Posted on 02/01/2006 1:13:23 PM PST by presidio9
"I've got yogurts!" Stephen Woloshin shouts in triumph, causing other members of his group to lift their rummaging arms and heads from the rubbish bins outside a Manhattan supermarket.
ADVERTISEMENT
Teachers, social workers and students, Woloshin and his fellow scavengers are far removed from the swollen ranks of New York's homeless, belonging instead to a new faction on the fringes of the environmental movement.
As "freegans," they regard over-consumption as a pernicious global trend and seek to demonstrate how people can feed themselves for "free" on the mountains of produce discarded by others.
On one particular evening, the group, kitted out with small backpacks and string bags, are on a mission in Greenwich Village, scoping the streets of the chic district before the garbage trucks rumble through.
Their first target is a large pile of black bags dumped on the sidewalk outside a supermarket.
Squatting down, they give different bags an exploratory squeeze before pulling off the string ties and plunging hand first into what they hope will prove a mystery hamper of edible seconds.
The results are mixed, both in origin and appeal -- apples, oranges, garlic, baby carrots with seasoning, and vacuum-packed chestnuts.
The freegan rule of thumb for what goes into the shopping bag and what stays in the garbage is simple: "You look at it. You smell it. You feel it. If it seems okay, you take it."
Next stop is a bakery -- "who wants some bagels?" -- followed by the upscale wastage of a "Gourmet Garage" outlet, where the attractive aroma of rejected pastries mixes with that of rotton lettuce.
For Woloshin, a social worker, this is his second freegan expedition.
"It's a good thing to expose the waste," Woloshin says. "I make good money and I can afford to buy food, but it's a shame to see this waste."
Janet Kalish, a 47-year-old high school teacher, criticizes stores for overstocking as a cosmetic measure to keep shoppers happy.
"It's an attempt to give people a sense of wealth .... people feel good to see shelves that are full," says Kalish, a veteran freegan of more than one-year standing.
Kalish has become so adept at scavenging that the only food she still purchases in traditional fashion are the soy-based products she requires for her strictly vegetarian diet.
"My meals have become more diversified because I find surprises," she says. "Things I probably wouldn't buy in stores, like endives and avocado. I wash them well and I know where there's clean garbage."
Discussing memorable finds, math teacher Jason Samuels recalls with a gourmet's grin the still-frozen, whole turkeys he picked out of a top-end grocer's rubbish.
"There's not a single food we can't find in perfect condition in a bag on a sidewalk," Samuels insists.
Founded several years ago, the freegan movement embraces aspects of myriad other groups, including ecologists and the anti-globalization lobby.
"The solution to world hunger lies on the streets of New York," says Adam Weissman, the organizer behind the local chapter.
"So much food is wasted in the United States," says Weissman. "When I go to a restaurant, I bring my meal."
According to City Harvest, a non-profit organization and "food rescue" program set up in 1981, millions of pounds of good, edible food are thrown away each year by New York City food businesses.
The New York freegans hit the streets as a group two or three times a month, although many scavenge on their own, guided by a freegan website that carries recommendations for where the most palatable garbage bags can be found.
Their activities inevitably attract the attention of passers-by, some of whom, like Ronnit Keha, approve of what they see.
"This consumerism, this waste ... is disgusting," Keha says.
Some of the group members acknowledge to moments of discomfort when their rummaging in garbage bins draws stares.
"There's a bit of a stigma. I used to feel my heart pounding and people looking down at me," says Kalish, for whom the rewards outweigh the embarrassment.
"I once found some fantastic strawberries," she beams.
"dumbsters" was actually a typo, but I'm not going to tell the moderator to change it.
And once one of these brats gets sick from eating garbage their big daddy lawyers will litigate the crap out of some restauranteur.
I'd be happy to leave out a bag of my cat's used litter for them.
What about "protstest?"
Recycling, up close and personal.
May as well, they have been drinking their own bathwater for years.
Hank the Tank was telling me about this last month. Sheesh!
This is nothing new. People have been doing this all over the third world for years. Look what it has done for their standard of living...
Memo to restaurant workers: Urinate over food before tossing it out.
Obviously the magnitude of this new stupidity made my head spin.
