Why I Dumpster Dive, Pt. Two

Hi Phil,
You must explain the dumpster diving thing to me. Please! :)

I would be glad to explain! Last year I started hearing here and there about “dumpster diving,” that is, about people choosing to sift through the trash for things that they could afford to buy. This immediately piqued my interest for a few reasons. I’m naturally thrifty, and not too squeamish, so I’m sure that contributed – but it definitely goes deeper than that. The past few years I’ve been more and more struck by the greed and waste of our consumptive lifestyles. Compared to crushing global poverty, or to a scriptural standard of “food and clothing,” the American standard of living is absurd. Those realities, and the rest of what the scriptures say about money, and covetousness, and the poor – they’ve really been sinking in. And dumpster diving began looking like one way to begin addressing those kinds of things. It is a way to rescue some waste, and to save money, which can be given to the poor. And it’s also turned out to be an incredible conversation starter, which can get people thinking and talking about these really important issues.

So yeah, last spring break, Stephanie and I tried dumpster diving out, and visited a bunch of dumpsters around our campus. We went on a few more forays during the spring quarter, and then over the summer when we were away from the campus cafeterias, we both did a lot of dumpster diving. It’s worked well, because there really is a ton of good food just thrown away, and it’s often packaged or otherwise protected from the real garbage. And I’ve gotten a good feel for what kinds of stores to visit and when, so it’s pretty easy and smooth to do.

Other people obviously do things differently, according to their needs, tastes, squeamishness, etc., and they may dumpster dive for alternative reasons – but this is dumpster diving in a nutshell for me. What do you think?