Food Option: How to Dumpster Dive : FNB News

A tip for finding the best dumpsters is to check the phone book and keep and eye out for wholesale distributors. Many grocers will discard more than enough nightly to feed the average family.

In most of the world, things are discarded because they are no longer useful or edible. In this country, goods are discarded when they are no longer profitable, no matter that many people struggle to feed themselves. Some foods are cooked or baked for same-day sale. Grocery stores discard produce with minor blemishes, and in many cases fruits are discarded just as they begin to ripen. Food is usually trashed once it has reached its expiration or sell-by date, which is often arbitrary. Foods damaged during shipping or stocking are often fresher than what remains on the shelves.

The Environmental Protection Agency has rated dumpster diving (or source reduction and reuse) as the best environmental strategy for dealing with municipal solid waste. Yet in 1999, the U.S. wasted more than 25 million tons of food, approximately .5 pounds of food per person per day, compared to .3 pounds in 1960.

Dumpstering is not an option for everyone. Nor is it any more a revolutionary act than dropping out and living in the wilderness or eating a vegan diet. It neither supports the system of hierarchy and oppression nor threatens it. However, for many dumpstering is a small part of an environmentally conscious lifestyle. Practiced in conjunction with squatting, it makes possible a life free of work and money. The more we liberate ourselves, the more we are able to help others.

Mr. Bolt is an anarchist who’s been active in Food Not Bombs, The Mutual Support Network and More Gardens Coalition. He’s explored dumpsters throughout North America and has appeared on PBS’s Life 360 and National Public Radio on the subject.