Muffin stumps.
And probably sue the city, too, for not having the garbage trucks there in time to stop them.
Most restaurants would gladly donate the wasted food to homeless/less fortunate, but they can not for legal reasons. Reign in tort reform and a huge amount of waste will disappear like the printing on plastic bags that says do not put on head.
Stupid people can only find employment with the government...
makes me want to sh$$ in a sandwich.
I can believe it. When I was young and poor, I was standing at a bus stop and there was a group of bums sitting on the bench eating lunch. I looked over and saw that they had several bags of KFC and were munching merrily away at it. Curious, I asked the nearest bum where he got the chicken (he certainly wouldn't waste drinking money on food!), and he told me that the KFC across the street threw all their leftover chicken in the dumpster at the end of the night.
Those bums were eating better than I was.
And if trucks did get there earlier, they'd sue the city for taking away their food, causing them to go hungry.
These guys aren't thinking too clearly are they? After all; the overconsumption they so decry is their only source of food...If everybody stopped overconsuming, there'd be no garbage, and they'd all starve to death.
Yes, most restaurants in the Toronto area -run by those conservative minded I might add- are involved in something called Second Harvest. At the end of the night any left over food is sent to soup kitchens and shelters.
The libs would rather have people thinking they waste or in extreme cases put javex on the food. Just one more thing to whine about...
I saw these people on tv not too long ago...
Notice the ideology they believe in: 'Voluntary joblessness', 'Squatter's Rights', the demand for rent-free housing as a right, and links to the International Workers of the World website.
These people celebrate living like urban rats.
This has to be a joke. I never thought I'd see the insane left stoop so low. I must be 'The Rich' to these people, so I'd better stock up on more ammo.
I'd also like to take a moment to express my disgust at the misspelling of the the word 'Rotten' in this story penned by AFP's famous unknown author.
What a bunch of bin-boys
No joke, and that's exactly what will happen. Probably will go after the city of New York too.
It's funny they like to spin this as corporate waste when it's the govt that mandates they throw it away. Of course if they didn't all you would hear about is evil orporations that sold spoiled food because they only cared about profits.
DUmpsters for DUmmies.
If they truly had a benevolent bone, they would gather selvagable food and share it with shelters & soup kitchens. No good deeds are on this agenda.
Oh, and I suppose you thing THESE folks aren't good enough for the tops of the muffins?
Wonder where these freaks get their toilet paper? On 2nd thought.....not interested......
"So much food is wasted in the United States," says Weissman. "When I go to a restaurant, I bring my meal."
So why go to a restaurant???? Idiot.
I wouldn't mind if they came over and cleaned out my refrigerator. Some scary stuff in tupperware.
Most of the liberal DUmpster divers would regard that as "special sauce.."
They aren't freeloaders. They are making a STATEMENT.
I suppose they also don't have health insurance, so when they get food poisoning, we'll be paying their ER bill.
Fools.
And I won't even use dairy products, vitamins, etc. etc. after the "best by" date has passed.
Now Dash, where's your sense of adventure????
I'm betting it's been years since some of these folks bathed...over consumption of water, ya' know. These are the same folks who brought us the low-flush toilets.
Ahem... au jous!
I swear, you just can't make this stuff up.
In 1980 my dad was dying of cancer, my mom had breathing problems, I was working at a hotel and going to college. A woman I worked with had a young son and her hubby had broken his back slipping on ice while delivering oxygen on the job. All the situations were temporary but we still didn't have enough for food.
She and I would go to a local grocery store and "dumpster dive" on Wednesdays. This was the day that the produce truck came and the old stuff was thrown out. Those people are right, there are tons thrown out. We actually spent no money on food (except from a local farm where we could buy "dirty eggs" that we washed ourselves. 10 cents a dozen). We never picked up meat or dairy, but breads (in bags from the bakery only), fruits and veggies. We ate very well until we got caught by a couple of really nice officers who let us off with a tresspassing warning.
I NEVER would CHOOSE to do this. In fact, I think that those who choose have a bit of a screw loose, but we did eat well when we needed to.
I used to have that same problem. I solved it by putting leftovers under my bed...it lures the rats away from my face so I can get a good night's sleep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.