'Freegan' activists reject consumer waste by digging through trash for food

[Professur]

NEW YORK (AP) - Dinner shared by a group of friends at a well-appointed Greenwich Village apartment featured eggplant Parmesan with a salad of mixed greens and avocado dressing.

The guests already had snacked on hors d'oeuvres of smoked mozzarella and crackers. Not bad considering the diners find their food by digging through garbage. They call themselves "freegans," a play on the words "vegan"-vegetarians who avoid all animal products, including dairy - and "free." In an ideological rejection of consumer waste, they only eat food that's been discarded. And in New York City, at least, they never go hungry.

"We find more food than we could ever possibly eat," said Adam Weissman. Just 24 hours before the dinner party, he found a hefty stash outside a gourmet supermarket in Manhattan: bags of salad nearing the sell-by date, dozens of sandwiches, boxes of Ritz crackers, some nice looking squash and loaves of still-crisp baguettes.

Although not all freegans are vegan, they all eat for free. Weissman said that with few exceptions he has not eaten store-bought food, either at home, in a restaurant or as guest of a friend, in more than 10 years.

Weissman and others say they have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving, which Weissman called "basically a celebration of excess."

Madeline Nelson, the host of the freegan dinner party who says she recently left a job in corporate communications at a Fortune 500 company, says she's concerned about holiday over-consumption.

"We are heading into wasting season," said Nelson, who's serving a semi-freegan Thanksgiving dinner to her family, including her 83-year-old father.

A study suggests that freegans may have a point.

Timothy Jones, an anthropology professor at the University of Arizona, conducted a 10-year study that concluded the country wastes 40 per cent to 50 per cent of its food.

A 1997 U.S. Department of Agriculture study put the loss at 27 per cent of total U.S. food production, or 43 billion kilograms of food.

"The number one problem is that Americans have lost touch with what food is for," Jones said.

"We have lost touch with the processes that bring it to the table and we don't notice the inefficiency."

Some freegans hope to call attention to food waste by publicizing their unusual lifestyles. Weissman runs a website for the freegan community, offering practical tips, like which city's trash bins yield the best treats in places from Vancouver to Cincinnati.

For instance, the Giant Gourmet Farmers' Market in Hackensack, N.J., is a "gold mine," according to the site. But get there early to avoid sifting through discarded fish.

While these images may churn a few stomachs, some doctors condone the practice. Dr. Michael Greger, director of public health and animal agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States, has posted food safety tips on Weissman's website.

He says that unopened packaged foods can normally be safely eaten for days after sell-by dates have passed. But he warns freegans to stay away from meat and seafood, eggs, dairy, sprouts, cut melon, and unpasteurized cider or juice, which can be susceptible to bacteria.

Mould can be trimmed from "hard or firm foods," he says, but even the brave should stay away from bulging or oozing cans.

"People have this image of looking into a dumpster," an industrial garbage bin, "and seeing slimy garbage, but that's just not the case," he said.

"At the same time, food poisoning is no joke, so you have to be careful."

Source

 

[Gonz]

Time to begin spitting in the trash?

 

[MrBishop]

Timothy Jones, an anthropology professor at the University of Arizona, conducted a 10-year study that concluded the country wastes 40 per cent to 50 per cent of its food.

A 1997 U.S. Department of Agriculture study put the loss at 27 per cent of total U.S. food production, or 43 billion kilograms of food.

...and yet people still go hungry.

 

[Gato_Solo]

Timothy Jones, an anthropology professor at the University of Arizona, conducted a 10-year study that concluded the country wastes 40 per cent to 50 per cent of its food.

A 1997 U.S. Department of Agriculture study put the loss at 27 per cent of total U.S. food production, or 43 billion kilograms of food.

...and yet people still go hungry.

Because if these places give away what they discard, they open themselves up to lawsuits. The lawyers in this country have made it extremely hard to be generous with anything except cash...

