Posted on 05/27/2003 6:11:10 PM PDT by Texas Eagle
One man's trash
Freegans find treasures in a dumpster-diving lifestyle that defies consumerism
By Will Evans -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, May 27, 2003
There's a dumpster in Sacramento with delicious sweet rolls inside. Rich, chewy and a bit hard to find amid all the bakery trash, it's a good dessert to cap off a successful night of dumpster-diving for Tim Jones.
Jones actually takes two, gobbling them as he pedals away on his bike, which is lugging a trailer loaded with groceries he's grabbed from another dumpster.
Jones, 21, is a "freegan." It's a takeoff on the word "vegan," which means someone who on principle will not eat any animal products -- including dairy -- so as not to harm animals.
But what about the sweet roll, which is probably made with eggs, milk and butter? Freegans like Jones will eat nonvegan food if it's free -- that is, if they scavenge it, so they're not supporting the nonvegan industry or creating demand for a product.
They get much of their food from dumpsters.
But it's not just a fringe diet.
Freeganism is rooted in a political philosophy that condemns over-consumption and waste in American society.
"When people are starving around the world, (Americans) are throwing away perfectly good food," says David, 20, another Sacramento freegan who doesn't want his last name used.
Freegans come from a larger community of young, do-it-yourself punks. Many are anarchists, opposing all forms of government and embracing ideals such as individual freedom and cooperation. Some, though, don't identify as anarchists -- or as punks -- or they resent being labeled. But all of them despise the American-style consumerism they call destructive.
The freegan diet stems from vegetarianism, which means to not eat meat -- despite what those fish-nibbling, chicken-chewing "vegetarians" say.
Veganism is one step stricter. Freegans, if they buy anything, buy vegan.
Still, to them, it's kosher to eat non-vegan food (a few will even eat meat) if it's dumpstered, left on somebody's plate or given away by a restaurant.
"If a cow's going to suffer for its milk, then I'd rather have it put to use than not," David says.
He ponders a freegan bagel, sitting under a tree after a punk show. His favorite freegan food is a cheese bagel, but this one looks like it's whole wheat.
"There might be eggs or there might be milk in it," he says, munching away, "but I'd rather have it fill my hunger than fill the landfill."
Simply put: Freegans reduce trash by eating it (though they aren't the only dumpster-divers out there). And while vegans believe animal products cause animal misery and environmental ruin -- especially with modern mass-production techniques -- freegans even worry about the harm of buying vegan.
"Should I use what otherwise would go to waste?" Jones says. "Or should I go into a store and pay six bucks for this organic vegan product that's in all the plastic packaging, and then someone's going to use that six bucks to go buy McDonald's or something?"
His thinking shows how freegans view the extreme inter-connectedness of things -- like that of a hunk of tofu, for example, to the gas that's used and the pollution that's created by transporting it to a store.
Louise Hansen looks at cheese and sees the exploitation of cows and the vast resources industrial farms consume. She thinks of the destruction of ecosystems in other countries to feed Americans.
But she also likes cheese.
A 21-year-old freegan majoring in environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Hansen was in Sacramento earlier this month for Kid Fest, a loosely organized weekend of fun for anarchist punk types. It was fueled by dumpstered food, including cream-filled donuts.
There may not be a lot of freegans in Sacramento -- an actual count is hard to get -- but many pass through. People in the scene often travel the country, hitchhiking and hopping freight trains. Freegan-ness is key on the road, where good vegan food can be scarce.
And it's handy at home, where dumpster-diving is just like grocery shopping. Only it's free.
On one recent outing, Jones jumps in a grocery store's dumpster, picking through the muck while directing a small flashlight with his mouth.
It doesn't look too tasty at first: a random piece of fried chicken, a stack of moldy tortillas, unidentifiable bags and a porn magazine. The dumpster has a sweet, musty smell, though each has a unique bouquet. Eventually, Jones digs up some decent tortillas, garlic bread, lettuce, peppers and mushrooms -- some wrapped, some not.
The next store's dumpster is better -- if stickier. It's a gooey mess, on account of the over-ripe fruits and veggies squished together, the leaking clam dip and something that could be sour cream. But Jones and his dumpstering buddy still manage to make a haul: apples, oranges, kiwis, strawberries, bananas, tomatoes, avocados, potatoes, yogurt and milk.
