dumpster diving, anyone?

**Maisiedotes** · 12-30-2011, 02:38 PM

I saw a documentary on netflix recently called "Dive!" on what you can get out of dumpsters... organic produce, etc... I may make my maiden voyage tonight. We have 2 grocery stores and a walmart (not a supercenter but they do have some produce...) I am so scared and excited! Can anyone share their stories? I am saddened and appalled at what gets wasted in this country..

**Telephus44** · 12-30-2011, 03:32 PM

I used to do this all the time when we lived in our apartment. We had a row of 5 dumpsters, and when people moved out they used to leave all kinds of stuff - I got a bread machine and a 2' x 3' white board. Occasionally food. Lots of cleaning supplies and kids toys.

**nuisance26** · 12-30-2011, 04:03 PM

~I plan to start this when we move to CO next year. We're in a rural area now and the nearby shopping areas are not safe enough for me. We have just two markets as well. I've done plenty of curbside shopping here though.
There are no Freegan groups here that I'm aware of and I've looked many times. I think my chances of finding a group to go out with for safety are better in the big city we're moving to than here.
Please let us all know if you find anything good tonight!~

**Spirit Deer** · 12-30-2011, 04:41 PM

I can't say I'd Dumpster dive for food, but I love a good freebie in non-food items.

We always look for stuff to salvage when we take our trash to the transfer station here and have gotten some great stuff. The latest thing I salvaged was a 'new' cutlery rack for the dishwasher because I got tired of having to repair the one that came with our dishwasher, and a nice coverless enamel canner, which I will drill holes in the bottom of and use for a planter outside next spring. I've salvaged a bunch of refrigerator drawers and used them for a variety of storage needs.

I hope you don't get into any trouble on your foray. Let us know how it turns out. Happy hunting.

**greekislandgirl** · 12-30-2011, 05:12 PM

I can't do this. I have an extremely oversensitive sense of smell, to the point that I can't even handle the trash in our house (DH has to deal with it). I have to hold my breath when I get about 20 feet from a dumpster, and then walk really fast past it. So the thought of actually putting my head in one... let's just say, I'd have to be absolutely desperate to survive.

Incidentally, I have in the past looked into medical procedures/therapies for numbing my sense of smell, but haven't found anything good yet.

**starsapphire** · 12-30-2011, 05:13 PM

Check your local laws. Dumpster diving is illegal in our town.

**Spirit Deer** · 12-30-2011, 05:38 PM

I think it's illegal in a lot of places, and even if it's not, I'm sure a lot of businesses frown on it because of liability in case someone would get hurt. I've heard of places that set things out to be taken though.

Where we salvage stuff, we have to sign a waiver of liability and they have strict rules about what we can take and what we can do to reach things, like they won't let people climb on the recycled metal pile and stuff like that. They also have a lean-to where people can put things that are still useable, like doors and windows and kitchen cabinets. Anyone can take those.

**ncarr** · 12-30-2011, 06:08 PM

I like in a condo so I sometimes get nice furniture from next to the dumpster that people leave

**nuisance26** · 12-31-2011, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by starsapphire

Check your local laws. Dumpster diving is illegal in our town.

~So is driving over the speed limit. What's really crucial is understanding the reason behind the law and then you choose to risk disobeying it.

Originally Posted by Spirit Deer

I think it's illegal in a lot of places, and even if it's not, I'm sure a lot of businesses frown on it because of liability in case someone would get hurt.

