Dumpster Diving - A freegan dumpster diver's Blog & Guide

06.02.2010: running out of food on a saturday, in a country where the supermarkets don't open on a sunday, what else is there to do but go out dumpster diving and find:

4 large rye breads
3 large breads
1 sandwich loaf
8 ciabattas
4 museli buns
6 apples
1kg organic rice
1kg pasta
9litres milk

so now i'm posed with the question of whether to eat cheese made from milk that we've dumpster dived. i've been doing a good job of not eating dairy for about a year now, for all the right reasons, but few of which rule out dumpster dived produce. i don't think i'd eat cheese or yoghurt that we'd found, but somehow it becomes more removed when we've made it ourselves from dumpstered milk.

i'll think about it.

29.01.2010: we can't deny that we haven't been quiet this last year, but we can remedy that immediately. inspired by this recent photo of takings from one of our old haunts, and enticed outside by the snow storm, we can finally report that we are back in business.

4.5kg potatoes
box of mushrooms
3 cucumbers
1 aubergine
1 cauliflower
7 bananas
1 mango!
11 clementines
pancakes
8 small ciabattas
2 sandwich breads
1 rye bread
some more mixed breads

and incase you've been missing our kitchen table:

but above all, it was fun.

12.11.2009: walking home last night we found ourselves randomly passing through an area well known for its excellent dumpsters. we weren't prepared but we went in anyway:

9 freezer bags of bread (various)
celery
2kg potatoes
rice cakes

so now my non-diving gloves smell, but that's easily fixed. and of course worth it to stock up on bread and potatoes.

30.08.2009: rolling dumpster is probably the best thing i've read since i learnt to read. based on a true story, the references are many, but you don't need to know it to appreciate it.

10.08.2009: still going strong, i've just been complacent and missed a few dives. tonight the young ones hauled home:

125g black berries
4 apples
3 organic giant plums
2 pineapple
5 (very) fairtrade bananas
500g organic grapes
4 peppers
1l organic soya milk
650g new potatoes
2kg organic potatoes
1 cucumber
150g sugar peas
30 assorted buns
5 loaves

and for old times sake:

it'd be a tasty business we're in, if it were a business.

09.07.2009: small but tasty:

2kg onions
huge bowlfull of grapes
2 lettuce
enough bread

the onions are great. a few of them are sprouting but the others are nice and firm.

23.06.2009: on the longest day of the year (or thereabouts) we can't really wait for it to get dark before hitting the dumpsters. and so it's surprising how few and unfunny the looks are we get, the dumpster on the corner of the street and emil completely inside it, complaining something about the apples or the broccoli. i can't remember. but it was a nice trip with no hassle.

6 loaves
4 pizza breads
1 melon
1 pineapple
1 broccoli
400g mushrooms
1.5kg organic red onions
30 oranges
8 apples
3 nectarines
1 lime
3 avocados

and that's one awesome smoothie i'm drinking right now. it's almost pink.

we've also had numerous spritely bakery dives recently. infact, our fridge has constantly been full of free bread since march. that's a result.

28.03.2009: two nights in row. small one-man dives. yields:

650g new potatoes
lettuce
3 loaves
16 buns
8 organic eggs
lettuce
2 breads
organic fresh pasta

there was various meat too but i'm not listing it in principle. i mean, what the fuck is organic salami anyway?

19.03.2009: that promising looking dumpster was looking promising for a reason. it yields.

7 organic aubergine
4 organic brocolli
1 organic small box of radishes
1 green pepper
2 lettuce
1 organic liter milk
more bread than we could count (two large bags full)
enough meat to fill a freezer tray

so we're very happy. and there's so much meat it almost makes me wish i wasn't vegetarian.

no scrap that, that's not even remotely true.

13.03.2009: in the last year our local area has gone from being the best dumpster diving spot in the city to the worst. so last night, desperate for free bread, we went off in search of new stores. again. armed with a couple of flashlights, a lovely evening (i'd say balmy but i'd be lying) and no map. our walk took us way further than we originally intended, who knew islands brygge was all dark alleys and pedestrian unfriendly building sites?

what we found was mostly bitter disappointed, sweetened slightly by one promising dumpster behind an exceptionally large supermarket. we will be checking it out again.

along another road we found a supermarket with their dumpster right out there on the street corner. there's something about the openness of it that makes me completely unabashed. passing cars or pedestrians, whatever, we have nothing to hide. and inside we found 84 bags of chips, which are perfect for our eurovision party (i'm actually serious). we also found a few potatoes.

not too shabby.

12.03.2009: we've had a number of journalists contact us recently, various questions for various purposes, so i thought i'd post some of my replies. try to kill the lull in action, etc:

Why don't you class yourselves as freegans or like the word?

there's two things. firstly there's what it means to be 'freegan'. it's a nice idea but it's not actually possible for us, and i don't want to claim to be something i'm not (i'm reminded of the "vegetarians" who eats fish, who are they kidding?). secondly, i've never liked the word as it implies a degree of choice, that you've chosen to be freegan, and the people who are closest to the ideals of freeganism are so because they have to do be, not because they're chosen it. the word is like a means for the middle class to seperate themselves from the scum - the people who squat, the homeless, etc.

but i still think it's all the media's fault. for instance, where did you hear about freeganism? it's a catchy word, simple principles blanket applied to a diverse group, the kind of thing the mainstream media loves.

i just remembered a third problem with freeganism. we all know that consumer democracy doesn't work, but there are many people who are trying very hard to provide customers with local, organic, fairtrade, healthy, ethically wonderful produce. these people need support,and by being freegan you're not supporting anyone. it's like you're not actually fighting the evil corporate supermarkets and food giants, you're just giving up and ignoring them. it's not a solution that will scale up. the only way it's at all effective is by getting attention and making other people aware of the problems. i guess freegans are hoping those other people will solve the problems.

i'm not saying dumpster diving is any different, but it has less pretense. and these are just the feelings i get from the words.. i'm as much a victim of media hype as anyone.

