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I just watched the award winning movie called "Dive!"..It's on netflix now..Definitely an eye opener about 96 BILLION pounds of food getting thrown away every year in America..
Does anyone dumpster dive? After watching that movie I'm thinking about it! I can afford food I just hate the idea of wasting so much food that is perfectly edible! I know when I worked at dunkin donuts it made me really sick to have to get a giant trash bag at closing time, and throw away hundreds of donuts and bagels that didnt sell..throw away as in..into the dumpster..what a waste!
I work in a high school cafeteria, and seeing the fruit the kids throw away makes me ill. With the new dietary guidelines, the kids are now required to take a fruit or vegetable on their lunch tray. We offer salad, baby carrots, canned fruit, and fresh apples, oranges, and bananas. When told they have to take it, they'll grab an apple or banana, but throw it in the trash sometimes even before taking their seat. I'd love to dumpster dive in those trash cans for the dozens of bananas and red apples and packages of baby carrots that end up in there.
I just watched the award winning movie called "Dive!"..It's on netflix now..Definitely an eye opener about 96 BILLION pounds of food getting thrown away every year in America..
Does anyone dumpster dive? After watching that movie I'm thinking about it! I can afford food I just hate the idea of wasting so much food that is perfectly edible! I know when I worked at dunkin donuts it made me really sick to have to get a giant trash bag at closing time, and throw away hundreds of donuts and bagels that didnt sell..throw away as in..into the dumpster..what a waste!
They didn't let you take them? DH worked at Dunkin Donuts years ago, and they (the employees) used to take the discarded croissants and muffins home instead of throwing them out.
They didn't let you take them? DH worked at Dunkin Donuts years ago, and they (the employees) used to take the discarded croissants and muffins home instead of throwing them out.
Yes, they let me take them, but I could only take so much..I brought home over 3 dozen donuts and 2 dozen bagels..that was really enough for my kids..I don't like them eating all of those donuts ~~I wasn't prepared to take all of those donuts to a food bank..I didn't even know that they were going to throw them away..I dont know where any food banks are and I live outside of town, so it would have been a really long drive for me..I also had kids waiting at home for me to get there and make dinner as my hubby works nights..
I work in a high school cafeteria, and seeing the fruit the kids throw away makes me ill. With the new dietary guidelines, the kids are now required to take a fruit or vegetable on their lunch tray. We offer salad, baby carrots, canned fruit, and fresh apples, oranges, and bananas. When told they have to take it, they'll grab an apple or banana, but throw it in the trash sometimes even before taking their seat. I'd love to dumpster dive in those trash cans for the dozens of bananas and red apples and packages of baby carrots that end up in there.
It is really sad that our children are learning that it is socially acceptable to throw away food I spent a lunch hour at my kids' school a few years ago, (they are doing online school from home now), and a whole apple was placed on every child's tray...I don't think a single child ate the apple..they were used as baseballs, being tossed around, and yes, they ended up in the trash! I pocketed a few apples that day
Ugh! I recently downloaded a book on my Kindle...free...which was about how to save money on your grocery bill...dumpster diving was right in the book. Delete!!!!! No thanks.
Now...a few years ago I was driving home and saw a lovely stroller sticking out of a dumpster...yes...I stopped, and got it out, along with a high chair, a baby swing and several other great baby things. I rescued those items...cleaned them up and took them to the shelter I work at. Why the person throwing those things out did not call Salvation Army is beyond me....
Ugh! I recently downloaded a book on my Kindle...free...which was about how to save money on your grocery bill...dumpster diving was right in the book. Delete!!!!! No thanks.
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as Jasper12 mentioned I have rescued furniture (wood, not fabric) -- but even then NOT out of a dumpster or actual trash bin. Too afraid I'd see a rat or roaches and that would be it for me.
BUT I have picked up things from the end of driveways in the neighborhood. The people are around here get rid of some GOOD STUFF. Sometimes after yard sale days items will have a 'free' sign on it at the curb, other times they're just sitting there. Mostly I've done tables and chairs, some COMPELTE dishware sets, some bookcases and storage units, shoe racks, shelving, etc.
However... never, ever -- EVER -- food (or clothes). And certainly not from a dumpster behind a restaurant. As in a funny Seinfeld scene it could be sitting right on the top of the can -- and I still wouldn't touch it.
Now, buying day old bread at the market or something like that, fine. Dumpster, no.
This is a big movement and growing. The Freegan movement in the USA has all kinds of people in it, not just the Hippie kind of old. There are business people, teachers, government workers, and many other professions represented there. It is definitely not just students. The groups ever diverse, middle age with careers, from all walks of life. Green (Living) Review: Dumpster diving; 2009's fastest growing industry : freegan.info
A sad statistics:
40% of food in the United States is never eaten, amounting to $165 billion a year in waste, 20 pounds of food is wasted each month for each of 311 million Americans, amounting to $1,350 to $2,275 annually in waste for a family of four.
American families throw out approximately 25% of the food and beverages they buy. In the US, in 2010, more than 30 million tons of FOOD was dumped in landfills which amounts to about 200 pounds of wasted food for every man, woman and child in the United States. And yet, more than 50 million households are currently having difficulty providing enough food for family members.
In fact close to a billion of the nearly seven billion people on Earth are starving today. But the food we are currently producing could feed 12 billion people. Now, how sad this is...
Food has been so cheap and plentiful in the United States that Americans don't value it properly.
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I spent a lunch hour at my kids' school a few years ago, (they are doing online school from home now), and a whole apple was placed on every child's tray...I don't think a single child ate the apple..they were used as baseballs, being tossed around, and yes, they ended up in the trash! I pocketed a few apples that day
