This comes as a strange topic in the vast range of topics in which ethics could be applied, but I began to ask myself questions about the ethics of Freeganism. Freeganism is built from the word veganism, which is the rejection of all things made with animal products. With Freeganism, people opt out of the corporate system by refusing to participate in the economic structure by using bartering, alternative human powered transportation, thrift shopping, and the most controversial, dumpster diving.
Yes I, as a 40+ year old seminarian, went dumpster diving with some friends last Sunday. I thought it might make a good academic exercise, and I would see what the big deal was about. What we found spoke volumes about what it means to live in a disposable society, and who can afford to opt out.
We met at a parking lot in Pasadena behind a fast food restaurant. Next door was a well known grocery store that has a lot of healthy food. We waited until the last of the staff left at 10:30 pm and went over. The more agile of the bunch climbed into the dumpster and started opening plastic bags. We found about 20 bags of organic apples that were still crisp and did not appear to have anything wrong. Perhaps apples are going out of season. Bags and bags of bread from sandwich rolls, to crumpets, to whole wheat sourdough and lemon bread were found. All clean because they had been in the bags. Hams, smoked turkey, salmon, lamb tips and cheese that had been thrown away after closing were still cold. Organic tomatoes, and bell peppers where thrown away. Food that expired the next day were also thrown away like bagged salads, and the aforementioned lemon bread. The jackpot to me was one of the spiral cut hams that were sold for Easter.
We took our haul back to the parking lot behind the fast food place, and distributed based on what was needed and wanted. I barely buy meat anymore because of the expense, but smoked ham and turkey is smoked for preservation. There was nothing wrong with it that it was not out on the shelf an hour or two before.
The group was a bunch of young white people with a South American woman and one Asian woman, and I, who also passes as white. So when the security guard drove by, he looked at us and kept driving his golf cart. How different would it have been if we were black, or dressed in gang attire, or obviously homeless? I understand that some security guards put up a fuss at different stores, but we lucked out this time. So another question is, were we stealing? Trespassing? The store had thrown out the stuff, so was it still their property? If everything was packed into clean plastic garbage bags, is there some expectation that this food will be found and taken? What about the hungry, the poor, the homeless? Why can they not be recipients of this largess? I imagine there are safe food handling laws.
I made some meals this week that were like living a much larger income. While I am working on a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, I was appalled at the amount of meat thrown away. Pounds and pounds of thawing frozen ground turkey and cut up chickens were also there. I have not heard of or suffered any ill effects this week.
Will I go again? I am not sure. But it was an eye opening experience.
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This is a very interesting post Kathleen. When I first began to read this I was shocked that people do things of this nature, but at the same time I was even more shocked on your reported findings.
ReplyDeleteIt make me think that if all that food that was still edible can be thrown away from one store I can't even begin to imagine what a wasteful nation we must be then.
With the world facing issues of poverty it’s sad to know how much food is wasted. It would be a good idea for restaurants to come up with a program that would distribute the food that would normally been thrown away and give to those who need it.
I do believe that freganism is a type of life style that would not suit many but if this nation keeps wasting away food at this rate who knows what will happen to the food supply 10 or 20 years from now. And then we'll most likely be forced to live a freganism lifestyle.
First, I want to admit that I misspelled freganism, it should be *Freeganism*. My mistake.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say also, that poverty, hunger and homelessness have been issues that I have been active over the years. Once a month, the women at my church make lunches for the homeless in a shelter here in my town. I have volunteered in other ways for at least 15 years.
That this food, expensive healthy food is being thrown away when so many people can not afford more than cheap fast food, or heavily processed food was upsetting to me.
Arsen is right in that food shortages are a reality in so many third world countries, yet we as a nation are incredibly wasteful. Perhaps this illustrates how far removed we are from the production of food.
I have been embarking on this ethics of eating journey which looks at where the food comes from, and whether humane practices have been used in bringing the food to the store. The only place I would buy meat, if it was not so prohibitively expensive is this particular chain of stores. However, the true freegans go to dumpsters behind stores and restaurants and are able to find food. I had read about it last year, but I was skeptical. Perhaps the practice of day old bakeries needs to be revived as well as other practices that were popular during the Great Depression in which people were forced to share and work together as a community.
What an eye-opening post, Kathleen! I too feel skeptical about the prospect of dumpster diving and a few weeks ago felt very sorry for a couple on our campus having do dig through the dumpster looking for an item that had been accidentally thrown away. And yet there are those who find themselves compelled to this activity regularly.
