What if there was a way to eat free food
for the rest of your life?
I’m talking packages,
boxes, cases of food
and this is the stuff I decided to keep for myself.
Toiletries, clothes, furniture and even gifts—
all for free.
All it takes is jumping into a dumpster—
After hopping into a dumpster,
you will not look at food the same way again.
would you do it?
People from all over the world
are joining the dumpster diving lifestyle
to fight for financial independence
and retire as early as 30 years old.
But there are a few things you have to overcome.
Getting caught can be quite embarrassing.
*Chris* We had like eight employees come out.
*Hollie* Right after we turned the camera off.
There are some rules that can’t be broken
or you’ll find yourself in legal trouble.
There are also health risks associated
with the bacteria breeding in dumpster bins.
Is cleaning your dumpster finds really enough?
Some of the things you find may traumatize you.
I am shocked, appalled,
I’m angry.
Three of them are dead
and then one of them in here is still alive.
If you’re not careful enough, things can take a dark turn…
One lady lost her life in the most heartbreaking way.
Is this behavior even legal?
*thubprint* It’s taken an unexpected turn, I’ll say that.
I didn’t think I was going to see all of you today…
*Cop* I am going to tow your car.
Let’s take a look at both amazing
and terrifying dumpster finds.
People say that one man’s trash is another one’s treasure,
but how far would someone go to get that treasure?
Companies are constantly pushing new products to try
and make their consumers happy.
But when new products move in,
old products have to move out.
What happens to the stock left over after clearances?
Sometimes it ends up in the trash—
in perfect shape just no longer wanted.
These people are getting
some pretty sweet swag from the dumpsters—
and you would likely never know
it came from your local trash.
TikToker Theresa Kadish is well known
in the dumpster diving community
for pulling impressive hauls from dumpsters.
In one of her most viral videos with over 11 million views,
she had a great find she wanted to share with others:
Oh my God,
Cherries!
There’s just so much!
I took them all.
Oh my god,
there’s just so many cherries
The entire community came
and ate too, too many cherries together
In another video, she found more fruit in another dumpster
and had plans to make it last longer.
We’re going to dehydrate
these otherwise useless strawberries.
The mushiest ones are separated from the rest
and then they’re cleaned and cut in half
and set on trays.
Then they’re dehydrated at 135 degrees.
She did the same to the bananas.
The flesh is bruised in certain places,
it won’t last long.
But once it’s dehydrated,
it can become a higher quality food.
She jarred the dehydrated fruit to eat at a later date.
You may already realize—
you don’t have much of a choice
with what you find in the dumpster.
And Theresa is well aware of this.
She said she doesn’t always like
to eat the food she finds,
but she likes to give it a new life:
Call me a snob,
but I would never buy this pizza at the store,
it’s trash whether or not it's in the dumpster
but nonetheless, I can share it with friends.
We use what's here, decay doesn’t have to disgust.
It brings new life.
Maybe fresh fruits aren’t your cup of tea—
well, you’ll be interested to know
there’s something for everyone.
Several people have found bags of candy and chocolate:
Sweet trash.
we’ve found some amazing sh— out there today.
I mean the kind of sh—
I didn’t think you could find in the trash, you know?
This is our score from Dollar General.
I’m at the Dollar General, check this out.
Look at this, we got Mountain Dew there,
mountain dew there, we got more down here.
I don’t know why.
Literally this keeps happening to me,
a whole bag of M&Ms.
There’s Twix, Snickers
We got bags full of snacks.
Snacks, snacks, snacks.
Boxes of these Lindt chocolate, Hershey bars.
Ohhhh, this is all the candy bars and stuff!
Others scored on a dumpster full of frozen meals:
This dumpster was full.
It’s not Digiorno, it’s delivery.
We pulled up to this Target dumpster
and everything underneath the top layer was still frozen.
There was two dumpsters like this.
Guys look at this…
It’s full of food!
So full of food, nothing is expired
and everything is still frozen.
