Dumpster Diving in Europe
First things first, what is Dumpster Diving?? (Binning/Skipping in the UK, Containern in DE, and “faire la poubelle/recup” in France)
Dumpster diving basically means getting food from trash, because to do this, we need to dive into dumpsters (although not all the time). We normally only go to supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants, almost never to private dumpsters, because well… they are nasty.
This post concerns only Dumpster Diving for food, but you can DD to find clothes, electronics, books, and a long etc.
Why would we do it?
(Check these facts before you go on )
There are many reasons to dumpster dive, but mine are:
– You don’t need to keep feeling bad about what you are eating. For example, if you hate plastic, but you FIND it, then it doesnt matter, as you weren’t the one creating the demand for it. This works for packaging, or also the products you are eating, like meat, eggs, etc. I had been a vegetarian for almost ten years, until a bit over a year ago I decided it was OK to eat meat and animal products if and only if they were to be disposed.
– Dont worry about long shopping lists or get stressed about what you will eat tomorrow. We go dumpster diving, and then, depending on what we have found, we just make something up.
– It’s FREE!! This is a very important reason to dumpster dive of course. Thanks to DD I would never buy because of how expensive they are, think of smoked norwegian salmon, 12 kgs. of organic almonds (yep, that happened), and many, many other things. Thanks to DD I managed to bike all across Norway without having spent even 10 cents on food.
– Less waste. If you take all the nasty packaged stuff, eat what’s inside and then recycle the packaging, you are helping the world by avoiding lots of things from going to the regular landfill.
– It’s FUN!! It’s like going on a treasure hunt, you never know what you will find. Most of the times when we go, I can’t help but walk faster until I reach the dumpsters, just because of how excited I am. You can also meet some cool people while doing it, or take friends along.
– Last but not least, dumpster diving is a way of rebelating against a food/economical system that is clearly not working out. Acorrding to the FAO, 815 million people are suffering from chronic undernourishment, and our system just manages to throw away 1/3 of all the food produced around the world.
How to do it?
Easy peasy, although not always. Some countries are better than other, and in some I haven’t even tried yet.
Normally when I travel with my bike I will just stop at any supermarket or bakery when I see one, go around the premises until I find the dumpsters. There, I start picking up each bag. If its a huge bag and it only weighs half a kilo, leave it, because there is most likely nothing of value inside it. If, on the other hand, you do get to pick up a heavier bag, touch around it to feel for fruits, vegetables or anything you can eat. If you feel like you got something, rip or open the bag a little and get some of that good stuff out.
Use google Maps to find supermarkets, bakeries or restaurants near you. Also, Trash Wiki and Dumpster Map are very useful.
When Im in a place for a few days, I’ll google when the trash days and times are. In Nice for example, we can only go Dumpster Diving 4 times a week, the other 3 beings recycling days. Normally though, soon after closing time SHOULD be the best time to go do it. It might take a while in a city to discover some good places, but once you do, just keep going back to that particular spot.
If you are Dumpster diving in a country where it is Ilegal, do it fast and try to avoid being seen. If you do get caught, I suggest just explaining your reasons (see above) calmly and in a respectful manner. The few times I’ve been caught, I cant help but explode and talk about starving children in Africa and elsewhere, but remaining calm is mostly better. I dont worry about it being ilegal either, because “If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so “, see the Nuremberg Laws, the ilegality of saving drowning people crossing the mediterranean, and many other examples.
Take a headlamp.
Once you get back home, make sure to check what you found before you eat it. Most of the time, expiration dates don’t mean much, but the smell, look and taste of something will let us know if it’s safe or bad, the way it was done a long time ago.
It’s normally quite clean, but some gloves and old clothes are better, just to stay on the safe side and not get your fancy new stuff dirty.
Countries I’ve tried it in.
Excellent: France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium. Legal and easy!
Good: Germany (Ilegal but very good place to Dumpster Dive in), Canada. Switzerland (Although legal, someone always calls the police in d Schwiiz)
Average or bad: Italy, where everything is mixed up and sometimes nasty, but still possible.
The Netherlans: Almost impossible to find food on my bike trip, probably easier when you have the time to understand the trash disposal system.
A good option to Dumpster Diving is called Food Sharing, but it’s a bit more formal and complicated. Once you are in the system, it works really well though, at least in Germany.
One VERY IMPORTANT RULE: Always leave the place CLEAN, as clean, if not cleaner than you found it. If people leave a mess, the shop owners get angry and end up locking up the dumpsters, and it also looks shitty, so DONT LEAVE A MESS!
That’s about it so, get out there, try it out, and let’s save the world one dumpster at a time.
Here is a photo Album with some of the stuff found alone or with friends. And check this out for some more info.
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