Freegans Hit New York Dumpster
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.21.07
Joe Fornabaio for The New York Times
The day after the students move out, the Freegan hordes descend on the dumpsters of NYU to pick up free loot: televisions, paintings, half-fulled jars of detergent, even a working iPod. According to the New York Times:
"Freegans are scavengers of the developed world, living off consumer waste in an effort to minimize their support of corporations and their impact on the planet, and to distance themselves from what they see as out-of-control consumerism. They forage through supermarket trash and eat the slightly bruised produce or just-expired canned goods that are routinely thrown out, and negotiate gifts of surplus food from sympathetic stores and restaurants."
The food at a recent feast came from supermarket trash. Evan Sung for The New York Times
Freegans appear to be quite organized in New York, but the pickings are easy in such a rich, dense city. They have a website (freegan.info) where they post events like the NYU Dorm Dive, a directory and a message board. Once a week they get together and have a freegan feast.
It all sounds too disgusting, but as former investment banker and now bicycle repairman Christian Gutierrez says: “Opening that first bag of trash is the biggest step.” ::New York Times
My father is a Freegan and makes a healthy monthly salary doing what he does...he calls it "curbside shopping".
because 'dumpster-diver' is so not hip...
Every year I find enough furniture to furnish a few houses, all during the 2 big move outs (when spring semester ends, and when leases run out at the end of the summer.)
If you're really dedicated, you can sell all this stuff back to incoming students, making money while "minimiz[ing] their support of corporations" and all that other bs.
college moveouts, especially schools like NYU (where a lot of students are from out of town) generate tons of waste. Besides tons of food, furniture, linens and clothing, there are occasionally some high quality electronics too.
I've gone dumpster diving here at Emory University (ATL, GA) and found printers, an ipod, and a PS2! I also found enough canned/sealed-dry food to last me a month w/o groceries!
I encourage anyone who wants to: save money and recycle, to hit up these dumpsters around college move out dates (look for the ones near dorms)
Also, try to encourage students to recycle more on their own. This fall I'm going to write an article for the campus newspaper, extolling resources such as Freecycle (the Yahoo mail list serve), to reduce dumpster waste.
Many of the Freegans interviewed for this article are also featured in a new documentary about garbage, called "Trashed." You can see a trailer of the movie, which premieres in July, at trashedmovie.com.
I've gone on a dumpster dive with these guys. You wouldn't believe how much perfectly clean and edible food grocery stores and restaurants throw away every night. You can also find some really nice furniture on the dorm dives.
this is some sick shiz. might as well go in a cow field and eat cow manuer because it has vitamins in it. geez, can't you find this kind of stuff before it GETS to the dumpsters?
i don't know how much these people ahve investigated germs and bateria, but that's just disgusting.
I WENT TODAY AT ONE OF THE FREEGAN FEAST AND THE MEAL WAS FANTASTIC ...