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

there's a place in baltimore where these punk activist kids do that, it's called the Food Not Bombs House. doing a google search, it seems that there are ones in other cities too.
the one in denver got raided by police on a noise complaint, who used excessive force, "striking house guests with black jacks and fists, using excessive compliance holds, and pulling guns on guests who were attempting to comply with the initial officer's order to disperse. In addition, the residents of the home were threatened with eviction if they filed a complaint against the officers involved." lots of pages are saying that.
source http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/08/269627.shtml

i also support dumpster diving. more info: http://members.aol.com/TheDumpsterLady/thedumpsterlady.htm


by the way, krispy kreme throws away a disgusting number of donuts. lots of other food places throw away a lot of food too. and like bish said, people are still starving.
the answer is clear.

 

[Gonz]

...and yet people still go hungry.

the answer is clear.

Get a haircut & get a job.

 

[Professur]

Am I the only one drawing a line between Freegan dumpster divers and friggin' dumpster divers?

 

[Gato_Solo]

there's a place in baltimore where these punk activist kids do that, it's called the Food Not Bombs House. doing a google search, it seems that there are ones in other cities too.
the one in denver got raided by police, who used excessive force, "striking house guests with black jacks and fists, using excessive compliance holds, and pulling guns on guests who were attempting to comply with the initial officer's order to disperse. In addition, the residents of the home were threatened with eviction if they filed a complaint against the officers involved." lots of pages are saying that.
source http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/08/269627.shtml

I notice that that is not a standard new site. Biased, perhaps?

i also support dumpster diving. more info: http://members.aol.com/TheDumpsterLady/thedumpsterlady.htm

Believe it, or not, garbage belongs to the person who fills the can until the truck comes to take it away. If you go through someones without permission, you could be arrested for theft...

by the way, krispy kreme throws away a disgusting number of donuts. lots of other food places throw away a lot of food too. and like bish said, people are still starving.
the answer is clear.

Since I can't even look at a donut without gaining 2 pounds, I couldn't care less... Depends upon ones point of view. Look for this type of activity to be vigorously prosecuted in the near future, now that it has been exposed...

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

Get a haircut & get a job.

i'm glad you think everyone is the same, and therefore the same solution works for everyone

 

[Gonz]

Work or go hungry & die.

Evolutin in action. If you can't kill the bear you die. If you can't catch the bear, you die. Work ethic comes from being hungry.

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

I notice that that is not a standard new site. Biased, perhaps?

perhaps. ack, i just realised that i forgot to copy/paste the part about the noise complaint. good thing it's in the source article. unintentional error on my part. but the source i used was far less biased than other sources, which claimed basically that the cops beat the shit out of these kids for no good reason.

Believe it, or not, garbage belongs to the person who fills the can until the truck comes to take it away. If you go through someones without permission, you could be arrested for theft...

only if they catch you, or you keep diving in the same spot despite having been asked not to. .
and really, they're more concerned about people dumping in their dumpsters, than diving in them.

Since I can't even look at a donut without gaining 2 pounds, I couldn't care less... Depends upon ones point of view. Look for this type of activity to be vigorously prosecuted in the near future, now that it has been exposed...

the point was that it's food, whether it's good healthy food or not, it is sustenence of some type.
already, companies are locking up their dumpsters. so you go to the unlocked one down the road, lol.

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

Work or go hungry & die.

Evolutin in action. If you can't kill the bear you die. If you can't catch the bear, you die. Work ethic comes from being hungry.

i wish it were so simple. there are people who work 3 jobs and still can't afford food. not everything is black and white.

 

[Gonz]

Priorities. It is that simple.

 

[Professur]

Actually, Ash, his point is that those dumpsters are private property. They are situated on private property. And there's a contract with an expectation of privacy between the waste management company and the vendor. The moment someone touches something within a dumpster, they've gone beyond the public access domain (the same as going into the kitchen of a restaurant, or the stock room of a store.) And that's an arrestable offence. Caught or not, it's a criminal act.

