suchandra 1 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 http://www.dumpsterdivers.org/ http://dumpsterdiving.meetup.com/ In order to protest against 40% of foodstuffs being thrown away in US - these are some 86 billions pounds of food per year - Adam Weissmann founded the "Dumpster Divers", who out of political conviction only live on what they find to eat at places where things are thrown away. http://freegan.info/ Somehow these people seem to be close of understanding that everything is created by God and nothing should be wasted: isavasyam idam sarvam yat kinca jagatyam jagat tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam "Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong." (Sri Isopanisad) ---- How to Dumpster Dive http://www.wikihow.com/Dumpster-Dive Believe it or not, though, dumpster diving is quickly approaching mainstream status even in affluent countries. Whether you’re looking to furnish your home, fill your fridge, or cash in on other people’s trash, this guide will teach you the ins and outs of dumpster diving. Remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure! Steps Know your local laws. In many if not most jurisdictions, trash is not considered private property, so dumpster divers cannot be charged with theft. Depending on where you are and what you are taking, however, that may not be the case. In addition, some municipalities have ordinances prohibiting scavenging trash, and dumpster divers may run afoul of laws regarding trespassing or invasion of privacy. Research the laws in your area or contact your local police department to inquire about the legality of diving practices. Get over your squeamishness or adapt your methods to avoid practices you see as disgusting. Many people find entering a dumpster gross. If you follow the steps below, however, you may be able to make your experience a little less foul. If you’re still put off by sifting through trash, however, consider scavenging only items placed with trash but not in rubbish bins, such as furniture and, sometimes, crates of food. Network with other divers. As you get into dumpster diving, you’ll likely meet other divers. Many, but not all, will be friendly and helpful. Share tips and experiences with them and you’ll probably get some good tips in return. Consider joining an online dumpster diving forum or a local club. There are a lot of dumpsters out there, and you can’t cover them all on your own, so word of mouth is extremely helpful. Find the hot spots. If you’re just looking for unexpected treasures, you can look pretty much anywhere. Drive around your neighborhood on the night or early morning before trash pickup, for example, and look for furniture or electronic items sitting next to trash cans, or randomly search dumpsters. If you want to find food, go to dumpsters behind grocery stores, bakeries, and the like. Many stores simply throw out products once they hit the expiration date, and you can sometimes find good produce that’s just a little past its peak. Look online at dumpster diving forums for tips on where to go in your area. Be in the right place at the right time. Usually late nights or early mornings are the best times to dive. Dumpsters are usually fullest at these times, and you have less chance of a confrontation. Obviously in a residential neighborhood you should wait until the night before scheduled trash pickups. Also, the 7th of the month is a good day for dumpster diving in planned communities in some regions, because those people who haven't paid their rent yet for the previous month will be evicted on the 8th, and they may be in a hurry to just throw stuff out and split. For businesses, you’ll generally find the best days and times by trial-and-error. Some stores, for example, throw out a lot of things on a certain day. Check online dumpster diving forums, ask other dumpster divers, or even ask friendly store clerks or business owners. Wear the right clothes. Get some good gloves and wear them whenever you go diving. Long-sleeve shirts and pants will help protect you from dirt and cuts. If you’re going to actually enter a dumpster, wear sturdy fabrics such as denim, and cover as much of your body as possible. Protect your feet by wearing thick, fully-enclosed shoes or boots. Wear clothes that you don’t care too much about. Equip yourself. Check the “things you’ll need" section below. At the very least carry a milk crate or stepping stool to help you see and access the contents of dumpsters and bring plastic bags to hold your treasures. Also be sure to bring a flashlight if you’re diving at night. Remember that you don’t have to dive right into a dumpster—bring along a long pole to poke around with or one with a grabbing apparatus on the end, and you may not need to venture in at all. Make sure no one is around. As long as you’re not breaking any laws, you don’t have anything to worry about, right? Wrong—dumpster diving is somewhat controversial, and divers are frequently confronted by shopkeepers or homeowners. While a confrontation is no big deal if handled properly, you