And that’s not even it, see, it goes
all the way to the front.
Others found a bountiful supply of snacks:
Alright guys, we’re checking our local Dollar Tree.
We just scored a huge jackpot here, look at all these!
That’s my favorite man!
This first part is from CVS.
The stuff down in front is from Walgreens.
All the stuff in the back
is from one single dumpster at a Dollar Tree.
None of this stuff is expired.
Six of these, two of these.
And I got this whole case of water
because 1 was broken..
All these protein bars
and protein snacks that I found at GNC.
Are you hungry?
Do you need a snack?
Do you need a smart tart?
A lean bar?
A complete cookie?
Packaged food
isn’t the only thing you can find in the dump.
Fast food restaurants
will trash large quantities of leftover stock.
TikToker Jenna, also known as thickrichbxtch,
showed off tons of Krispy Kreme donuts in the trash
So to anyone who didn’t know,
Krispy Kreme throws away all of their donuts in
the garbages
outside their buildings.
People had mixed reactions about the thrown out donuts:
And this isn’t the first time
we’ve heard of donuts being thrown away.
In summer of 2021,
Dunkin Donuts was also exposed for dumping donuts—
which we discussed in a previous video
that’ll be linked down below.
You’ll also be surprised to find out
that this current trendy bakery
is also allegedly trashing their goodies—
Crumbl Cookies.
Crumbl Cookies of the week, here we go.
TikToker Tiffany She’ree,
also known as dumpsterdivingmama,
is a well known diver on TikTok
with over 2.4 million subscribers.
She shared her experience diving for Crumbl Cookies.
In January 2022, she called out the restaurant
for throwing away freshly baked cookies.
Look!
Wow, there’s more.
Look at that, more cookies thrown away!
And a whole back of fricken frosting?
Like y’all these are—they’re right off the tray
and they’re warm!
She visited the dumpster a week later
and found that Crumbl Cookies
had since locked their dumpster.
Alright guys, we’re back at that Crumbl
where we found cookies multiple times.
Look what they did.
She suspected they did this
after she called them out on TikTok.
So I wouldn’t put them on blast anymore.
Maybe junk food isn’t your thing
and you’re just looking to make a wholesome meal
for your friends and family—
you’ll be surprised to know
full fresh meals are thrown away all the time…
and completely sealed!
TikToker Dumpster Diving Freegan,
who has over 400k followers,
showed how lucky you can get at a Whole Foods
in one of her most viral videos
reaching over 10 million views.
Dumpster diving at whole foods
is nothing like I've ever seen before.
Every time I come to this particular store,
I find cases of organic food
that is thrown out well before it’s best-by date.
Last night I found enough meat
to feed an entire community.
Her haul included chicken,
Beef,
Beyond Sausage,
Beyond Meatballs,
sauces,
juice,
fruits,
vegetables,
and yogurt.
You might be thinking…
this food is probably contaminated
or on the brink of expiring.
Dumpster Diving Freegan explained the food was still good
because it was still cold
and none of it was expired or recalled.
She also said everything had been thrown out
on or before its best-by date
but explained food can be eaten past its best-by date.
Despite having a large quantity of items she’d collected,
she said she had left a large amount of food behind.
In an interview with The Sun,
Dumpster Diving Freegan said
she believed she found more than $1000 worth of food
in her Whole Foods haul.
In another visit to her local Whole Foods,
she found over 100 loaves of bread
that were still good to be eaten.
During the same haul,
she also found expensive toilet paper,
boxes of olive oil,
apples,
potatoes,
tea,
cups,
baby foods,
and cakes.
That’s a lot of food and supplies,
which can be wasteful if she isn’t able
to finish all the food she collected.
But Dumpster Diving Freegan
shared her solution to this problem—donating.
She donates most of her finds to local food banks
so that others can benefit from her dives.
After one of Dumpster Diving Freegan’s videos
went viral on Twitter,
someone claiming
to be a former Whole Foods employee said:
The Daily Dot spoke to a spokesperson from Whole Foods
Whole Foods isn’t the only company
to have an issue with dumping still-good products.