Sure, the goods have dents and blemishes -- the kind of produce people inside the store plop aside. And some of the food has passed its "sell by" date.
But Jones and the others say they've never gotten sick from dumpstered food. And washed and prepared, it will make for a full meal -- not just for Jones and his friends, but for dozens of homeless people who they cook for regularly.
Even on his way back to the house he shares with several friends, Jones stops his bike for the homeless, turning his trailer into a free mobile market.
No trouble this night, but dumpstering is not without risks: Police consider it illegal trespassing, and sometimes people from the stores chase down the divers or call authorities.
But freegans already have chosen, in a way, to be outlaws from mainstream society. They reject capitalism and try to live outside it, some avoiding money altogether.
They are the underground resistance to over-consumption. Many who professionally study the larger social and environmental issues have never heard of the word "freegan," though they share similar ideas.
"What people like (freegans) are witnessing is a culture of waste and affluence, which is occurring in a larger context of poverty on a global scale, growing poverty now domestically, (and) growing ecological devastation caused by our consumption habits," says Juliet Schor, a Boston College sociology professor and author of "The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need."
"These folks are engaged in a pretty profound critique of the dominant lifestyle."
The symbolism of freeganism is striking, says Mathis Wackernagel, sustainability program director at Redefining Progress, an Oakland think tank. "It's saying, 'This is a mirror -- look at how much waste there is. There's so much waste we can live perfectly well on your waste,' " he says.
But freeganism also has practicality, he says. Wackernagel designed a way of measuring an individual's impact on the Earth called an "ecological footprint." If everyone lived like Americans, some of the biggest consumers in the world, we would need five planets, he estimates.
The food we eat, he says, shapes our footprint the most. And while eating locally grown vegan food makes the smallest print among food-buyers, freegans even beat that, he says.
Of course, not everyone buys it.
In fact, the Center for Consumer Freedom, a food and beverage trade group, disagrees with pretty much all of it -- from the belief that eating animal products is unethical to the notion that the world is in an environmental crisis or America is to blame.
"If they really believe that they can eat and nourish their bodies without impacting the environmnent around them, I think they've probably been smoking something they found in a dumpster," says David Martosko, the center's research director, who actually knows what "freegan" means. "Pretending to drop out of the natural order of things does not make you morally superior."
Not one to brag about morals, Jones tries to reduce his impact in a personal way. His clothes are mostly used -- and sometimes sprinkled with holes. He bikes as much as possible and is building a bicycle-powered washing machine. He composts any food waste in back of his house. He and his housemates brew their own cider using dumpstered apple juice.
But as much as they troll for edible trash, Jones and other freegans realize that it's not the ultimate solution. Dumpster-diving only exists because of the system they hate.
In the ideal world, Jones says, people would be as self-reliant as possible, making and growing only what they need. That world is not likely to come soon -- and freegans know it.
"When you look at the big picture, you get kind of jaded," Jones says. "So I just take it day by day."
Dumpster by dumpster.
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About the Writer ---------------------------
The Bee's Will Evans can be reached at (916) 321-1987 or wevans@sacbee.com.
Name one ecosystem which has been destroyed to feed Americans. And talk about hypocrisy. The article doesn't mention the adverse effect on rats and seagulls which these human pigs create by raiding the rat/seagull foodsource. Animals are suffering out there.
And what a bastardization of the English language. What used to be a "Shiftless Lazy Bum" is now a "Freegan."
Beam me up.....
Freegans come from a larger community of young, do-it-yourself punks.
They're a community! They're Dumpster-Diver-Americans! And they are do-it-yourselfers ! !
I'm sorry, but this is where I draw the line. Dumpster diving for food - yuck!
You bet. :)
It was dark so I never saw his face yet the light from the pole lamp lit up his nappy hair on the top of his head. Freaked me out at first but then I said "Sorry", and heaved the second bag a few feet to his right.
BTW, this resturant served black angus prime beef and Idaho potatoes. What was left on the plates amazed me at times. This had to be the best fed hobo in Northern California at the time. Butter, sour cream, and chives smothered most of the spuds I threw away.
And proud of it! LOL
Glad to see they have principles.
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