June 25, 2004

• dumpster dive some adult diapers and have a party where everyone straps one on and fills it up -no water wasted I am ready to worship this vegan hippie as a living God. Who's with me?
• Freegan = Hardcore Homeless Don't make up words if you don't have to.
• Saw this on memepool today. I used to jokingly call myself a 'freegan' for my habit of scoping out the catering at seminars and such around campus. But this guy means it. That's just awesome.
• The great thing about dumpster diving is that most Americans simply can't be arsed to put any effort into it, so those of us who live primarily out of dumpsters will always have a plentiful food source for absolutely free. I've been dumpster diving for years now, and the concept of paying for bread or produce has become entirely foreign to me. Of course, more and more supermarkets are tossing bleach on the food, locking their dumpsters behind giant fences or using compactors (like Safeway), so it will always be something of a challenge. And please, people, if you dumpster something you don't want, just leave it, don't try to return it. Attempting a return scam ultimately fucks the rest of us over, since the corporation that's tossing the trash will just get pissed and lock it down tighter.
• I've been dumpster diving for years now *applauds resourcefulness, lack of shame in posting to public forum*
• although i was a bit aghast the first time, aren't we all?, i've learned a certain laissez faire now while my darlin' hits a dumpster for something he wants. it isn't food, though, that we pursue, but the more esorotic things in life. plumbing supplies, lumber, mechanical parts. the house is customised a la garbage.
• When I was working in England (one of the least pleasant periods of my life...) I had very little furniture for my flat. Including, well, no bed. Luckily the council was doing a kerbside refuse collection and, lo and behold, people were biffing their old but good beds, tables, and chairs. You could see the curtains twitch as my flatmate and I slipped out and scored the goodies.
• more and more supermarkets are tossing bleach on the food When I worked at Dunkin Donuts in Saratoga Springs, NY, the boss would "make" me pour bleach all over the old donuts, bagels, etc. When I asked why, he said he didn't want people diving around in the dumpster. It was messy. Which is bullshit. I worked at various Dunkin Donuts for six years and bees, rats, and crows/seagulls are much MUCH messier than some random person re-adjusting the contents of a dumpster.
• My comment was regarding dumpster diving for food. Used/predigested/pre-loved hard stuff rescued from junk piles is (I think) a good thing.
• Food Not Bombs are very popular with "those crazy kids" here in NYC - as I understand it, they take donated food as well as food scrounged from dumpsters and make big communal meals for themselves and the homeless. I've often seen well-fed punks and hippies rooting through grocery store's garbage late at night for this.
• it isn't food, though, that we pursue, but the more esorotic things in life. plumbing supplies, lumber, mechanical parts Ah yes, Dx, I can relate. It's true, ours is a wasteful society. It's not where you get it, it's what you do with it. I scrounge what I can, shop at thrift and dollar stores, buy used cars, and get my pets from the pound. Oddly enough, the neighbors seem to think I'm not really low class. What am I doing wrong?
• How ironic that freegans depend on the consumerism of others to survive. But that's the economic ecology we have created.
• New Yorkers will dumpsterdive non consumables regardless of age or income bracket. It's like jaywalking: entirely acceptable.
• rodgerd: some NZ friends of mine furnished their London flat last year with curbside furniture just like that. I wonder if it's quite common.
• I wouldn't be suprised. People around here throw things away fairly secure in the knowledge that if it's furniture or electronic somebody'll scavenge it for something. Might only be the people I hang out with though.
• mom, we have to get together and go shopping some time. i'm on a first name basis at the goodwill and sally ann. i peer closely at yard sales to see if there's a good reason to stop. my ambition is to find a new and wonderful use for all manner of strange things. right now i'm implementing an ancient industrial loom into my garden and house. it was a freebie...the woman's husband was going to use it as firewood. all these incredible handcrafted beams and tools are fantastic.
• FIREWOOD!! *clutches heart, staggers YOU gotta loom, FREE? For real? *drools
• That loom... firewood. Oh, god, the horror. Recycled lumber is a glorious thing. Even if harvestable trees of such dimensions existed any more -- which they won't, not for as long as they take multiple short-lived human generations to grow to such scale -- the weathering of old boards and beams gives them great character. Seeking building materials, I went bone-picking last summer through an old apple warehouse slated for demolition, full of immense and quite sound Doug fir beams. More marvelous than the beams themselves, however, was seeing that there's a market for all of this. People make a living sourcing old warehouses for beams and old barns for siding. Dumpster diving on a grand scale.
• See Also
• mmmm...old and interesting pieces of wood are a passion of mine. actually i had bought two individual, antique looms, in pieces, for $20 and the woman threw in this monster loom for nothing when i started dreaming of all the things i would be doing all with these shapes. /one will become a rolling kitchen cart. we also bring home wooden pallets and pry them apart for the wood. the house is full of handmade wooden boxes and carpenter chests that i collect from all over and keep using. one was mahogany! what a shock that was! any interesting piece of wood or stone that catches my eye will come home with me and often gain several lives, according to whim. i'll have to find that book, forks, thanks.