How did you get involved in dumpster diving?

i was first introduced to dumpster diving when i was living in brighton (uk). i lived with a couple of anarchists who would go out on mysterious "skipping" expeditions and come back with hard bread, floppy vegetables and half rotten fruit (i'm sure i only saw the worst of it). i was never much interested, the food would be left in the fridge and not taken care off and go moldy etc, it all seemed a bit pointless. but then i moved to copenhagen and started going out myself, exploring behind all the local supermarkets, and i couldn't believe the quantity and quality of the food we'd find. i guess it was a mixture of disdain for the supermarkets (and the entire food industry) and the new found ability to eat for free. i can't stand to see things wasted, food especially, so dumpster diving is a win-win situation (for everyone). and behind the environmental issues and politics there's always that primal hunter-gather instinct. wait, i'm being horribly pretentious now.

anyway, it started out as more curiousity than need.

What does dumpster diving mean to you?

there's no such thing as a free lunch right? for a dumpster diver there's thousands of free lunches, unfortunately the cost (guilt free for the dumpster diver) is on the planet. it's about the waste generation, our obscene consumer society, the failings of supply and demand.. blah blah blah

What percentage of your day-to-day requirements are met by dumpster diving?

at the moment only about 5% of our requirements are met by dumpster diving, which is due to various annoying circumstances, mostly work and time constraints coupled with all our local supermarkets taking anti-diving measures. i don't think they're targetting us personally, rather other people who have been raiding the same bins and not being at all inconspicuous. recently there's also been a surge in the media about dumpster diving, so perhaps the supermarkets have had orders from the top to take action against us. either way, there's nothing but empty dumpsters and parking lots behind our local supermarkets. we've lost our good food sources and unfortunately it's not because the food isn't being wasted anymore (the dichotomy with dumpster diving is that once you've achieved your goals you can no longer dumpster dive) but because the waste is being hidden and locked away.

also i'm vegan and there's absolutely no way i could eat healthily just from the food we dumpster dive. it's just not realistic in our area. but how it does help is that it greatly reduces the cost of basic food and vege so that i can then afford to buy food from the independent local organic shops, which i wouldn't necessarily be able to do otherwise.

Can you tell me about some of the things you do on a day-to-day basis?

relating to dumspter diving or in general? in general i volunteer in a fairtrade/organic cafe in the city (run by the largest charity here in denmark) and also a student cafe/bar. i play in a number of diverse bands. i read too much. i go to school twice a week to learn danish. i cycle a lot. i'm a self-hating middle classer. and please don't quote me on that.

Do you ever worry about any health or legal implcations of dumspter diving?

we're rigorous about health issues so we don't have to worry. we're just careful. people worry too much and know too little about their food. they should be more worried about the pesticides on their fruit than we should be about bateria etc that can get through packaging and not be washed off. most food we take was on the shelf only a couple of hours ago, not much happens to it during that period. the only serious problem is when there's a recall and contaminated food is thrown out. if it's not obvious that that's what's happened then it can be dangerous. but still, the statistics are on our side.

What reactions have you had from other people about dumpster diving?

most people love it and can't wait to try it themselves. or, they subtely stop eating the food we just gave them and start telling us about the dangers of old eggs and dairy. mostly people know what we're like anyway, so it often doesn't come as a surprise (from family etc). when it comes to specific raids, showing them how much we've found (i'm sure you've seen our photos), people are either jealous of us or angry at the supermarkets. people don't realise quite how much is wasted. it doesn't take much maths to scale up the contents of one dumpster to work out how much every supermarket in your area wastes every day. and that excludes the waste at other level of the food supply chain.

What advice would you give to someone else who is thinking of dumspter diving?

i think if you'd like to dumpster dive you've already taken the hardest step. you can see the mess we're in and have the right values, you just have to stick to them and apply them in meaningful and effective ways. wait, that sounds terribly bullshitty and pretentious. i don't know. i guess realistically i'd tell them all the things that we've written in our dumpster diving guide.

28.01.2009: finally some genuine dumpster diving. genuine meaning you get old yoghurt smeared all over your hands. it means feeling your way through random dumpsters without a torch, and of course it's the locked dumpster that contains all the bread. we should have known it without looking, it would have saved me from yoghurt. but i was just in denial.

no worries. a locked dumpster can be prised up at the edges for some kind of minimal access. we managed to pull out a series of buns, breads and pastries, enough to keep us occupied as we slunk our way to the next bar. my prize was a tasty bread covered in pumpkin seads and something containing raisins. croissants, as always.

:Dumpster Diving