Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Dumpster Diving
Aztex:
There was a girl at uni who threw out an uneaten plate of weges. like she only ate 4 and then threw it in the bin... I was gonna ask her for them but yeah...
jodizzle:
--- Quote from: Barmymoo on 15 Mar 2008, 14:46 ---
So although I think that supermarkets throwing away unwanted food is a waste (why can't they give it to a soup kitchen, if it's still edible and not likely to make anyone ill?), I don't think that dumpster diving is morally right unless you have no other way to survive. And in an ideal world (well not totally ideal, because that would mean no poverty at all, but a better world anyway) there would be places where people with no money could go and get the food that the supermarkets couldn't sell.
--- End quote ---
Interestingly, supermarkets are NOT ALLOWED to give away food that has been damaged or is otherwise fine but doesnt have the ingredients/nutritional information on it. I work in a grocery store and the staff always would take hom food with no lables etc. But we have recently been told that we are not allowed to. It is against some kind of crazy law and we HAVE TO throw it away. HAVE TO. I flinch everytime I see good food being thrown away and we all believe it is a horrible waste. especially since we were the ones getting free food out of the bargains. there a a bajillion security cameras in our store linked directly to our head office which makes it difficult (but not impossible) to get around.
But that is why they dont just give the food away. Technically, they are just not allowed.
Slick:
Dumpster diving is not by nature stupid, I think. Tim Horton's, a chain coffee & doughtnut shop up here, throws away all of their doughnuts at midnight, to be able to maintain their 'made fresh daily' claim. Having worked at Tim Horton's, I totally think it is fine to take those surplus doughnuts at quarter past midnight, just check the bag first so that you know they haven't also dumped chicken salad in there as well (but that is unusual).
Just as a rule of thumb, if there's food in a bag, and there's nothing else bad in the bag, it is safe. If you are adventurous, you can even wash of sketchy produce, but I avoid anything suspect, myself.
Roo, with regards to the person who thinks it is immoral to eat dumpster food as it deprives hobos, I would say buy a hobo a doughnut and offer that person a dumpster doughnut. If they still refuse to eat it, then I would assume they are just afraid of dumpster food and are spinning an argument to defend their position.
Food not bombs is pretty sweet as well, I have helped cook for them once and it is super fun. Where I am, we make two batches of soup with what we've got (both vegan) which we just give away to anyone who wants some. The philosophy, as I've come to understand it, is that instead of building bombs, we should be making soup and building community. You meet cool people when you're in the kitchen, and you meet cool people giving food away on the streets. And it is not just for the homeless, everyone can eat if they want food.
I dislike the notion that taking from a store's dumpster is robbing them of the sale, though. If they are throwing it out, then I have no problems with taking it. To hell with them wasting it out of spite. If they want to offer it at a discount, I will probably buy it. If they want to throw it out, I may well take it.
P.S. Regarding video cameras, my major coup when I left Tim Horton's was sneaking out like three boxes of instant cappuccino, hot apple cider, and hot chocolate with the trash. I later swapped some with my friend for subway southwest sauce. I was a good, reliable, experienced worker who had trained people I was making like ten cents an hour more than. Fuck those guys.
sallyz3smath:
I was recently asked to read an essay excerpt from a book about a man who lived on the street for a few years and his experiences with Dumpster Diving. As a college student ( who is also a bit of an eco nut) I dumpster dive when ever I can. I feel the waste we as a consumer society is terrible. Alot of the food thrown away at supermarkets is just fine for eating and would be much more appropriately donated to shelters or programs for the under priviledged, but we know exactly how well having these ideas work. It's like communism good on paper, hard to inpliment.
So here is the name of the essay I read, the book iself is on it's way to me from the interwebs :
Lars Eighner : On Dumpster Diving is the essay,
Lars Eighner - Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets.
ruyi:
--- Quote from: Slick on 15 Mar 2008, 18:54 ---Roo, with regards to the person who thinks it is immoral to eat dumpster food as it deprives hobos, I would say buy a hobo a doughnut and offer that person a dumpster doughnut. If they still refuse to eat it, then I would assume they are just afraid of dumpster food and are spinning an argument to defend their position.
--- End quote ---
I specifically asked him about this, and this isn't what he meant. I'm not depriving hobos, because there's definitely not a shortage of food to be found. He just meant it was unethical because of the fact that I have a choice and they don't.
Anyways, we agreed that for the specific doughnut situation, it was right to accept it. He was being kind and I didn't think what he had to offer was dirty. The question is mainly about dumpster diving on my own.
Given my location (ie college), a lot of the food discarded away is pretty clean and I don't really have to rummage through the trash to get to it. Oftentimes bins are just overflowing and people will leave food on tables and benches. It is indeed pretty ridiculous.
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