Dumpster Diving

[vun]

Considering how much goes to waste in our society of consumerism, I have no problem with it. Although the waste of food is not my biggest concern as food is a renewable resource(although a waste of food is also a waste of the fossil fuels used in making and transporting that food), I'm more concerned with the waste of more finite resources, such as helium. I get a bit pissed off every time I see someone using helium balloons to promote useless crap.

 

[FamoFunk]

I hate how much of anything can get wasted just because. We're a very throw-away world.

Do these companies not help out homeless shelters or give it to animals that could use it?

 

[Quaxar]

Good to know a lot of other people share my opinion on wasted food. And while I agree that giving the food to a soup kitchen or similiar...BUT since I live on a small island self-declared nation with less than 250 people living here, I think that's not a viable option.

I am intrigued by this island nation thing, even though it's completely outside the thread's purpose. Did the <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island>North Sentinel Island finally get broadband?

 

[Zaeseled]

Good to know a lot of other people share my opinion on wasted food. And while I agree that giving the food to a soup kitchen or similiar...BUT since I live on a small island self-declared nation with less than 250 people living here, I think that's not a viable option.

I am intrigued by this island nation thing, even though it's completely outside the thread's purpose. Did the <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island>North Sentinel Island finally get broadband?

We're not an official island nation, but we're a small island that's pretty cut off from the mainland.
Wanna take a trip to the city? You're gonna have to reserve a whole day for that.
Need to visit the doctor? Sorry, the doctor is here only 4 times a month.
Want to get to the mainland? The ferries go between us and the mainland 8 times Mon-Sat, and 2 times on Sundays.

 

[Zaeseled]

I've actually started taking some of the stuff that's going to the garbage and eating it at home after work because hey, food shouldn't be wasted.

If your employer finds out, they will terminate you.

If my employer terminates me they're welcome to be understaffed.

 

[mxc2012]

The problem is we live in such a litigious world that stores can't do this. I used to work at a supermarket for a while and whenever a customer left a hot item on the shelves (which they did a lot) they couldn't be returned and had to be thrown out. The problem is if they gave that food to any kind of food drives and someone got sick, they could get sued and that is basically it. So you can think about this the next time some woman claims a multimillion dollar lawsuit for a cofee that she spilled on herself, its because of people like this that stores cannot do this even if they wanted to.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Stuff like milk, bread and meat goes off very quickly if not stored correctly. They'll be too scared to give it to the homeless in case of them getting food poisoned and then they'll have a lawsuit to deal with.

My work throws away the fresh cream cakes we have left which I understand because as soon as we take them out the fridge they begin to sour really quickly.
The sandwiches I wish we could give away but I know they use some of our waste for good (apparently they make dog food, and they can even make fertilizer or something with it? amongst other things)

Have a word with your manager and see if you can change some things. Throwing away some food makes sense but stuff that can be eaten on the day is just a waste.

 

[Zaeseled]

while its no big deal what you do you should be careful since its considered theft to take stuff out of a dumpster.
reason for this is that you are theoretically freely giving the waste/food over to the Waste Management by throwing your goods into their bins and them only.
so once its in the dumpster you've already made a deal and it partially becomes property of the waste management incorporation which operates in your district.

it would be better if you just ask politely for it.
you wouldnt believe how many people are willing to give you stuff for free if you just ask.

Is it still considered theft if I take the goods out from the cart that I use to transport the expired items?
And I have asked. My boss has agreed 3 times during the 3 months I've worked here.

 

[umboo890]

Ah, brings back my good old crust punk days when me and my friends would go diving for goon bags (dumpster gold)

 

[Comocat]

I had a friend whose uncle worked at a candy manufacturer and did something similar. He would dumpster dive for the reject candy and give it away. Of course I received some of this 2nd hand candy only to find my sweet delicious nougat was filled with maggots. Crazy enough, businesses seem to destroy unsellable merchandise for a reason!

On the otherhand, I worked at a fast food company in high school and at the end of every night we would freeze our left over food for delivery to the food bank the next day. There is no reason that good food should go to waste, other than laziness or incompetence.

 

[Creator002]

Hey, as long as the food isn't expired (and I mean if you eat it, you'll be sick), go for it. My dad used to go down to the local shopping centre, wait until the coast was clear and fill a garbage bag with fresh bread. It really is such a shame to know that all that perfectly edible food is just going to waste. He can't do it anymore because there are cameras there now, but he stopped a while before they installed them.

 

[Stryc9]

It's a legal and liability thing. Expiration dates are mandated by law to make sure that stores don't sell rotten food to people which some stores would actually do if they could get away with it, and stores with any brains in their heads don't want the lawsuits and fines that come from selling expired food to people. Not to mention the bad press that comes from someone speaking out about it. It's not because the stores are intentionally being wasteful assholes, and yes that food would probably be perfectly fine to donate to a foodbank or whatever but the laws are the laws and it's not worth it to violate those laws.