should still try to avoid it. If you see people in the area, wait a while. Handle with care. Be very careful when handling trash or entering dumpsters. Broken glass and sharp objects can cut you, and you could be poked by a used needle. Protective clothing will help avoid these dangers, but you also need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. Bring along a car or truck. Unless you’re collecting furniture it’s not necessary to have a vehicle, but it can increase the range of your diving and the size and quantity of things you can carry. Prepare your vehicle by putting bags or old blankets over the seats or cargo area—trash is frequently dirty. Look for items you want. Sift through the trash and collect anything that you can use. Bag smaller items. Take only what you need or can realistically use. There are a lot of dumpster divers, and someone may have a dire need for something that you’ll just leave sitting in your garage. Clean up after yourself. If you’ve thrown garbage all around, pick it up and put it back into the dumpster. While you’re at it, throw away other nearby trash that’s on the ground. Leave the area as clean or cleaner than you found it—don’t give dumpster diving a bad name. Bring items home and thoroughly clean them. Cleaning is especially important with food. While most food will be packaged, take special care to wash produce, preferably in a mild bleach and water solution (the food you buy in grocery stores is usually treated in this way anyway, so this isn’t a drastic step). Clean up other items and test out and try to repair any electronics or other tools. Dispose of unusable items responsibly. One of the best aspects of dumpster diving is that it keeps things out of landfills. Once you remove an item, however, it’s your responsibility to use it or properly dispose of it. If you can’t use an item, recycle it or try to give it away on sites such as freecycle or craigslist (see external links). Proper disposal is especially important with electronic waste, which is highly toxic to the environment. If you pick up a great printer but then can’t get it to work, don’t just toss it in your garbage. <!-- 49859586 -->Tips Check out community websites for more free things. The free section of craigslist is a good resource if you live in a metropolitan area, and many communities have freecycle groups where people give away their unwanted treasures to keep them out of landfills. If you participate in one of these communities, remember to give as well as receive. If you live near a university, especially a rich one like Princeton, for example, you are in luck! When graduation rolls around the seniors have to move out fast and leave lots of great stuff behind. Also, underclassmen do, too, but usually that occurs right before graduation. So get in tune with the local college. Some janitors are nice and allow you to paw through the bags of stuff they leave outside the dorms to be picked up by the trash guys... Dive with a friend. Dumpster diving is a lot more fun with company. It’s also a lot safer. A friend can help you out if you become injured or can help defuse confrontations. Empty your pockets and take off any jewelry before entering a dumpster. You don't want to lose anything in the trash. If confronted by a business owner, resident, rubbish hauler, or police officer, be polite and explain what you are doing. Many times people will assume that you are illegally dumping trash and will not bother you if they understand that you are not. In any case, always be friendly and respectful, and try to understand the other person’s point of view: business owners who tell you to leave the premises, for example, may be concerned about their legal liability if you were to be injured. While diving, keep a few cardboard boxes around outside the dumpster in a little pile. If confronted, you can say you were searching for some boxes to help with a move. The employees are more likely to give you a better reaction than if you tell them you were looking for products they sell. If you see something you want, it doesn't hurt to ask the dumpster owners before you grab. There are times when they haven't finished tossing stuff and you'll get firsties on the rest! Let it be known in your neighborhood that you find homes for discards. Many people can't be bothered to call a charity shop, but are all too happy to ask a neighbor to haul things away for them. Tips for finding food. You dont want full dumpsters, you want freshly filled dumpsters. That only happens on Mondays. So Monday night is grocery night. Monday all grocery store dumpsters get emptied of the weekend trash that accumulates because the trash companies usually work Mon-Fri. So nothing has been in the dumpster longer that a few hours if you dive Monday nights. Certain delivery trucks like dairy, Lays, Entenmanns, Fisher and Planters, Breads and Pastries, candy, etc., will dump the days collected expired dated items in the dumpsters at their last delivery stop of the day so they go back empty. Those items are always neatly packed in large