I was away for a big part of June and July, meaning I did buckle down and buy some canned food to go camping with and didn't have a big opportunity to dumpster while I was in West Virginia (although I did scope out the dumpsters there for next time - there were 3 great ones in the town I stay in)!
So, here's my pretty meager list of dumpster bounty from June:
6/15
- 1 cucumber
- 1 red pepper
- 1 red onion
- 1 bundle spinach
- 1 bundle bok choy
- 1 honeydew melon
- 4 bananas
- 4 golden russet potatoes
- 1 (very small) head broccoli
- 6 sweet potatoes (I gave a few away)
- 9 red delicious apples (I also gave some of these away)
So, I don't usually dumpster earlier in the evening when stores are still open, but this particular evening I did. I went into the store right afterward since I needed a head of garlic. Coming back to my car (I always park near the dumpster), I saw another fellow dumpster diver! For some reason, I had always assumed that I was the only dumpster diver in the small, suburban town I had been living in, since I had only seen people I had introduced to diving at the dumpsters I frequented. I was so excited to see another diver! I was completely creepy and watched him dumpster from my car since I was so surprised to see another person! He wasn't your usual, younger, hippy-vibe kind of dude. Instead, he was older, fat, wearing flannel, suspenders, and a trucker cap (very blue-collar). He took some produce out and went on his way.
A universal part of dumpster ethics is this: you always leave something for others when you dumpster because you never know who else is diving the same dumpsters as you are.
This also brings up another odd reality of my dumpstering; I'm fortunate in the fact that I could probably make ends meet if I had to buy groceries. I might have to apply for food stamps again, but I could probably work out feeding myself within my job's pay scale. Not everyone can do that. With unemployment rates higher than ever and people with big enough families to feed where food stamps might not cut it, dumpstering is on the rise.
The unfortunate truth is that most of the dumpster divers I know (and most of the dumpster diving population in general) don't actually NEED to do it. Some have trust funds, some have well-paying jobs and it's an ethical choice, and some are the stereotypical artist/musician collecting unemployment who could definitely get a better-paying job given their education. I personally started when I was unemployed and trying to save money, but also felt really good about the idea that I was saving waste from a landfill. When I started dumpstering, it was a matter of survival, but now I continue to do it with environmental and thrifty motivations, not because I would starve if I stopped.
Many dumpster divers I know view dumpstering as a rebellious act to subvert consumerist culture, not as a necessity for survival. Seeing this blue-collar guy with 2 kids in his van dumpstering right after I did filled me with guilt. I had left plenty of food in the dumpster, but the truth was, I probably took the best produce there was. There's something that feels selfish about dumpstering if you don't have to. I saw the guy in the trucker hat dumpstering, but it was still early evening - how many more cars with kids were going to pull up to the dumpster after him? How many more families NEEDED the food that I was taking? My wish to save the environment is rendered frivolous compared to a family's instinct to feed themselves and survive. I would guess that sitting around the dinner table, that man's family isn't discussing how great it feels to be reducing greenhouse gases by virtue of the meal they prepared, or how awesome it feels to stick it to capitalist America over green beans.
The balance is hard to strike. I'm not going to stop dumpstering, because I DO still want to save the environment (and my own money). However, I need to consider others a bit more when I'm picking my produce out...
My feelings surrounding this subject aren't completely clear yet, but this experience has definitely produced a shift in my dumpstering practice since it happened. We'll see how the future progresses.
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