Unless you're Walmart who doesn't seem to give a shit about expiration dates since about a year ago I saw some yogurts there that had been expired for over a month.

 

[thejackyl]

I have a friend who frequently dumpster dives, and while he doesn't find anything regularly, he does find some worthwhile things.

He's found a working PS2 + Controller, about a dozen XBOX/360 games, a collection of baseball cards, all of which he pawned for a decent amount of money. He'll take anything he can't use or sell and scrap it, and he makes... some money from that. Not enough that I would consider doing it, but you'd be surprised what people throw away.

As for food and such, if it's still good to eat (75% of food thrown away from grocery stores), I don't see any problem with doing it. Just be careful, even though they have thrown it away, you can be charged with theft if you get caught.

 

[Angie7F]

I totally used to take home the food that was expired when i worked in convenience stores.

Those expiration dates are set to be safe. As long as you are ok with it there is no harm done and no shame either

 

[fix-the-spade]

Stick it in a freezer and it'll last for a long while. I've actually started taking some of the stuff that's going to the garbage and eating it at home after work because hey, food shouldn't be wasted.
What are your thoughts on dumpster diving? Yay or nay?

That is a great way to get yourself fired.

Even in the dumpster as far as the company is concerned it's still their property, you taking it away means you have taken stock without paying for it, sooner or later someone will come an check the contents of the bins and if they don't match the write downs it will be investigated and you will get fired. I've seen that exact situation play out when someone was taking outdated baked goods home instead of destroying them.

This is assuming you're at some kind of chain store and not a mom'n'pop type, if it's the latter and you can get permission, go for it.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

Well it's not wasting exactly . I mean, it's best before , which means that for a business ( which a grocery store is ) you want to sell the best products to your customers. You don't want them to complain that some of your food was bad because they would shop elsewhere .

As for throwing them out , well i hear people say all the time that they should give it to the homeless. I disagree with this because , the food isn't good enough to give to customers , but they want to give it to homeless people. As if homeless people are lesser than customers ( regular people that aren't down on their luck ). If you are going to give to the poor , don't give them junk .

While you could argue that homeless would be more than glad to have it, if it really okay to give them trash just because they would accept it when you could very well give them better items?

Anyways that's how i feel about it .

I've been homeless and starving, I woulda been more than happy to take that shit, cuz guess what, feeling a constant empty energy draining pain in your gut constantly, because you can only periodically find food, and are currently eating like 2-3 small meals(see just enough to fill a bowl) every week, if you're lucky.

And do you see those stores giving away any of their sellable stuff? NO, you don't because they are a business, and cash is king.

 

[Zaeseled]

That is a great way to get yourself fired.

Even in the dumpster as far as the company is concerned it's still their property, you taking it away means you have taken stock without paying for it, sooner or later someone will come an check the contents of the bins and if they don't match the write downs it will be investigated and you will get fired. I've seen that exact situation play out when someone was taking outdated baked goods home instead of destroying them.

This is assuming you're at some kind of chain store and not a mom'n'pop type, if it's the latter and you can get permission, go for it.

I am working for a chain store, but as said; I live on a small island with less than 250 people living here all year round. The town where the store is only has a shared dumpster so I seriously doubt the contents of the dumpster are regulated.
Besides, the nearest police is over 50km away and they'll have a hard time getting here by car. Not so much by boat tho.

 

[Quazimofo]

My thoughts on Dumpster Diving is "do it!" The saying goes that one mans trash is another mans treasure, it just sucks that certain cities have ordnances against sorting through trash bins. I agree with you though, that instead of throwing stuff away it should be put to use. Seeing how you work at a grocery store, food is perishable. If it's getting near the expiration date, they should donate it to shelters for homeless people or other such places. It'll need to be used quickly, but it'll help... and the store may be able to get a tax write off. Me personally, I've gone dumpster diving on days GameStop has been throwing their old merchandise out and managed to get a lot of good stuff. Sadly after that, the manager was having the crew destroy what they were throwing away to deter my friends and I.

WHY WOULD THEY DESTROY PERFECTLY GOOD MERCHANDISE LIKE THAT?!?!?!? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY


But yeah, I've not got the stomach for it, diving for food, but making use of others' unwanted assorted thingamajiggies and whatsamahoosists, and furniture and games and such seems like such a practical idea I'm ashamed that more people don't adopt the practice. I mean really, it's intact, it's still very useful, it's free save refurbishing costs if any are needed at all, and someone somewhere wants it. No good reason at all to throw shit away unceremoniously. All my family throws away is broken glass and food waste (like apple cores, gum, the occasional rotted leftover when we don't eat them, or maybe a chicken bone here and there). Everything else is left for people to take or recycled. Except for when the family forgets we have bigass recycle bins and throws away food packaging or cans or torn paper or whatever.

Its kinda funny how we only empty our trash bins once every couple of weeks, but the recycle bin, which is much larger, gets emptied every 3 days or so. Makes you realize how much food packaging contributes to waste.