garbage bags in the truck so they can be easily disposed of. That means they are clean and protected in the dumpster. Monday they have the largest load of expired stuff because of the weekend. Also they are most likely to find more empty dumpsters on Monday than other days of the week. Before vaulting into a dumpster you hit the side of the dumpster a few times and disturb its contents on the top. That gives the rats, possums, raccoons and squirrels opportunities to surface and escape. I had numerous intimate confrontations with possums and rats. Coons leave quickly as do squirrels. Possums will fight. Rats will run over the top of you to get away. Was never bitten, however I did let several possums keep the dumpster and I moved on rather than fight. A white butcher smock makes you look like a grocery store employee and you are seldom bothered by other dumpster divers or law enforcement when they see that smock. A cheap set of long handled fireplace log tongs work wonderfully for retrieving items if you dont want to climb in. A miners cap with the light is better than a flash light because it allows you to work two handed, and then you arent always losing that light into the bottom of the dumpster. I had a rigged light that fit on my left arm, but it sometimes wasnt good because I couldnt see behind or to the right without turning my body. That cap light will not look like a grocery store clerk however. If you don't like to get very dirty, you can try magazine dumpster diving. The magazine recycling boxes are usually very clean, and sometimes you can find some very good reading material in them if you don't want to buy a subscription to a magazine. If you are worried about safety, you can park your car in front of the dumpster to make it impossible to have it dumped. In some cases this is illegal, but if you are diving on a day near trash pick-up, it could save your life. <!-- 49859586 -->Warnings Never try to access a dumpster or other trash that is fenced in or that has “no trespassing‿ signs posted nearby. Never take documents containing personal information and / or use such information for illegal purposes. Do not escalate confrontations. If someone asks you to leave, do so, even if you know your activity to be perfectly legal. Do not enter a dumpster when garbage trucks are in the area; if a truck approaches, get out of the dumpster immediately. Beware dumpster lids slamming down on you because of wind or gravity. Know how to tell when canned products have spoiled, they may contain botulism toxin. Botulism is a foodbourne illness which can be fatal. Clean up after you’re done. Take a good shower to wash dirt and germs off. Consider keeping your tetanus immunization shots up to date in case you get cut. Tetanus is rare, but it can be fatal! Never enter a dumpster that is equipped with a compactor. "Dumpster Diving" is illegal in England and is classed as theft. Property which is put in a bin remains the property of the person who owned it until the council (or other body) collect it. After it has been collected it becomes the property of that body. People have been prosecuted over this. If you wish to do this you should seek the permission of the legal owner to take any item. <!-- 49859586 -->Things You'll Need Comfortable, sturdy clothes Strong, fully-enclosed shoes or boots Gloves Milk crate or stool Plastic bags A stick or grabbing device for poking about Flashlight First aid kit <!-- 49859586 -->Related wikiHows How to Save Money How to retire in Your 30,s How to Save Money on Gas How to Sell on eBay How to Safely Get Rid of an Old Computer How to Buy Nothing <!-- 49859586 -->External Links FrugalVillage.com An introduction to dumpster diving DumpsterWorld.com More resources and a forum Craigslist.org A great section for free stuff—choose your city from the list on the right side of the homepage Freecycle.org List items to give away or items you need—search for your local group www.freegan.info/ Freegan.info Anti-capitalist lifestyle movement with a strong emphasis on dumpster diving. Dumpster Diving Blog Stories from a dumpster diver, with further tips and ideas. My Dumpster Diving Adventures! A dumpster diver shares his or her tales of great finds on new blog! Is also a trash tour meet up source for Dumpster Divers!!! <!-- 49859586 --><!-- Tidy found serious XHTML errors --><!-- Saved in parser cache with key wikidb_16:pcache:idhash:43139-0!1!0!0!!en!2 and timestamp 20070114020959 --><!-- end content --> Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bhakta Don Muntean 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2007 Yup - you would post something like this wouldn't you...food is now sent to food banks - it may be safer to eat food from the food bank than to eat food from a dumpster... Quote: Property which is put in a bin remains the property of the person who owned it until the council (or other body) collect it. Reply: Yes and how many dumpster divers are out there looking for personal information? It is a sad practice and it should not be encouraged - for so many reasons... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted January 15, 2007 I support food bank ideas, however, if one has ever used these facilities, they would see the horrific condition of the foods, especially the perishables, they distribute. Dumpster diving is not bad if you have common sense. However, it maqy be a better idea to contact the grocery stores and make arrangements for picking things up in a timely manner before they are thrown in the rats reaLM. Thius is very important info for preaching centers on minimal budgets to provide for feasts. This was a standard in the old daysw of this movement, and devotees with good people skills, like the folks I knew and actually became, to arrange with marketers to actually engage in a form of devotional service. The stuff we used to get prior to the grocery stores tossing the items were actually better than what the store had on the shelf. Grocery Stores do not stack ripe fruit of veges because they dont stack well and are too easily damaged by the shoppers. So the stuff we always gotr was reaDY TO PREPARE STUFF, NOT NEEDING THE USUAL "DARK STORAGE IN A COOL DRY PLACE FOR THREE DAYS" routine thast shoppers have to put up with. Food banks dont have this kind of frweshness. The stuff they get is past dated, and sometimes even rats would not eat the stuff. Again, I actively support food banks, but would prefer that they stick with non-perishables and breads (which can be frozen). PS My expertise in the subject is as a grocer. Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa Dumpster diving, if its good enough for the manson family, how2 can a discriminating connoseur (sp) resist? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theist 1 Report post Posted January 15, 2007 The idea of collecting produce from grocery stores is a good one. Eating out of a dumpster is unbelievably foul. And Don is right about people snooping for personal info. I have managed several apt buildings and have spotted people doing this. They actually dress down to homeless level to blend in. Cross shred your papers. Non food items are always good. I don't buy anything I just wait for it to show up on the street. I live 3 blocks from UC Berkeley and after every spring session ends many students leave for home and they just place their old furnishings on the street. The point of suchandras post is a good one. America is so wastefull as to be criminal. No appreciation of God's ownership and kindness. Each of the citizens is responsible. Everything should be recycled and if it is not recyclable then it should not be made in the first place. This mountainous waste is the inevidentable outcome of unbridled Capitalism which views disposable items as high profitability. I would really like to find a way to recycle my vegetable cuttings and pulp from juicing veggies. We should be making fuel and compost out of it. Are there no torn clothes lying on the common road? Do the trees, which exist for maintaining others, no longer give alms in charity? Do the rivers, being dried up, no longer supply water to the thirsty? Are the caves of the mountains now closed, or, above all, does the Almighty Lord not protect the fully surrendered souls? Why then do the learned sages go to flatter those who are intoxicated by hard-earned wealth? -SB 2.2.5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bija 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2007 I had a friend, who a few years back who was into dumpster diving. It is funny, he knew the movements of the local supermarket trash. A real intelligent fella who could put his hand to anything. Very much into the environment and human rights. I never asked him whether it was legal or not. He used to get all sorts of usable product...soaps, shampoos, many packaged things. "Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong." (Sri Isopanisad) quoted by suchandra To whom doth the trash belong.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted January 16, 2007 I had a friend, who a few years back who was into dumpster diving. It is funny, he knew the movements of the local supermarket trash. A real intelligent fella who could put his hand to anything. Very much into the environment and human rights. I never asked him whether it was legal or not. He used to get all sorts of usable product...soaps, shampoos, many packaged things. To whom doth the trash belong.... Dumpster Diving Lawbook: "1.Know your local laws. In many if not most jurisdictions, trash is not considered private property, so dumpster divers cannot be charged with theft. Depending on where you are and what you are taking, however, that may not be the case. In addition, some municipalities have ordinances prohibiting scavenging trash, and dumpster divers may run afoul of laws regarding trespassing or invasion of privacy. Research the laws in your area or contact your local police department to inquire about the legality of diving practices." Also see, How to retire in Your 30's at wikihow.com/Retire-in-Your-30%27s Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