Exactly! The hospital that I had my girls at did not "allow" for a woman to have a natural birth after a previous c-section. The rules were made to protect the hospital and the staff in case of the worst happening without regard to the actual safety statistics involved.
Same things with dumpsters. Why would you need a law to protect the things you don't want anymore? To keep you from being sued if food eaten from your trash makes someone sick. Dumpster diving and trash picking has been going on for 100+ years. People are rarely known to get sick and I've yet to see a lawsuit about it.
Sure you can get ticketed or hauled in if you break locks or enter buildings or climb fences but the police are too busy dealing with real crime to hassle divers rooting through open space dumpsters. How can you be down on someone who is getting food out of a dumpster? How do you know that they don't really need it to survive? Personally, I wouldn't go over a fence like a group did in the documentary but I understand why they did.
Some rules need to be broken.
Watch the documentary. It's not about finding a partially eaten cheeseburger surrounded by dirty diapers, it's grocery stores that bag up an entire shelf of celery because one stalk is rotting. It's cartons of eggs because one was broken. It's cases of beer because two bottles are cracked. Food you would eat never even touches the dumpster's interior. I worked in the food industry. Everything had to be bagged before it was trashed. Waste food was trashed at the end of the shift. Divers know the shifts and get the bags almost as soon as they're taken out.
I've been very interested in doing this for many years. I grew up in the country where we regularly shopped at "the dump" when we dropped off our garbage. It wasn't food but it shaped my thinking about what garbage really is. My dad often dropped by a bakery near his workplace after his overnight shifts and picked up the day old donuts. They just tossed them all in a giant flour sack. By the time I worked in a bakery, the owners held everything day-old to give to a pig farmer. Those donuts and breads were still good for human consumption. The waste that goes on in the interest of protecting businesses, without regard to actual statistics, is alarming.
Oh, I had two natural births after my c-section at that hospital, BTW. ~

**Spirit Deer** · 12-31-2011, 09:54 AM

I don't think food poisoning is the issue as much as people getting hurt in and around the Dumpsters (which is a brand name, therefore a proper noun.) Some Dumpsters have very heavy lids which could severely injure someone if it slammed shut on them. Or someone could fall climbing in and out of them. Lots of things could go wrong.

Personally, I see salvaging of any kind as something I would do at my own risk, and if I got hurt doing it, sad for me but it's no one else's fault.

**Nana2two** · 12-31-2011, 12:21 PM

8 to 10 years ago i DD alot. Found cases of apple juice with 1 bottle broke took them all home and washed them all in the tub. Found returned dvd. toys food.Now seems like they have gotten stricter. Some of the places i use to go to have the bins inclosed and gated.. I still curb crawl and drive around on junk day.

**hotprincesscm** · 12-31-2011, 12:35 PM

I think I would "curbside" shop on trash day if I found something I wanted or needed, but climbing in a dumpster...probably not...if it was sitting on top maybe...but rummaging around in one to find something good, is just not my thing...but if I were desperate enough, I would.

**LynnLC** · 12-31-2011, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by hotprincesscm

I think I would "curbside" shop on trash day if I found something I wanted or needed, but climbing in a dumpster...probably not...if it was sitting on top maybe...but rummaging around in one to find something good, is just not my thing...but if I were desperate enough, I would.

I'm with you. No way am I climbing in a dumpster. Something nice on the side of the road I could repurpose?...a-ok with me.

**pollypurebred39** · 12-31-2011, 03:40 PM

These last 4+ years I've been humbled to a level that's almost inconceivable to me. So I'll just say this, while I do not dumpster dive for food, I will not say that that would be out of the realm of possibilities if things in my small corner of the world got worse. You do what you have to to survive, and from what I've seen, most of how it's packaged and retrieved seems fairly clean. No fruit piece rolling around in dumpster juices. Their systems seem organized, and not all participating are crawling in dumpsters. It would not be my first choice in securing food for my family, but if it's that or my family going hungry...yeah, I'd jump in a dumpster.

Interesting to note that the dumpster divers eat better than my family does now.

**sabrelvssammy** · 12-31-2011, 03:48 PM

Yup!

Except that it hasn't quite made it to the dumpster just yet.

I have been working part time at a local grocery. Many days I help in the produce dept and we pull the fruits/veggies that are bruised, starting to soften, you name it. (The owner is VERY picky)...

Some of the produce makes it on the reduced rack (which I keep swept clean- lol)...but others don't make the cut and they get thrown in a big box to go out to the dumpster.

That is where I step in and help keep this box empty. There is a standing joke that a farmer used to come by and get the box for his pigs (this stuff is still wrapped up individually in cartons, trays, etc)..anyway...we like to say "If it's good enough for the pigs- it's good enough for me and MY family"....needless to say- the pigs are going hungry these days....

(Which by the way- if it made it to the dumpster- so would I)...