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

ok, well, for me to prioritize, i'd say, the payment for my housing, including utilities and anything else that entails, and then the payment for my vehicle, and all that entails. because having the roof over my head is more important. i'll buy a 10 cent ramen package if i have to. that roof comes first. the the car, because since i have a job, i need to go to work, and without the car, getting to work is a lot harder, and therefore getting the paychecks is harder.
after that... food.
but oh crap! the fact that housing in my area is 4x the national average, and the cost of maintenancing my pos car, seems to have taken most of my money. i guess i can't pay my insurance. shit, i really need that insurance. i thought getting this second job would help, but it doesnt, because i have that debt from that time i went to the hospital, and the calls have become threatening. i thought that cutting my hair and getting a job would be the answer!
good thing there's that american pipe dream, otherwise id' have nothing to chase!

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

Actually, Ash, his point is that those dumpsters are private property. They are situated on private property. And there's a contract with an expectation of privacy between the waste management company and the vendor. The moment someone touches something within a dumpster, they've gone beyond the public access domain (the same as going into the kitchen of a restaurant, or the stock room of a store.) And that's an arrestable offence. Caught or not, it's a criminal act.

in some places, it seems in a lot of places, it's not illegal. in howard county, aka - where i live, it's public property and they only care if you make a disruptive ammount of noise or do it at times of the day where you may be a nuisance.
if the dumpster is on private property, then you're trespassing. the dumpster doesnt matter.

 

[Gato_Solo]

ok, well, for me to prioritize, i'd say, the payment for my housing, including utilities and anything else that entails, and then the payment for my vehicle, and all that entails. because having the roof over my head is more important. i'll buy a 10 cent ramen package if i have to. that roof comes first. the the car, because since i have a job, i need to go to work, and without the car, getting to work is a lot harder, and therefore getting the paychecks is harder.
after that... food.

Buy a cheaper, more fuel efficient car. They do exist...even if you don't like the styling. Live in a cheaper area, even if you don't like the neighborhood. Not a dangerous area, BTW...just a cheaper one.

but oh crap! the fact that housing in my area is 4x the national average, and the cost of maintenancing my pos car, seems to have taken most of my money. i guess i can't pay my insurance. shit, i really need that insurance. i thought getting this second job would help, but it doesnt, because i have that debt from that time i went to the hospital, and the calls have become threatening. i thought that cutting my hair and getting a job would be the answer!
good thing there's that american pipe dream, otherwise id' have nothing to chase!

BTW...since you're being sarcastic... Dressing conservatively and losing the multiple tattoos and piercings will get you a job much faster than your peers who don't.

 

[Professur]

in some places, it seems in a lot of places, it's not illegal. in howard county, aka - where i live, it's public property and they only care if you make a disruptive ammount of noise or do it at times of the day where you may be a nuisance.
if the dumpster is on private property, then you're trespassing. the dumpster doesnt matter.

You missed my point, Ash. ALL DUMPSTERS are private. A dumpster in a public parking lot of a restaurant is the same as the back office or kitchen. Putting one hand in is the same as putting your hand in the back door of the building. It might not be enforced, but it's always tresspassing.

 

[Gato_Solo]

in some places, it seems in a lot of places, it's not illegal. in howard county, aka - where i live, it's public property and they only care if you make a disruptive ammount of noise or do it at times of the day where you may be a nuisance.
if the dumpster is on private property, then you're trespassing. the dumpster doesnt matter.

ash...The dumpster and everything in it are considered private property until the city, or trash company, stops to empty it into their truck. Then, and only then does it become public. Dumpster diving in and of itself may not be illegal, but theft is...even if you're only stealing someone elses 'garbage'.

One more thing...Identity theft most often occurs through searching trash bins and dumpsters.

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

One more thing...Identity theft most often occurs through searching trash bins and dumpsters.

and that's what gets you fucked. that's called infodiving, and that can at times be a felony.