ReplyDeleteAnd with what you found, why not? What's a little trash with such fruitful (yes, pun intended) results?? It causes me to wonder whether there are (or should be) any organizations who can organize food that can be distrubuted to the homeless or soup kitchens, etc. Arsen rightly points out the issue of waste and asks a poignant question: how much food are we as Americans wasting?
Kathleen, your post is very interesting. But my question is what we can you right now? When I visited the Myra House in vocational discernment class, I saw Rev. Dr. Sung Sohn (director of Myra House) try to recycle everything, including excess foods. My hope is that there are organizations who can organize food that can be distributed to the homeless or soup kitchens, as you are doing. I heard someone stated that “Americans wasting foods can help ¼ poverty people in the world.” How do you think?
ReplyDeleteWow! I've never heard of dumpster diving but that really sounds interesting. I've always wondered if they REALLY throw out all the food that's perfectly edible. Our church helped out this one pastor who takes the left over Krispy Kremes donuts and passes it out to the homeless in downtown LA. In reading this post, it really makes me wonder why not more of the restaurants and stores are giving out their left overs. I know that Starbucks also gives out free coffee to non-profit organization because they get tax reductions. This post also makes me see how poverty, hunger, homelessness are all really problems that can be solved with what's been bestowed to us by God on the very earth we live on.
ReplyDeleteNext time invite me I want to go. Your right in this economy some of us buy according to price, not to luxury. As a teenager I worked at Jack in the Box and Sam’s Club and it really is disgusting how much food you have to throw away because it was cooked ahead of time and expired two or three hours later. And if you were caught eating food that was originally going to go in the trash would be grounds for termination. Also so many people are not aware that they can help countries who are suffering food shortage, they separate themselves by saying that how can they help they are so far away. I had a friend who would always say after a meal that ‘what is he to do ship his leftovers to Africa’, he never got the point to be aware of his wastefulness. One reason stores and restaurants are afraid to give leftover food or expired food to the homeless may be because they don’t want to get sued is someone was to get sick.
ReplyDeleteKathleen- thank you for sharing this experience with us. This is the first time I've heard about freganism and it sounds interesting. I have heard about dumpster diving. Some years ago, I worked for a homeless referral center near USC and some of our homeless clients would dumpster dive. A part of my job included getting food donations from businesses. Many of the larger chain markets often said no, while the smaller mom and pop places were more willing to help. The larger store managers would always cite corporate policies (i.e. they didn't want lawsuits in case someone got sick from food they donated- similar to what was mentioned above)and one manager even told me that they had a contract with a local discount store to resell their near expiration/past seasonal items to. So instead of donating food to those in need, they would throw good food out or resell it to discount stores to make a profit. I would encourage people to give their business to smaller stores or even visit farmers markets if they can.
ReplyDeleteKathleen, Thanks for the really good description of the dumpster diving outing. I pretty much stocked my kitchen for a week for 2-3 people that evening. Grace made 4 apple pies from all the apples we got (we also had some flour and butter from a bin). We shared the apple pie with some neighbors. Grace, a self-described freegan, just started her own blog http://funkypunkyg.blogspot.com/. A really good introduction to freeganism is at http://freegan.org.uk/pages/faq.php
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing this forward, Kathleen. I will indeed look up freeganism to learn more.
ReplyDeleteOur brothers and sisters living in significant poverty have dumpster dived for survival for years. I recommend looking up Donna Beegle @ www.combarriers.com for more information. She's a woman who grew up in significant poverty. As an adult, she overcame this poverty and achieved her doctorate. She now teaches and presents on the culture of poverty throughout the nation.
It is amazing the valuable items that people in our communities discard. What is trash for one, may be sustenance for the other. I know in Phoenix and surrounding communities, WASTE NOT actually arranges to pick up the discardable items from grocery stores and restaurants prior to the items going in the dumpster. WASTE NOT then distributes the items to community food banks, shelters, and other programs working with persons needing food and/or living in homelessness.
Wow, Kathleen, thank you for this post. I have known about dumpster diving for many years. During my "bohemian" days at Venice Beach, I had a friend who relished his dumpster diving outings to Rodeo Drive, when he would come home flaunting his "trash of the rich and famous."
ReplyDeleteAs a single parent living paycheck to paycheck have not been averse to picking up a nice looking piece of furniture sitting next to the trash or on the street corner. In all honesty, I don't think I have a brand new piece of furniture in my house. I've used Freecycle. I thrift shop and barter, and have gone to local food banks periodically when money was tight. I have never plucked food from the dumpster, however. It would not have occurred to me that so much usable food would be tossed. Our food bank in my church receives donations from Starbucks, Sprouts, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other places; however, after the last "use by" date, the food must be distributed in other ways to be sure we comply with health codes. Many times, these foods are taken to the local soup kitchen by our volunteers and made into meals to be served right away.