Bath and Body Works is another company
well known in the dumpster diving community.
TikToker Leigha, also known as divingwithleigha,
has over 700k followers and has a number of viral videos.
She is known for her successful hauls
at the candle and fragrance empire.
In one of her most viral videos with over 10 million views,
she managed to find
several candles and a couple of body lotions.
All of this might seem unsanitary,
and it may seem hard to reach or climb into dumpsters.
Leigha showed how she sometimes uses a grabber tool
to collect the items.
Another popular TikToker, Brandon Tylers,
shared how dumpster diving at Bath and Body Works
changed his life:
In the back of the store, usually after close
when no ones there,
you can find these broken candles in their dumpsters
for free, okay?
They’re just usually shattered
and you just gotta break the glass off,
but anyways but today I broke the glass off of frozen lake,
and you know what it honestly smells like?
Smells like saving money.
Some didn’t think this hack
was the best way to go about things:
Things got interesting
when former Bath and Body Works employees
commented on the video,
bringing up their experiences:
Seeing all of these free products
and how easy it is to get them
makes it really intriguing
for the normal, every day person
to put it to the test.
Tbails, a lifestyle vlogger with over 130k followers,
did just this and documented her first dive on TikTok.
Y’all, I did a thing today.
I went dumpster diving!
I know some of you are like ‘what in the world?
This is so random’
But this has been something I have wanted to do
like literally forever.
Boom boom boom.
Wow
She said she had been inspired by dumpsterdivingmama
and wanted to try it out for herself.
Another popular dumpster diving TikToker, Jennifer,
who has over one million followers,
found a surprising amount of party decor items discarded
Oh my god…
who needs streamers?
This is ridiculous,
I love it.
Well I don’t love it, this should never happen.
It should all be donated
to the thrift store, the church, the schools.
This is just silly beyond silly
that this kind of waste exists.
People were appalled at the amount wasted.
Someone claiming to be a Party City employee
said the store didn’t follow procedure.
After cleaning up at Party City,
she went to a Five Below dumpster
where she found a number of goodies,
including a phone case,
a wig,
a rug
and some essential oils.
This time she claimed 99% of her findings
would be donated.
Another popular dumpster diving site is CVS Pharmacy.
In their dumpsters, divers find all kinds of things—
from nail polish to sealed snacks.
TikToker GRAB IT FAST
found a whole stash of makeup products
in the CVS dumpster.
Dumpsterdivingmama found
a bag of adorable kid’s accessories and stationery:
So guys I’m at CVS and I peeked in
and saw this little bag…
aw I think it’s Claire’s stuff…
Oh my god, they’re so cute!
Lipgloss…
These are so freaking cute!
We’ve got headbands.
Wow.
Divingjunkies found perfectly sealed safety items
that we all had trouble finding earlier in 2020.
I am at a CVS and there’s a box up here, I open it up.
Look at this.
Brand new and they’re throwing them away.
Look at all of these,
just bags full of hand sanitizing wipes.
Jennifer hit gold
when she found a bag of household products
that were cleared from the shelves
at the height of the pandemic:
Let’s see what CVS has for us today…
uhhh, that looks like a good bag
with freaking toilet paper in it, hold on.
Okay, so somebody poked a hole in it,
so that have to throw it away.
Same with this one, there’s a little hole.
This is amazing.
Dumpster diver Priscilla Perez
also had good luck at her local CVS.
Last night I found three bags full of food
inside a CVS dumpster…
Only about half of this food
ended up being past it’s best by date.
Food and miscellaneous items
are not the only things you can find—
fashion items are constantly being thrown out.
TikToker Akia Michineau
found boxes of brand new shoes:
Y’all take a look at this.
Just decided to take a peek at one of the Nordstroms,
and there were two huge packages
of Steve Madden shoes, brand new.
TikToker Kayla Steward found a luxury bag:
I spotted this.
Check this out…
freaking Louis Vuitton!
