Any dedicated dumpster divers or freegans here?

I'm not talking about those who see a TV on the side of the road and pick it up, but rather those who make an intentional effort to dumpster dive to avoid consumer society (Or really, I don't care about the reason, as long as you are dedicated)

What is it really like? All I've read was either to glorify or demonize it, and I doubt either gave an accurate picture. Do you really finds tons of stuff in apartment/store dumpsters and rather than your prize finds, what is the normal find? Is there really fresh food? How do you avoid getting caught, and how do storeowners usually react when you do get caught? Besides supermarkets, what are other places to check? If I were to go behind my Barnes n Noble (or other companies), would there be free books? What about behind Gamestop or other game stores? What about clothing stores? Is there the occasional find, or is it commonplace?

 

I'll never touch food from a dumpster, however have found many things ranging from clothes to computers, tv's, VCRs, VHS tapes, DVD's, lamps, books, old antique toys, radios, bikes and god knows what else.
I haven't done it lately, mainly because the weather has been crap, but I don't have any problem looking in a dumpster and yanking things out.

Mind you, I get the majority of my things from Garbage Day and students leaving their things in the schools field.

 

i eat food from dumpsters, but not to glorify radical culture, although there is that aspect of it. i do it because there is enough food for everyone, and scarcity is a lie and it's bullshit that we throw out so much good food while people go hungry. yes i know that me pulling bagels from the trash and eating it isnt going to change it, but by doing so i can work less and have more time to do things that actually do make a real difference.

you will find books at barnes and noble pretty often. don't give up if you dont find any on your first try. they are there. usually in boxes sealed with tape. bust them out and slice it open and you may find a variety of shit. i have found board games with $50 price tags on them, books, toys, journals, lamps.

also computers, tvs, clothes, furniture, luggage, anything really.

and vegetables, fruit, bread, cupcakes, odwalla juice...

 

I dumpster dive when mcdonalds has its monopoly shit. Also, I have fake teeth and one time at sizzler I left them on the table, and I had to go through two dumpsters to find them again. That sucked.

 

Same here. You'd be surprised what rich people throw out..expensive clothes with the tags still on them! I've found some treasures..not in dumpsters in the street, but at homes where my dad and I have done job bids and construction work. One time we found a really valuable picture-record collection in the garbage!

 

i had to get a bigger house for all the stuff i get from the dumpster ... fact think Ill go for a walk and dumpster dive....

 

No offense (Definitely no offense, I support you.), but your reasons for doing so kind of do define a radical culture, sadly.

Also, I've done my first non-neighborhood dumpster diving. I was walking down the street later at night, and saw a worker throwing a bag in the dumpster behind look bakery. As soon as he walked in I ran up and used my mail key to tear it open. There was two loafs of bread right on top, decided not to dig through the paper below it to look for more. And they were still a little warm (Or at least felt warm compared to the 25 degree weather). Thats just plain ridiculous, bread isn't inedible after one fucking day (Or more likely, a couple hours). I'm still scared to it again though, I have cop-phobia when the sun goes down. And I know the whole "homelessness is a crime" mentality around here, so it would suck seeming like one. Oh well, I'm getting more and more comfortable being controversial.

 

i dumpster dive every time i have the chance, found a few useful things but not too many. However where i usually chill there is an einsteins bagels, hotbox pizza, and marco's pizza that after like 8 they throw out the food they didnt sell, perfectly good and sometimes still warm, which is great if i dont have money and im starving because i didnt eat all day.

 

seeing a dumpster is like winning the lottery...

 

damn dumpster diving trash eating liberals

 

Don't you pillocks think it's kinda of rude to dive in dumpsters when you're online typing up this shit? I mean, you're taking good stuff from the homeless and people who really need it instead of making a political statement.

Don't see how this has anything to do with anarchy either. Since when did anarchists dive in dumpsters? They kill for food, not dive for it.

 

Sounds like a good idea if you really can get all that stuff.

 

so many people associate the word "anarchy" directly with violence. this is very untrue. first of all, dumpster diving, is not only a way to rebel against the CORPORATE companies by taking their food, so-called 'waste', which is actually perfectly fine consumable, and edible, nutrition, if you will. also, you are keeping the dumpster findings out of landfills, which we all know pollute the earth, give people money, and other bad things like that.
plus, dude its so fun!
like i said before, finding good food in a dumpster is like winning the lottery. im not even kidding, food just tastes better out of a dumpster. it's kind of a mindset, like the ''stolen food tastes better,'' kind of thing.
and for taking food from hobos, man, if you know hobos [which you probaly do! i know i do!] have a party. in a dumpster. there's always leftovers to go around out of that biiig green bin, man! i mean, if the hobos dont get it first, and you dont get it, then mother earth has to take it on in a garbage dump. GARBAGE belongs in dumps. NOT EDIBLE FOOD!!!
and if dumpster diving isn't for you, just accept it and move on. why should you have to stumble over other poeple's hobbies and complain about crap that nobody wants to fight over. open your mind and share your views, but by doing that, you must consent to listen to ther people's views, as well.
so, go ahead, make fun of dumpster divers. it wont get anybody anywhere.

