Considering going out to dinner Saturday night? You probably weren't planning on heading to a dumpster. To some people, though, that sounds juuuust fine.
Meet the dumpster divers, also known as freegans. A six-minute film by Travis Shields, "Meet the Freegans," follows a group of fearless (and possibly feckless) folks devoted to getting their groceries from local trash receptacles. Whole Foods it ain't.
Don't let the name deceive you. No actual diving in dumpsters required. Freegans bring home food that's in still good shape, not rotting scraps. Still, it seems kind of silly to voluntarily look through the trash for food, right? Freegans argues that it's equally silly to waste so much food.
In the film, freegan Steven Braun explains that while some passersby think that he's homeless or drunk, he's actually a schoolteacher, fully capable of buying his own groceries. He just chooses not to.
To freegans, stores that advertise environmental ethics but still waste mounds of quality food are hypocrites. By rescuing the wasted food, the freegans not only reduce waste and save money. Ah, so this is how we should be saving in the recession. Or maybe we'll just start clipping coupons instead.
While we're all for donating leftover food to local food banks, we're not sure we're ready to get our next load of groceries from the alley. But for those more adventurous people out there, consider serving booze made from fermented excess food at your next dinner party. Banana wine, anyone?