Made in France, official Louis Vuitton, not a knock off,
I don’t think.
[sniffs] Real leather for sure!
Glamour DDive found a box of Gucci perfume.
What’s even more fun than finding free clothes?
Finding furniture in great shape!
Leigha found an essential piece for every home:
This is why I always say, check the boxes.
There were two mirrors in here,
one is shattered, which is this one.
I just got out this one.
Look what’s not shattered, the second mirror.
It’s only $60 but I was just about to buy a mirror.
Glamour DDive
found expensive furniture that your feet will love:
This is actually a super high end rug store,
as you can see this one was $8000.
But this dumpster was stacked full of rugs, it was crazy.
It did rain…
and that did kill the ones on top…
I had to do some digging,
I found a couple I thought were really cool
and they weren’t even dirty or wet.
This rug is worth $1200,
super soft, no stains or anything.
And this one I found is worth $800,
so cute, I can’t wait to clean them.
TikToker divingjunkies hit a jackpot
on a gamer’s paradise.
Guys, I just pulled up to a Staples and look at this…
in there…
look at all these chairs.
There’s one of the gaming chairs that I got,
nothing wrong with it,
they didn’t cut it up or anything.
And then I have this one that’s still taped up.
TikToker Tashima, also known as divingwithtash,
found a beautiful piece for the living room
that usually cost thousands of dollars:
This is a complete full sectional, undamaged.
I literally tried my hardest to get this sectional out.
I truly did.
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like the most exciting thing to do…
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Now back to the story…
Dumpster diving seems like a no brainer—
free food and products can save a whole lot of money.
But not everyone has the best experiences—
some dives are disappointing
when items are purposely broken.
Here are just a few…
A cut up Coach shoe and bag.
Cut up Victoria Secret bras.
Torn up bags of pet food from an unnamed pet store.
Scribbled decorative signs and lanterns with missing glass.
Bed Bath and Beyond sprayed painted, sliced up,
and poured coffee grounds
on the products going into the dumpster.
Junk food is also cut up:
We’re at CVS and look what they did.
Cut open every bag of candy—
not the Nerds.
But like every single bag is cut open.
Unfortunately, that’s not the most disappointing thing
you can find during your dive.
Things hit a whole new level of shock and disgust
when some people found live pets thrown away
outside pet stores.
TikToker Glamour DDive found a creature of the sea:
Okay guys, I am so disgusted.
Oh my gosh.
This Betta fish,
no top, he was floating in styrofoam with mixed up water.
It’s really hard to tell, but I promise he’s alive.
Glamour DDive ended up saving the betta fish
and putting him in a fish tank she already owned.
On another occasion,
Glamour DDive found another live fish,
a fairy wrasse.
This is the box it came in.
They threw their fish deliveries in the cardboard dumpster.
Unfortunately, this fish was having a tough time—
Glamour DDive explained
that due to being in the trash for hours,
the fish developed an illness called swim bladder disease—
causing it to swim upside down.
Okay, I’m home now,
as you can see,
you can actually see now that he’s alive.
TikToker RoseDDiving found a small furry animal
in the dumpster outside a pet store:
Okay, I am dumpster diving and there is something
moving inside this bag.
Oh my god!
A hamster or a mouse, no a hamster.
Oh my gosh.
Rose took the hamster home and gave her a new home.
Multiple people found small feathery animals in the dumpster:
I am shocked, appalled, I’m angry.
Look at this guy.
Hello!
Oh my God.
It’s a live f—ing bird, are you kidding me?
I just found him in the f—ing dumpster.
Look what I found in Petco’s dumpster!
And I thought it was a toy.
One of the dumpster divers found the bird
during working hours
and approached the Petco manager
about the terrifying situation—
he didn’t have much to say:
*Ceybelesays* This was in your trash,
this is a live bird that was in the Petco trash.
And it’s a parakeet, alive.
*Manager* That is not what we do ma’am…
*Ceybelesays* Well, this is unacceptable.
