storafötter
Member
What is dumpster diving?
Shamelessly taken from wikipedia:
What about waste?
A lot of you might first think it sounds dangerous and disgusting but the reality is a lot different. You can still find food still wrapped up in package undamaged without mold or tear. Certain food types have strong packaging, or peel (like banana, pineapple, carrots) which makes it easy to just peel away whats bad. So you don't just find unhealthy ecoli/mold infested junk in the dumpster.
However the bigger problem lies in the ability to get trash. A lot of places, especially in cities they lock the trash or hide it away. Some people might go as far as trespassing, but it is not something everyone does or have to do. I myself am quite lucky where I live. The trash is basically outside, and there is no diving involved. I just open the lid of a tiny trash container and just look at whats inside and pick whats not damaged. This is not a reality for everyone, but if you look far enough you could find a similar situation too.
Just a few pictures to prove how this "trash" edible food can look like. These carrots were still in their packaging. They were turning bad on the outside so obviously the store had to throw them since they looked terrible. However on the inside they are perfectly fine as you can see as usually on some vegetables its only rotting on the outside.
The Bananas were just thrown in and I have bought many bananas in this condition and as many will know they taste just fine and havent even started to go bad other than being very ripe.
I will say this that I haven't been doing this for a long time and use this method as a supplement to my diet as what you find varies from time to time.
So are there any fellow dumpster divers on gaf?
Heres a good documentary about this phenomena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlFP-PMW6E
(Edit)
So I kept reading that people wanted more pictures and documentation of how dumpsterdiving is done. I got some pictures today to show how it can look like when you dumpsterdive.
Here is the back of a local small supermarket.
One of the trashcans were already open, probably because they were not done throwing things (I went during still opening hours)
A quick blurry shot of the inside as I was in a hurry not to be seen.
After looking for 10 seconds I picked some stuff that looked good enough on the top.
A closer look at what it is. The plastic package is cucumber pickle size.
Look at that fine ripe banana. Bon appetit! A nice snack to have on my way home.
Shamelessly taken from wikipedia:
Dumpster diving (known as skipping in the UK) is the practice of sifting through commercial or residential trash to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but that may prove useful to the dumpster diver. Dumpster Diving is also viewed as an effective urban foraging technique. Dumpster divers will forage dumpsters for items such as clothing, furniture, food, and other items of the like deemed in good working conditions
What about waste?
As of 2011, 1.3 billion tons of food, about one third of the global food production, are lost or wasted annually. Loss and wastage occurs on all steps in the food supply chain. In low-income countries most loss occurs during production, while in developed countries much food – about 100 kilograms (220 lb) per person and year – is wasted at the consumption stage.
A lot of you might first think it sounds dangerous and disgusting but the reality is a lot different. You can still find food still wrapped up in package undamaged without mold or tear. Certain food types have strong packaging, or peel (like banana, pineapple, carrots) which makes it easy to just peel away whats bad. So you don't just find unhealthy ecoli/mold infested junk in the dumpster.
However the bigger problem lies in the ability to get trash. A lot of places, especially in cities they lock the trash or hide it away. Some people might go as far as trespassing, but it is not something everyone does or have to do. I myself am quite lucky where I live. The trash is basically outside, and there is no diving involved. I just open the lid of a tiny trash container and just look at whats inside and pick whats not damaged. This is not a reality for everyone, but if you look far enough you could find a similar situation too.
Just a few pictures to prove how this "trash" edible food can look like. These carrots were still in their packaging. They were turning bad on the outside so obviously the store had to throw them since they looked terrible. However on the inside they are perfectly fine as you can see as usually on some vegetables its only rotting on the outside.
The Bananas were just thrown in and I have bought many bananas in this condition and as many will know they taste just fine and havent even started to go bad other than being very ripe.
I will say this that I haven't been doing this for a long time and use this method as a supplement to my diet as what you find varies from time to time.
So are there any fellow dumpster divers on gaf?
Heres a good documentary about this phenomena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlFP-PMW6E
(Edit)
So I kept reading that people wanted more pictures and documentation of how dumpsterdiving is done. I got some pictures today to show how it can look like when you dumpsterdive.
Here is the back of a local small supermarket.
One of the trashcans were already open, probably because they were not done throwing things (I went during still opening hours)
A quick blurry shot of the inside as I was in a hurry not to be seen.
After looking for 10 seconds I picked some stuff that looked good enough on the top.
A closer look at what it is. The plastic package is cucumber pickle size.
Look at that fine ripe banana. Bon appetit! A nice snack to have on my way home.