You are currently browsing the daily archive for January 10th, 2007.
For those of you who don’t know I’m a dumpster diving geek. This means that I jump into dumpsters near grocery stores or other shops and search for things to eat or use. I tend to get a lot of questions about why I do this and the purpose behind it when I talk to people about the issues. I figured since a recent article that came out in Calgary’s Avenue Magazine about 
Food Quality / Other Issues
One of the biggest questions and concerns that I get is that the food quality that I am recovering is quite bad and could potentially cause me harm or that there are other issues associated with these practices. I’ve tried to break down the common questions that I get from people to answer all the questions (and would encourage more from people).
- Isn’t the food completely gross and sketchy (read: super gross and moldy) - Nope. Seriously. Take a
look at that picture below and the quality of that food that we recovered. Did you know that stores will throw out veggies because they don’t look like you expect them to look? Yep veggie discrimination. It kinda make sense though cause we live in a demand created culture and thus we expect high quality food. - What do you do with the food after you recover it? I take it home and eat it. Well that’s not entirely true. Some of the things I donate to Food Not Bombs and most things I take home, clean with bio-degradable soap, dry, and eat later. Pre-packaged things just get checked (bad parts removed) and then stored for later consumption.
- Aren’t you taking food away from homeless people? I think this is a fair question really and I’ve had a few people ask me about this. The question I like to rebutle is the following - “Why would a homeless person deserve or want to eat food out of a dumpster? Why wouldn’t they want to head to a shelter and get some fresh warm cooked food there?” I think it’s an assumption that the food is there and that somehow I’m stealing it from someone else that needs it. But you have to realize that everyone sees this food as waste and not as food. Also, there is so much of it that I end up not taking all of it home with me anyway.
Umm what have you found
This question I get a lot and most people figure that the things that I found are far and few between. I can guarantee that most times if I head out on a dumpstering mission I’ll find a load of food whether it be a bunch of bread, fruit/veggies, or things I can use. It is a bit of a hit and miss mission because sometimes you’ll find nothing like any expedition.
- Last nights score - Last night we hit up this fruit and vegetable shop in Newtown. They had an entire bin filled with tomatoes, avocados (still ripe), peppers, carrots, mangos (huge HUGE mangos), and plenty more. All of this goodness went into a stew to be used on cereal for many mornings to come.
- Skates/Rollerblades/Helmets - One night I was in a dumpster near my parents place and came across a bin filled with old skates, rollerblades, and other things being thrown out. Don’t ask me why the shop nearby threw that out but I was pretty appalled. I mean we live in a society where some people don’t even have access to these things and we are throwing it out. Not to mention the resources needed to make all of this stuff. I packed all the gear up in a hockey bag (how convenient it was also in the dumpster) and carted it down to a local school in the inner city the next day. Perhaps I’m bragging perhaps not. The women working there told me that some of the parents and students had never skated on ice cause they don’t have money to buy skates. So now they had skates to wear, helmets, and all the other gear! YESS!
- Box of Vegan Sausages (Organic) - There was like 20 packages (each worth $5 - $6) inside the box and were going to expire within the next day. We split them up and used them at a local Iron Chef put on by Food Not Bombs.
- Unused Sleeping Bag - While in a outdoor store I scored a sweet light weight sleeping bag (unsuitable for Canada weather but perfect for OZ) that was thrown out. I also managed to snag some inflatable mattresses they had cut (to make them not self inflate) that I gave to some homeless guys sleeping on the ground that night.
- And more …
For the last three days I headed out with Aline to do the Coastal Track in the Royal National Park (oldest natural park in the world) a 23.5 KM (although I think we ended up doing more like 26 KM) hike from Bundeena down to Otford along the coastline. It’s a great little hike because you can catch the train from Sydney to Bundeena and then home from Otford (yah for mass transit folks).
This route was filled with some amazing coastline, heat, lack of water (made if more challenging for collecting and finding good sources — yah to McGiverShane), cliffs, trees, and space away from the craziness of busy Sydney. Aline and I were getting a little stur crazy in Sydney and decided to head out together to the coast.
Along the way we ran into Maurice from the Nunnery Bike Workshop and his rad partner Kaitlin who were hiking the exact
opposite direction. It was a nice treat to run into someone that you know, really like, and care about show up in the bush. Sorta like that icing on the cake really. It was good to chill out with Kaitlin a bit more too. The second night was spent enjoying some wine, food, and good laughs together. It’s kinda funny how you can escape the hustle and then everything seems to be really casual and chilled out. Aline was a nice compliment to all that as I found all our conversation to be centred around the environment, good vibes, making change, and permaculture. Uh yes I nice compliment to my time at Peats Ridge Festival.
I then have spent a bit of time back in Sydney getting ready to head out to New Zealand on Friday (oh that’s right folks taking a two month jaunt out there). Aline and I spent a bit of timing setting up a compost and working on a few areas that she plans to plant flowers and other food items in near her place in Bondi as well. The more that I get my hands in soil the more I realize that I love it! That I probably belong in some permaculture program, that trying to do things with youth is where it’s at, and that taking a course on permaculture has my name written all over it.