For me, what has been a lifestyle of recycling and reusing out of necessity has transformed into one of choice. I continue on a daily basis to reassess my choices in regards to clothing fabrics, cosmetics and foods. Now I'm going to look into this "Freeganism."
Elaine - I've never heard of WASTE NOT. I'll have to look into it!
Thanks Kathleen for sharing this compelling adventure and new term "Freeganism".
ReplyDeleteAs the resident public health mind please exercise caution with all reused food items. That being said share from the abundance!
From the diverse and multiple posts seems many have had an opportunity and honor to sit with those who actually pray for daily bread and "get" importance of our sharing from our adequacy or abundancy. Wherever we find our place in that moment.
For me, this post made me realize that as a community working together is more important than ever before.
Thanks Kathleen for this great post on the questions our discoveries raise. I am so glad that your trip with us was such an eye opening experience for you. All these comments are really great to read.
ReplyDeleteI'm Grace, the aforementioned Freegan (thanks, Eric, for posting the link to my blog and the UK freegan site!).
I have been living as a freegan for three years, and it has been a great freedom. Believe it or not, I just came back from a trip to Kenya, where the inbalance of wealth really shocked me. It really hurts to see so much waste in the trash of this wealthy nation. There are groups, like Food Not Bombs, that try to redistribute the waste, but still so much is put in the landfill. There is just too much waste.
I feel bad that I can't take it all. Like today, I was at another dumpster (yep), and it was full of bread (you know, expires tomorrow). I could only take one loaf, because I knew that's all I could eat on my own at this time. I felt terrible leaving the rest there, knowing it was going to be thrown away. All we can do is wake people up, I guess.
Your post also moved me. I think it was very captivating and attention grabbing to know that food is being waisted in such large amounts on the streets of our country.
ReplyDeleteThe sad reality of this mess, is that most resturaunt owners dont have enough compassion to simply host giving the unused food away to the homeless or hungry, opposed to throwing the food away.
When we look at the financial decline our nation is in, it is clear that we can get out of our financial rut if we would only stop waisting so much, and start sharing a little more.
Keep doing this. Maybe you could even organize with the stores and restaurants to keep getting the usable food stuffs for distribution. If the stores have regulations against such activity then keep dumpster diving. Don't forget we have Scriptural precedence. Leviticus 19:10. Basically leaving the excess for the poor and needy to use. On a personal note I voluntarily spent a year of my life living homeless and begging. Believe me it was a lot easier to eat out of the dumpsters than to expect people to share out of the "goodness" of their hearts. In fact I basically gave up begging and was able to spend more time figuring out how not to get chased out of parks and abandoned buildings to "crash" for the night.
ReplyDeleteWe have a group from our church who "gleans" from our local Trader Joe's with the permission (or at least the tacit agreement) of the management. The items are then donated or redistributed to a local food bank.
ReplyDeleteThere are other organizations which seek to do this "redistribution" but way too few to handle the volume of food and other items discarded. I'm glad that one person got her loaf of bread, but the bigger issue is how to get all the food redistributed to those who need it.
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteI hope that your place is now fully furnished. As a word of precaution, bed bugs have become a significant problem. My partner's aunt, who doesn't go anywhere but the doctor's and the store got a case. So as I was looking up how to get rid of bedbugs, there were many warnings about picking up upholstered furniture. Otherwise, good luck. It is hard out there, and with tuition on top, I wish you the best.
WOW! What an experience. Thank you for sharing it. The amount of waste that goes on in this country is just staggering. I've often wanted to take a group of kid criminals to the third world for a week so that they can see just how great they have it. Thank you for causing me to see just how great I have it.
ReplyDeleteKathleen: Thanks for this post! It is an eye-opener! Freeganism is a new term for me. It's amazing that stores throw away so much usable food. I could hardly believe the stuff you found. Guess it's easier to throw it away than to sell more reasonable prices.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who arranged with a couple grocery stores in her community to pick up day-old bread a couple days each week and distribute it to the local soup kitchen and nursing homes, but not many of us have the time or freedom to make this kind of personal commitment.
My grandmother used to say "waste not, want not". Having experienced the Great Depression she saved everything! I thought she went overboard on the things she "recycled" - like washing and reusing baggies, but darned if I don't do it from time-to-time! Having no paycheck tends make one thing about saving and cost-cutting.
Even though there are questions as to the legal, moral, and ethical issues around dumper diving, seems like the consensus is - Go for it!
