Freegans? Really?
If you know me at all, you know that I love to save money. I like free. Free is good. And I like to buy things that are on sale. Cheap isn't as good as free, but it is still good. Don't get me wrong—I don't think you do yourself any favors by buying cheap things, just because of the cost savings. But if I can find quality things on sale, or free, well, life is good.
So when I was watching the National Geographic channel recently, I was intrigued by a documentary on the phenomenon referred to as "freegan."
Freegans are people who strive to get everything they have for free, in an attempt to drop out of the culture of consumerism in western society. And how do they accomplish this? By taking it from other peoples' garbage. They are dumpster divers. I had never heard of this before seeing the documentary, but apparently they have gotten their fair share of attention. Even Oprah did a show about it. Of course, I almost never watch Oprah, so I'm not surprised that I missed the story.
Freegans are not necessarily poor. They are not necessarily homeless. They are not necessarily unemployed. In many cases, they are quite well off. But they have made a conscious decision to check out of the economic system as much as possible. And to be pretty gross as well. If you're interested in learning more about freegans, you can go here. Or you can go here to read the blog of a living, breathing freegan. Here is the last installment of a 31 day experiment by a young lady who tried being a freegan, covered in Newsweek.
One of the misconceptions regarding freegans is that they are cheap. Some of them may be, but many freegans live this way because of their objection to the massive amount of waste in America. According to the documentary, Americans throw away enough trash every year to cover tens of thousands of football fields, six feet deep. That's a lot of trash. Much of what is thrown out is food, and much of that food is still edible. I read someplace that grocery stores in America throw away $30 billion a year worth of food. For various reasons, it is illegal in many places to give away this food to the poor. Grocery stores will throw away food when it reaches the "sell by" date, even though it may still be safe to eat. Freegans learn when these stores throw stuff out, and they pounce on it. They're not picky—they'll take whatever is dumped. Beef, pork, chicken, fruits, vegetables, clothes, furniture, whatever they can get their hands on. My point is that freegans do what they do for a number of reasons, but mainly they are checking out of the consumerism and capitalism that they so object to. They don't think it is "fair" that there are hungry people in the world, when westerners throw away so much food.
I don't really know what to say. When I told Lisa about the program, I got the feeling that she thought maybe I wanted to sign up. It is interesting to me, but I don't see myself becoming a dumpster diver. It would be great to save the money though—we spend $800-1000 a month on groceries. So maybe...NO. I'm not going to do it. It isn't worth the taboo issues, and I like having friends.
I suspect that there are many things we say we would never do, but most of us have never been tested. I mean, really tested. Oh, sure, there have been times when I've been broke. It wasn't that long ago that I was scraping change from the cushions of my couch, so I could go to the grocery store for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. But that isn't really being tested.
If times were really hard, and you were hungry, and broke, you'd eat food taken from the dumpster, right? Freegans insist that their lifestyle isn't as bad as you think. In fact, they think its pretty darn good. The meat they take is usually still frozen. The fruits and vegetables they bring home are thoroughly washed in a water-bleach mixture. And the ones featured in the documentary insist that they have never gotten sick from eating the food they gather.
One couple lives in a nice urban apartment, well-furnished. And everything they own was taken from trash. It didn't cost them a penny. One man lives in his van/RV.
I love the idea of simplicity. I like how they don't have to give Wal Mart $12,000 a year. And I like the way they are willing to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfills. If it just wasn't garbage.
What do you think about this phenomenon? Is it gross? Would you eat trash?
So when I was watching the National Geographic channel recently, I was intrigued by a documentary on the phenomenon referred to as "freegan."
Freegans are people who strive to get everything they have for free, in an attempt to drop out of the culture of consumerism in western society. And how do they accomplish this? By taking it from other peoples' garbage. They are dumpster divers. I had never heard of this before seeing the documentary, but apparently they have gotten their fair share of attention. Even Oprah did a show about it. Of course, I almost never watch Oprah, so I'm not surprised that I missed the story.
Freegans are not necessarily poor. They are not necessarily homeless. They are not necessarily unemployed. In many cases, they are quite well off. But they have made a conscious decision to check out of the economic system as much as possible. And to be pretty gross as well. If you're interested in learning more about freegans, you can go here. Or you can go here to read the blog of a living, breathing freegan. Here is the last installment of a 31 day experiment by a young lady who tried being a freegan, covered in Newsweek.
One of the misconceptions regarding freegans is that they are cheap. Some of them may be, but many freegans live this way because of their objection to the massive amount of waste in America. According to the documentary, Americans throw away enough trash every year to cover tens of thousands of football fields, six feet deep. That's a lot of trash. Much of what is thrown out is food, and much of that food is still edible. I read someplace that grocery stores in America throw away $30 billion a year worth of food. For various reasons, it is illegal in many places to give away this food to the poor. Grocery stores will throw away food when it reaches the "sell by" date, even though it may still be safe to eat. Freegans learn when these stores throw stuff out, and they pounce on it. They're not picky—they'll take whatever is dumped. Beef, pork, chicken, fruits, vegetables, clothes, furniture, whatever they can get their hands on. My point is that freegans do what they do for a number of reasons, but mainly they are checking out of the consumerism and capitalism that they so object to. They don't think it is "fair" that there are hungry people in the world, when westerners throw away so much food.
I don't really know what to say. When I told Lisa about the program, I got the feeling that she thought maybe I wanted to sign up. It is interesting to me, but I don't see myself becoming a dumpster diver. It would be great to save the money though—we spend $800-1000 a month on groceries. So maybe...NO. I'm not going to do it. It isn't worth the taboo issues, and I like having friends.
I suspect that there are many things we say we would never do, but most of us have never been tested. I mean, really tested. Oh, sure, there have been times when I've been broke. It wasn't that long ago that I was scraping change from the cushions of my couch, so I could go to the grocery store for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. But that isn't really being tested.
If times were really hard, and you were hungry, and broke, you'd eat food taken from the dumpster, right? Freegans insist that their lifestyle isn't as bad as you think. In fact, they think its pretty darn good. The meat they take is usually still frozen. The fruits and vegetables they bring home are thoroughly washed in a water-bleach mixture. And the ones featured in the documentary insist that they have never gotten sick from eating the food they gather.
One couple lives in a nice urban apartment, well-furnished. And everything they own was taken from trash. It didn't cost them a penny. One man lives in his van/RV.
I love the idea of simplicity. I like how they don't have to give Wal Mart $12,000 a year. And I like the way they are willing to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfills. If it just wasn't garbage.
What do you think about this phenomenon? Is it gross? Would you eat trash?
As a child, my mom fed us out of the trash as a necessity. I never knew it until I was an adult and could put 2 and 2 together. I wouldn't say never to something - and, if I HAD to, I would. But, I wouldn't choose to. I do find it fascinating how people choose to live out what they believe is a worthy cause.....
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Shawna, I'm really curious about your story. For example, how did you eventually put two and two together? Did you ever talk to your mom about it? Did she take food from the trash can because she didn't have money to buy food?
I will say this--you seemed to have turned out okay
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I'm not too proud to pull a donut back out of the trash (if it is in a box or package)....
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