being completely wasted? Hell *yes*.

I’ve only dumpster dived for furniture and clothing, but damn. Maybe I should be doing my bit and trying to ‘freegan’ food too, if only to make my little dent in societal waste, and probably have a better impact on what ends up at the dump than my current recycling.

I didn’t really think the ‘Three R’s’ from when I was a kid were a political statement, but obviously they are:
Reuse – Reduce – Recycle

By: Sangrail

Sangrail — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:47:44 +0000

I’m from a poor background,
and ok, I was embarrassed by my Mum dumpster diving as a kid, but not as worried about that as say, having food and toilet paper for the week.
Still, you grow up, you figure – if you can’t beat ‘em, join em (and fuck people’s middle class attitudes if they think scavenging otherwise wasted goods is the real problem there :P ).

And even though I’m a computer geek, I’m happy to conclude from acidspit’s comments that I must have skipped lower/middle class’ on my way up. And yeah, bullshit. It’s not the people who had extreme poverty who have problems with it, it’s the people who like to think they’re a step *above* that, and they’re so insecure with their keep up with the joneses mentality, that they get bunch of new crap on credit, rather than *anything* used.

And the constant attacks…

I didn’t really think the ‘Three R’s’ from when I was a kid were a political statement, but obviously they are:
Reuse – Reduce – Recycle

By: MB

MB — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:10:32 +0000

When I was in university, I use to live near a florist. Some evenings, especially saturdays (as they were closed on sundays), my roomate, her boyfriend and I would scavenge the dumpster for flowers ! It always had plenty – right on top. We had dried up roses all over the apartment! I even gave a whole bouquet to the secretary at my department (she knew they came from the dumpster and she was very happy).

I haven’t been since, but I plan to have a peek this summer … for food, maybe, it would depend in what condition (but I usualy buy the beat up fruit that’s on sale anyways).

By: acidspit

acidspit — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:20:12 +0000

It’s amazing to me that these dumpster divers have given a new name for dumpster diving. Freeganism? Geez, gimme a break. Call it for what it is: dumpster diving. It bothers me that the freegan crowd, it seems to me, tend to be the well-off and moderately-educated crowd. (and hipsters and free radicals too, I guess). I always believed that there was a huge stigma attached to dumpster diving: as in, I used to only see the homeless do it. But I guess you give it a name like “freeganism” and it’s suddenly the cool thing to do. Dumpster diving is looked down upon by people who have climbed up from poverty, and it seems that people who haven’t experienced extreme poverty have no qualms about doing it, citing political reasons. I guess different backgrounds, different takes…

By: cyd

cyd — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:45:34 +0000

I wont go as far as dumpster diving for food but I see nothing wrong w/ getting still useable and useful stuff from next to dumpsters in apartment complexes. I think it would be a great idea for all apartment and condo complexes to have an informal “Up for Grabs” pile of still useful stuff.That way anyone can donate to the pile and anyone can feel free to take something they can use. Even folks who live on cul-de-sac’s could do it. It’s a great way from everyone to save some $$$ and less waste ends up in the landfills. It’s also great for community building :)