Jackie Snow Photography

Dumpster Diving Sheds Its Trashy Image
By Jackie Snow
Originally published August 22, 2007 by The Naughty American

LOS ANGELES (TNA) – Crafty prowlers sneaking around fences and hiding from beaming lights, quickly looking for the loot, taking off in the getaway car before the police can be summoned, rushing to a prearranged spot to divvy up the treasure.

Does this sound like the climax to an action movie? Actually, it’s just a typical night for your run-of-the-mill dumpster diver.

Long considered the province of homeless bums and other dregs of society, dumpster diving has now gone upscale thanks to a group of people who call themselves “freegans.”

The members of the loosely knit group try to live anti-consumerist lifestyles by forging for what they need to subsist, such as bartering for goods and services, taking fruit from trees in their neighborhood and digging around in dumpsters at area grocery stores.

Most freegans are neither poor nor homeless; they do not necessarily need to hop in “trash-filled” receptacles for some expired food.

However, they will do it any day to reduce the food waste that makes up to 12 percent of landfills and to avoid buying into a food system that has become increasingly industrialized.

Following the growing popularity of veganism and conscious consuming, this unconventional lifestyle is becoming more appealing. In fact, ever since The New York Times reported on freeganism, scavenging for food has officially become socially acceptable—even for suburban soccer moms.

Besides being a cheap way to fill your tummy, dumpster diving can be an enjoyable and rewarding activity that is worth the raised eyebrows that inevitably follow the disclosing of your food source.

But before diving into a dumpster, it helps to have a solid plan.

Marlon Gellar, 24, has been dumpster diving with his roommate in southern California for the past two years and, in the process, has discovered these produce-purloining tips:

1. Know your target
Not all stores are created equal, Gellar said.
“The huge mainstream grocery stores are usually impossible,” he said. “Smaller institutions, as well as bakeries, usually have just a single dumpster in back that is easy to get in and out of.”
Do not just settle for food. Good hauls can also be found at retail stores that chuck out things like books, toys and Christmas candy that did not sell or if the packaging was opened. Gellar says these stores also tend to be less locked-down than grocery stores.

2. Scope out the scene in advance
Some days bring in better harvests than others. Good days to dive are immediately before trash is picked up and on nights when there’s a delivery of new stuff. Many stores will throw out perfectly edible but not fast-selling foods (such as bakery items a day or two past their sell date) to make room for new items.

3. Do NOT come early!
There are plenty of vigilante managers and rent-a-cops out there to ruin the fun and if they catch you once, they will be on the lookout from there on out. Keep in mind that many stores stock and clean up after hours, so even if the store closes at 9 p.m., the staff may be there until midnight.

4. Dress appropriately
Wear comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. Contrary to what you might think, you won’t necessarily get covered in dirt or food while diving, but let’s face the facts: You are still in a dumpster. Wear thick rubber gloves to keep your hands clean and protected so you can really dig in there. Also, don’t wear sandals unless you want to subject yourself to nasty cuts and/or soggy feet from the mysterious squish (hey, they do occasionally throw away trash in the dumpsters).

5. Come prepared
“No backpacks,” Gellar said. “Once you're in there, it just becomes an annoyance unless you leave it outside the dumpster, but it all depends how much stuff you're finding.” Gellar suggests using milk crates instead and wearing a miner’s helmet—you’ll free up a hand if the dumpster sits in a dark area.

6. Think outside the box, er, dumpster
Believe it or not, many groceries have systems set up to keep you away from all the garbage goodies. Everything from chains, bars, walls and pesky security lights might be in your way. In order to keep from being permanently locked out, you need to find a way to work around the barriers without destroying private property, a very clear area of law. However, most security barriers set around the dumpster can tolerate a little reversible modification. Locks can be picked then relocked, covers tied up, bars temporarily bent and walls climbed.

Above all, be resourceful! Gellar frequents a grocery store where the dumpster is inside a fenced cage. He gets around it by cutting a hole in the back side of the fence, as it is butted up against another wall that nobody ever goes to. One person climbs into the hole and pushes open the lid while another person climbs on top and grabs the tops. Then they use the plastic packing wrap found around most groceries stores to tie up the lids and presto – the dumpster is dive-able.

7. Have a system worked out in advance
Working quickly and efficiently will make you less likely to get caught, minimize your time in the dumpster and get the best harvest available.
“We have found that groups of four are the most efficient,” Gellar said. However, any number can work as long as everyone has a job. Make one person the designated diver, put another on the lookout, and assign someone to divide all the food.

8. Brush up on food safety
The majority of the food thrown away may not look pretty, but it should be edible, just not sellable. The USDA has a great guide at their website that explains the confusing labels and differences between sell-by and use-by labels. Bread, fruits and vegetables can be visually inspected, but dairy quickly becomes bad. Unless you can be sure that any dairy products you find were tossed within 2 hours of your arrival, stay away. On the bright side, there’s plenty of food that doesn’t have to be checked, such as wine, which can be found surprisingly often.

“We have found lots of wine, probably a grand total of 40 bottles or so,” Gellar said. “We have often found 12 packs of wine with one bottle that had broken and 11 perfectly fine bottles, which are covered in wine and have damaged labels. I guess none of the employees want to deal with cleaning them up. So they just toss them, sometimes the box of wine bottles isn't even opened.”

9. Work around the bruises
Fruits and vegetables might be bruised, but not beaten. Dumpster diver Melanie Badalato, who created an art project featuring dishes made from food she had retrieved from dumpsters, stresses that most of the found food is perfectly edible. She says the biggest problem faced is finding too much. Once, she recovered a whole box of raspberries and was able to make a jam (a good use for fruit that is too soft for regular consumption).

Badalato says the majority of food just needs to be washed, and since many vegetables grow soft and milder in taste as they age, cooking them with mild seasonings such as olive oil and garlic can resuscitate them. Cutting up the produce to get rid of any suspicious pieces works wonders as well. If your budget allows it, purchasing fresher produce and mixing it with the dumped goodies can disguise any mild softness or browning that may have occurred.

Although meat that gets dumped may have bacteria, cooking the steaks, chicken or pork at temperatures above 165°F will make the meat safe for consumption. If in doubt about the status of your food, do a smell test. If it smells bad, toss it – your nose knows better than you do.

10. Be nice to the authorities
Make no mistake: Dumpster diving is legal. The 1988 Supreme Court case California v. Greenwood ruled that the act of throwing away items makes them public domain. However, if the store has enclosed the dumpster or put up “No trespassing” signs, you could get arrested or ticketed. Since you won’t be dressed in your Sunday best, Gellar says playing the sympathetic “I am hungry” ploy works, especially if you are younger.

“My roommate and I were caught, in this massive shopping metropolis that we were in for 5 minutes, finding all sorts of good stuff when we hear a car door,” Gellar said. “So my roommate slowly peeks and there’s a tall black man with a trench coat on staring directly at him.

“He opens his trench coat and has a fucking handgun and starts yelling at us to come out and we're yelling at him from the other side of the wall ‘We're just trying to find some food, not doing any harm… please don't shoot us!’

“He thought we're robbers or something and called the cops, who showed up and started asking us our names and all our info. We complied and just kept to our story that we're just poor kids looking to get good food for ourselves and also save it from rotting away in a dumpster. By the end of our cop interview, he was feeling sorry for us and giving us recommendations to shelters and telling us to maybe try different dumpsters.”

11. Share
Since the food is free, in the spirit of freeganism, you should share with others. Everyone did their part, whether they were getting dirty in the dumpster or passing the crates or watching for buzz kills. Helping out others get some free treats is only fair and if you’re following this guide, you should have plenty to share.