*Manager* Yeah, I agree…
Aside from the terrifying finds,
Petco also trashes pet supplies.
TikToker Glamour DDive went to a Petco
and found a puppy gate,
dog toys,
and even a shock collar.
So why do people dumpster dive?
The reasons may inspire you to live life
more fearlessly and strategically.
In an interview with The Sun,
Dumpster Diving Freegan revealed
she works full-time in a financial position,
but wants to save up enough money
so she’s able to retire by the age of 30.
She explained she is part of the FIRE movement,
which stands for “Financial Independence, Retire Early”.
She added that in addition to saving money
through her hauls,
she’s also able to donate large portions of her findings
to food banks.
Others, such as “professional dumpster diver” Matt Malone,
use dumpster diving
to provide additional income for themselves.
Despite earning a six-figure salary at a consulting firm,
Matt spends most of his off-time dumpster diving
and reselling barely tampered products for profit—
which makes more money than his full-time job.
Cameron Macleish, another dumpster diver,
wrote a personal piece for the Huffington Post
where he spoke about the benefits of diving.
He claimed to have gotten his start as a college student
living in London.
Most of his grocery shopping was done at night
due to his busy schedule.
When the store would be closing
he noticed they would put fresh produce out in bags.
When he asked to purchase it,
the employees refused to sell it to him
because of liability risks,
so Cameron took the opportunity
to begin dumpster diving.
He said he continued to dumpster dive
while traveling the world and learned that food waste
is a global problem.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council,
40% of America’s food goes to waste.
Dumpster diving is especially popular with people
who want to live sustainable lifestyles.
It gives them the opportunity to take someone else’s waste
and give an item new life,
or put it to use before it expires.
Most of us still associate dumpsters with gross trash.
So how do these influencers
find all these good-quality items for free?
Shelbizlee, a YouTuber
who focuses on sustainable and low-waste living,
shared how she safely dumpster dives at ULTA.
She goes equipped with a headlight and gloves
to keep herself safe while diving.
This is my set up, my GoPro and my headlamp.
As we mentioned, ULTA often destroys their products
before throwing them away
to prevent customers from diving a
and trying to return the items for money.
In some cases, it’s illegal to dumpster dive at ULTA.
In a past video of ours,
a former employee mentioned diving
could be considered stealing
So, is it possible for you to safely dumpster dive?
Planning and knowing your stores are key.
Make sure you know the laws in the area.
Frugal Mama from The Frugal Family on YouTube
advises not to trespass or pick locks.
Picking a dumpster lock is considered trespassing
Frugal Mama said
there is a lot she takes into consideration when diving,
such as if the place has security guards,
what time it opens and closes,
when is garbage pick up day—
so she can time the dive perfectly,
and she always makes sure to have room in her car.
Dumpster Diving Freegan gave advice
on which kinds of foods are okay to take.
One, never take warm food…
Dang it, these are warm.
I’ll take probably one or two of these bags,
those are too warm for me to take so I'm actually gonna
throw them back in the dumpster.
Two, don’t take broken items.
I was able to save five of the little aloe plants.
Three, only take sealed items.
I did just find, ooh it’s still cold,
uh some turkey bacon,
take a look at that.
It’s still cold and sealed so I'll probably take that.
But is dumpster diving actually legal?
Can someone get in trouble for it?
Dumpster diving is technically legal in all 50 states,
but some cities have “Garbage Ordinances”
and can ban dumpster diving
within their municipalities and cities.
Furthermore, some locations require a permit or license
to dumpster dive.
According to Treasure Pursuits, several cities in Illinois,
such as Chicago, Aurora, Rockford, and Joliet
require permits ranging from $50-$250
depending on the city.
So, as you can see,
it’s very important to check the laws
within your city before you dive.
Another important law to consider is…
if a dumpster is on private property,
it’s illegal to trespass and look inside.
*The Fisher* Just looks like a bunch of boxes.
And that’s about it.
*Employee* Can I help you?
*The Fisher* No.