 

well i dumpster dove for yrs. while i was on the road, and recently my buddie got me into it again we feed a number of families and help our compost piles as well we could not possibly give all the food we get away before it spoils! then we get all sorts of outher things like we just scored hundreds of dollars of peg board,allsorts of hangers to go with it and it was somthing that i was looking to buy but could not afford! we find all sorts of things like broken lamps that can be used for parts, pressure washers, compressors nailguns that all just need simple fixes! corporate amarica and home owners throw good shit away every day! recycle reuse and keep on diving!!!!

 

i know man. once i found a brand new George Foreman grille. it was like unopened and everything.

 

Somebody obviously has never looked in a dumpster. The things are overflowing with food after each day. There is no question of taking food from the homeless here at all. Just less packaging and food ending up in landfill.

 

No kidding anarchy isn't about killing and violence - it was a bleedin' joke. Anarchy is about autonomy - living according to one's own will. I get it - I want it.

What I'm saying is that you are taking food from poor folk who really need sustenance to survive just to gloat about how your going against the BIG guy. That's a bunch of bollocks, mate. If you went into a homeless shelter and stole someone's place in line because you're 'going against the big guy', you are no better off than that big guy. You're exploiting the opportunity and robbing others of their means to live.

Then again, you peeps may not live in a city where POOR folk live off of that shit. Every day I walk into the alley I see poor people digging for food - not hippies trying to make a political point with their passive aggressive behavior.

 

Dude, dumpster diving is in no way shape or form 'stealing from the poor'. first of all, if you have ever looked in a dumpster, and picked out the good food, you would have enough to feed a whole f***ing army.
think about it. cops hate homeless people because they interfere with their way of life. they think they're everything, and that nothing should touch that. and if it does, they'll try to stop it. Most cops, that is.
now, think about dumpster diving and anarchy. FOOD NOT BOMBS? its an organization that is spread throughout the U.S. (as far as I know of) in groups. they dumpster food and have a big cook out. then, they set up stands in the city, and give the dumpstered food to homeless.
tons of cops try to outlaw this stuff. i dont necesserly understand why, because that is cruel, but.....they do.
anyways, food not bombs http://www.foodnotbombs.net/ (food not bombs dot net) is one of the best, most moving organizations for all the anarchists to dumpster, which is loads of fun, and to get your anarchist community together and feed those hobos!
man, those tons of dumpstered foods have to go into someone's belly, and if nobody else has them already, why take the risk of leaving them there and have nobody take them? if you're so worried about depreiving the poor from the dumpstered food, just start a food not bombs in your town. hey man, you could even just walk around and hand the food to hobos you see on the street, if you say that you see them so much!!

 

Right. I appreciate your attempt to explain, I do, but what does dumpster diving have to do with anarchy? I still not getting it.

Please explain for us folk who understand the basic definition of anarchy.

 

Alright. Well, it can really mean anything to YOU, depending on how you look at it. But the main points of Food Not Bombs, directly pretaining to dumpster diving, is that
1. cops hate it. i was never really quite clear on the cop's psycholigy for exactly WHY they hated it, but they do. smaller communities have faced oppositions with local law enforcement. they come up with excuses like, "you need a permit", or whatever. i mean, what kind of sick f**k would kick out people feeding the HOMELESS!? seriously.
2. and just dumpster diving, in and of itself, is kind of a mini rebellion againt either the company you're dumpstering at, the actual dumpster company, or a land fill. if the government is so worried about world hunger, then why the f**k do you throw out half the country's food supplies and put them in a landfill to rot into the earth? and anyways, the capitilism wastes soo much crap. not just food.

dumpster diving sometimes really catches people's eyes on what the food supply corporations are hiding from us, [which can definately be found in more places than just a dumpster]. and who wants to give money to a corporation that either exploits their workers or throws useful crap into who knows where it goes. or probably both.
theres so much unused and wasted resources in this country. we are trained from the time we were born to never accept anything that was tainted in the least, like a drink somebody already took a sip of or a cookie that fell on the floor. hey man, most people don't die from eating a cookie that fell on the floor.
so next time you eat a meal, think of where it came from. how many peruvian farmers were beat to get that banana to the U.S? how many chicken's throats were slit to give you that salad? and how many CO2 emissions were given off to get that apple into your hands from spain? if you're not against the problem, you're just a part of it.