Adventures in Dumpster Diving

Last night, I joined a NYC-based freegan organization in dumpster diving--essentially, we went foraging through the trash bags of local grocery stores, trying to find usable goods. Some people from the French media were there and video taped us as we foraged. They filmed me as I pulled out an unopened jar of fruit preserves from the garbage.

I brought home about 40 bananas, a few cups of yogurt, cream cheese, a dozen eggs (unfortunately, I lost half on the way home) a loaf of bread, the aforementioned jar of fruit preserves and a box of Mallomars. I would have brought home more, but my bags weren't big enough. Plus it was freezing--definitely need to invest in a pair of gloves.

It was one of those weird experiences where I was both excited that there were TONS of perfectly good food items on the street, and horrified that such waste is actually taking place in our society. I spoke to many people there who don't really buy groceries anymore, as there are trash bags filled with food that one can collect from just about every night. I was a little concerned about whether or not this was healthy, but I talked to some people who told me that they'd been doing this for over a decade and had yet to become sick. Obviously, there are some things you probably want to stay away from, such as raw meat and sushi. But even if you come across a pre-roasted chicken, it's probably fine...you could have easily bought it in the store two hours ago, before they tossed it.

The best part of it was that nobody was "looking out for themselves," trying to nab the best things. In fact, it was the exact opposite. We all couldn't wait to share our finds with other people...even people just walking past us on the street: "Hey, you want this bag of chips? It's totally fine!"

The lesson here, for me, is that there is truly enough to go around...