*Employee* That’s not for you,
it’s private property.
*The Fisher* Alright.
You can also get a trespassing charge
if you break off the lock to access the trash
or enter the property when there are no trespassing signs.
Laws vary from state to state,
but take California for example—
a trespassing charge
could land someone up to six months in jail,
and a fine of up to $1000.
But what happens if you get caught,
even if it’s legal in your city?
They were watching from inside.
But it’s legal to dumpster dive.
*Employee* Hi, can I help you with something?
*Leigha* Hello.
Most of the time it will go smoothly:
So I kept diving…
you wouldn’t believe what happened next…
not a damn thing.
*Leigha* Nope, just doing what I’m legally allowed to do.
*Employee* Digging through trash?
*Leigha* Yep!
*Employee* Okay.
*Leigha* Have a good day!
*Employee* You too!
But some employees take it more seriously.
Dumpster divers Chris and Hollie
shared their awkward interaction at Walmart,
a situation no one ever wants to find themselves in:
*Chris* We had like eight employees come out.
*Hollie* Right after we turned the camera off.
*Chris* 6-8 employees came out and were like,
“you can’t be doing that here!”
*Hollie* They warned us—
*Chris* “If you come back, we're gonna call the police.”
Dumpster diver Jennifer had bad luck with one employee:
I’ve only been caught like 3 times and…
only one time somebody was actually like
kinda upset about it.
And like said,
you know just told me to leave basically.
Like nothing bad happened.
Sometimes things get a bit scary when security shows up.
But the interactions aren't always bad.
Glamour DDive showed us a glimpse
of what a positive interaction with the authorities
can look like.
[Glamourddive] Hi!
[Security] Ah, it’s you again, huh?
[Glamourddive] Yes sir.
[Security] Dumpster diving again?
[Glamourddive] Yes, I was out.
[Security] I was like, I'm familiar with this car.
[Glamourddive] Yeah,
I was getting Bath and Body Works.
[Security] Can I see what you found?
[Glamourddive] What I just found?
[Glamourddive] Yeah!
[Security] I might start doing like you maybe.
As long as you do your research and are there legally,
it’s likely no one will bother you.
YouTuber Abandoned Exploration Squad and a friend
were stopped by police when they were diving at Party City
and explained they were dumpster diving
for candy and gifts to donate to local food banks
and women's shelters.
They shared their positive experience:
They understand like,
that we were there with good intentions.
We weren’t like, trying to take all this candy for ourselves.
We were trying to donate it
and like make the world a better place,
and they understood that.
But sometimes you can still get in trouble.
Welcome to the dark side of dumpster diving…
where laws may not be so clear cut
and the reason behind why products are trashed
may go unnoticed.
TikToker GRAB IT FAST
was stopped by a police officer and security guard
and their initial interaction was positive:
*GRAB IT FAST* There’s no, no trespassing on it.
It’s not locked,
there’s a lock there that they could very well use
and they don’t.
*Cop* Yeah, I’m looking at all that same stuff.
As far as stuff that goes in the dumpster,
it’s pretty much free game.
But things took a turn for the worse
when a small detail was shared:
*GRAB IT FAST* Well, the lid was closed.
*Cop* Okay,
that would technically be breaking at that point.
*Security* Mhmm.
*GRAB IT FAST* Ju—Just ‘cause the lid’s closed?
*Cop* Yeah, because you had to move something
in order to access it.
*GRAB IT FAST* I just—I just opened it.
*Cop* Yeah, but opening is the breaking.
So, when they say breaking and entering,
it doesn’t necessarily mean
physically breaking something.
It means basically like opening.
Like if a door is unlocked,
but you open the door to enter,
you’ve now broken.
As you can see…
things can get pretty messy
if the store decides to pursue any legal action against you
because of a minor detail.
*Cop* I’m just gonna grab your information.
Um, I’m gonna ask you to leave for the night.
YouTuber thubprint
was looking through garbage bins outside people’s homes
but someone in the neighborhood was angry about this
and called the cops on him.