Huh, I guess you learn something new everyday. I had never heard of Freeganism but I do know a little about waste and red-tape when it applies to homeless services. My wife works for a very large homeless non-profit in LA called PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) on the development and funding side of things. It is always disheartening to see how much “red tape” there is in the world of non-profits. Whether it is funding, legal or donation related, it is always more difficult than it needs to be. The same seems to apply to the individual level as well: being “green” (whatever that pop culture term means right now) always seems to be more difficult than it should be. I am reminded that the most revolutionary ideas are often very simple solutions to complex needs/problems. For example, a buddy of mine and his wife are seriously looking into community living, but they are starting simple: partnering with another couple to buy a duplex. Just food for thought.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered what that sort of experience was like...
ReplyDeleteI remember going to a church in Downtown LA in my early years of undergraduate study. That visit made real to me what it was like to meet a homeless/needy person, feed them, and find anguish that at that particular moment I could not do anything. While some younger Christian movements have gone into this angry sort of rant into "Christianity is not a religion; it's a relationship" mentality, I find it quite puzzling that with all the churches in just the LA area, there are still many homeless people without help. In the past few months, I've encountered a number of homeless people just outside my church, and I am left to wonder, "How is it that there are only specific places that are willing to help these people?"
Isn't it also perplexing that with so much food, merchandise, and technology production, we throw things away simply because we cannot make a profit from it? I could understand the problems of relying of freeganomics: if everyone waited long enough, markets would have to throw away so much of their "market-life" food and deal with so many people looking for a free meal. If this was commonly understood, why would anyone bother buying fresh food anymore when perfectly edible food is available at the cost of pride (if we could count it as loss)?
I remember a time in high school that an elder person brought leftover food after closing a Starbucks. There was more than enough food at enjoyable quality for 20 students. If one Starbucks was like this, how much more food is there available in the other ones? If Starbucks is only one place that has leftovers like this, how many other food places would produce such edible "waste?"
And one wonders why people say, "Think about the starving children in Africa..." What would that look like if that wasn't said only to the person with the plate... What if that was said more to the person serving?
Even though it's late, I can't help but respond once more to this issue. First, Kathleen - I am furnished and exchanged more than once, over the years. The upholstered furniture that I have has come in the hand-me-down way, from people I know...and I exaggerate a bit, because I realize that mattresses have been purchased new at various times.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I have a feeling that there will always be people who would never consider the type of lifestyle that Freeganism offers, but for those how choose it or those who have no choice, there will always be leftovers to glean, I suspect.
I have to say that it seems like Starbucks everywhere has a lot of leftovers. One Starbucks in our area donates to our foodbank; another donates to the soup kitchen - and I know these two places are not the only places that Starbucks leftovers go to!
This was a very prolific post; thank you Kathleen for putting it out there.
Haha, interesting to find out that there is a term for this. Let me just say that my friends and family have often referred to me as 'Sanford' because of my views on recycling. For me, it started on saturday afternoons with my grandparents. My grandpa and I would head out in his old pickup to go 'loafin', which was our term for cruising garage sales, thrift stores, junk yards, and even dumpsters. I'll never forget the time we pulled up behind a grocery store that was throwing away boxes and boxes of food. We asked them what was wrong with it and they said that there had been a fire and it was all 'contaminated' by the smoke so they couldn't sell it. Well, I jumped into the dumpster and started passing full boxes of food (candy bars too!) to my grandpa and we took home a whole truck load of food to share with the family. You can't imagine what is was like as a kid to have limitless quantities of '3 Musketeers' and 'Twix' bars in the deep freeze. I think it's great that people are beginning to embrace a recycling mentality, I couldn't imagine living a life without recycling. We have always used shipping crates and pallets as sources of scrap wood for projects around the house and when I was in college I always had the best furniture - sourced from the dumpsters at fraternity/sorority row at the ends of semesters! Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThat having been said, it does make me nervous thinking about taking meat or other foods that spoil quickly out of a dumpster. Without knowing the history of the food and how long it has been out of the cold I wouldn't trust it any further than I could throw it. I know things would change for me if my financial situation changed, but I would definitely fall back on tried and true 'country' methods of preparation (boil the heck out of it!) to make sure I had killed any bacteria before feeding it to my family. I can imagine that 'dumpster diving' would become a thing of the past very quickly at groceries or markets once the first person gets seriously ill from eating spoiled food!
Thank you Kathleen for your post on freeganism, many of you have spoke of different organizations that I didn't know existed and makes me aware of my need to learn more about the services in my own community. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe found bed bugs in our home in April 2012 and I was freaked out! From the moment I called the office, everyone who I talked to reassured me that what I was.
ReplyDeletebedbugs in phoenix
bedbugs in scottsdale