Dumpster Diving (as they call it in the USA!)

[SoOpenMindedBrainsFellOut]

I live in a famous University city and we all know about the cost of living crisis and it's massively impacting the majority of us I imagine but here, it is absolutely just soul crushing. Most of the people I grew up with after 20-30 years have just moved away. It's become a sad, sad place with families and communities being torn apart. We were always a beautiful multicultural place with so much going on now like everywhere funds have made it a ghost town to anyone who don't earn a whopping great salary. I quite frankly would do the same (move away where I could financially survive better) but can't due to a few reasons that don't give me that option- primarily my stepson is tied to the incredible hospital here for his treatment for his BT.

Anyway, as I was walking home from work this week (I live next to an M&S) I saw these 3 guys dumpster Diving. They had bags on the ground and they were filling them up with packets... I unashamedly slowed down and started digging in my handbag for my lipbalm to give myself a cover for rubber necking basically 🤦 They totally clocked on to what I was doing and were quite sweet and offered me a bunch of flowers from the bin and then asked if I wanted to buy some steaks and gammon then offered me free butter and lamb. I politely declined and wandered off home. I wasn't that shocked as for a while I did Olio pick ups for the local homeless shelter I work at and the waste was madness. I wanted to kick myself for refusing it but I couldn't risk my job

Anyway... It got me thinking.

What are the rules on dumpster diving here? I have a clean no trace criminal record (not coz I'm a savvy criminal I just havent got up to anything- no judgement to anyone who has though!). My job pays crap money but it's a very public facing role so If taking from bins is against the law I'd soon lose that.

I figured there has to be someone properly clued up here. I don't want to break the law, but I'm sick of us bringing in two wages and us having to live on the same cheap meals all the time. We don't buy ready meals etc or takeaways we just use pulses mostly but god the offer of steak sounded good! And the fruit and veg, there has gotta be that in there surely.

Bin divers, dumpster divers... Can you tell us the secrets? Or is it straight up illegal? (I hope not!)
Thanks in advance 🙃

look up freeganism. It’s technically theft, but there’s such a drive to cut down food waste that I hope no-one would be prosecuted unless they were causing a nuisance or making a mess.

I found this:

"Dumpster diving isn’t illegal in the UK, however, accessing bins on private property could result in trespassing charges, and taking items without consent could lead to legal complications."

They advise that freegans should seek the owners' permission. I can't see them giving it, however, as that would likely put them at risk of responsibility for any consequences of eating the recovered foods.

Some sandwich chains deliberately spoil their leftovers by means such as pouring bleach over them, which strikes me as horrible as well as wasteful. The law probably needs to be straightened out to release retailers from being held liable - if anyone knows of a campaign to do this, I'll support!

I’m sure @GarlicStyle is right about shops being concerned about being sued.

Maybe, having a separate bin that has a sign stuck to it saying something like “take food at own risk” would work. (It would already be done if it would I guess)

Imo the best approach is to contact that particular store and their head office and encourage them to link up with a food redistribution charity. There will be groups willing to collect, and there’s less chancing your luck with bins, trespass, off meat, attempted resale etc.

I run a service like this and people’s eyes would pop if they saw the sort of things that are thrown out. I’m off later today to collect several ££ thousand of cheese, to be stored safely and given to people who are going hungry.

30 years ago DSis had a job in a cafe in Covent Garden. Every evening she had to throw out left over fresh food, and was told to spoil it, to prevent dumpster diving by the many homeless people who lived in the area. So she put it in takeaway containers and handed it out to them, or staked it neatly by the bins. She got sacked... (cctv). It could have been a massive social initiative from the cafe.

Have you checked if there’s any food share places near you? We have a fabulous one locally, they have volunteers who liaise with local supermarkets to fetch the stuff, then they distribute it from the village hall for £3 a bag if you can afford the donation.
They use the donations to run a community cafe at the same venue a few days a week providing cheap home cooked meals.

Too good to go is a big food redistribution charity
Olio is another possibility

Various others, have a look here https://fareshare.org.uk

It's classified as waste because it's been intentionally discarded. It's been disposed of in the trade waste bins. Responsibility for keeping those bins secure would be M&S's but, I imagine it's in their interests to keep the weight (for disposal) as low as they can so won't be policing the bins.

Those guys though, I have no issue with them taking food to eat/distribute, more power to their elbows - but to re-sell (offering it to you at cost?), that's twattish behaviour from them - that's what helps fuel the steal-to-sell 'economy' and I don't have patience for that.

I saw exactly the same thing at Waitrose in one of the services, this was pre-covid. I went in to the shop about an hour before closing, saw them put food in bins and tip bleach into the bin. That's an awful company ethos to have.

I worked in a supermarket as a teen and they wouldn’t give anything away. The logic was if it can be given away it can be sold. So if it can’t be sold it’s binned. We had to throw out all the meat once cause the fridges broke and the temp went higher than 10degrees for a period of time. I wanted to give it to an animal shelter and was told no.

Another food distribution charity is That Bread and Butter thing.

Some supermarkets get rid of their waste on the Olio app too, you are better off doing it legally!

I wouldn't be eating anything that's made it's way to the bin. Those steaks are presumably beyond their use by date and you have no idea how long they've been out of the fridge. They could have been unrefrigerated for hours and are hosting a bacterial party.

Instead, why not look at setting up a Community Fridge or looking at which ones are already in your area and volunteering with them.
https://hubbub.org.uk/community-fridge-network

Failing that become an Olio Food Waste Hero
https://olioapp.com/en/become-an-olio-volunteer/

Reducing food waste is really important, but it doesn't trump food hygiene.