*Cop* Whatcha doing here today?
*thubprint* Well, I was looking for the bottles
that people left out after Canada Day.
*Cop* Ah, just doing some bottle picking, eh?
*thubprint* Well yeah.
*Cop* I’ll get your license registration insurance please.
After a long discussion,
the officers decided they wouldn’t arrest him
but instead would tow his car…
which he had to pay vehicle related fines for.
A few people shared their unfortunate experiences
in the comments of TikTok dumpster diving videos.
One viewer warned other dumpster divers
to be careful at ULTA:
So it looks like they poured out all the food…
and then covered it in bleach.
Other stories were so outrageous
they made it into the news.
The Washington Post reported a story from October 2016,
where two brothers, Tom and Sam Troyer,
were arrested while dumpster diving
outside a CVS store in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Not only were they looking for food for themselves,
but they were looking to donate
the large amounts of discarded food to charities.
Unfortunately,
their good nature got them in serious trouble—
the Troyers were arrested and charged with
defiant trespassing and loitering and prowling at night—
both third degree misdemeanors.
While avoiding an arrest
can sometimes be in your control,
health risks are harder to predict.
Much of the produce looks perfectly fine,
but we can’t see the potential dangers
with a simple glance.
A big reason companies throw out large quantities of food
is often due to recalls
or food expiring.
Eating contaminated or expired food
could leave someone exposed to a number of viruses.
In December 2021,
Bistak Enterprises Inc and Bistak Groceries Inc
recalled every single product they made
because of salmonella caused by a rodent infestation.
In early February 2022,
the Centers for Disease Control [CDC]
recalled onions from the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
as they were linked to a salmonella outbreak.
Thankfully the outbreak ended quickly,
and no one lost their life,
but over 1000 people got sick from it.
Early February 2022
also had the CDC recalling salad mixes produced by Dole
as they were linked to cases of listeria…
this ended tragically, claiming two lives.
Up to 500 items per year are pulled from the shelves
by the American Food and Drug Association [FDA].
The scary part is…
food with salmonella doesn’t taste any different
from uninfected food,
so it’s not easy to tell
if what you’re eating has been contaminated.
FoodSafetyNews
reported the list of recalled foods may include:
dry foods such as grains,
beans,
flour,
grocery canned goods,
fats and oils,
drinks,
meat products,
fish products,
baked goods,
spices
and milk powder.
And what about the expired foods?
Food-borne illnesses could be your enemy..
In r/DumpsterDiving,
someone asked if people had ever gotten sick
eating dumpster food
and people had varying responses.
Someone with 30 years of dumpster diving experience
only got sick a few times
but explained how it can be different for others:
Another user said a friend of theirs had gotten sick:
The Canadian Medical Association Journal
released an article talking about the health risks
that can come with eating dumpster food.
Jim Chan, the manager
of food safety at Toronto Public Health in Ontario,
cautions people that there’s a reason people throw food out.
Carla Eskow, a public health consultant
and professor in the environmental health department
at Concordia University College in Edmonton, Alberta,
spoke of how risky dumpster diving
can be as no one knows what’s in the garbage.
Carla brought up a number of risks that divers face,
including possible injuries from nails,
broken glass, and other sharp objects
that may be in a dumpster.
There’s also the possibility of becoming ill from bacteria,
as the dumpsters themselves are breeding grounds
for bacteria and some are sprayed with pesticides.
The food in the bins
can come into contact with these pesticides
and even fecal matter from outdoor animals—
which can infect any open wounds, according to Carla.
Jim added that washing food
also doesn’t guarantee the chemicals or pesticides
will be washed away.
Common food poisoning
can set in within six to 16 hours of eating the food.
However, food-borne diseases like Hepatitis A
can take anywhere from 15 to 50 days to make itself known.
Disease isn’t the only thing to worry about when diving—
your life could be on the line.
In January 2020, a North Carolina woman went missing
while presumably dumpster diving.
A month later, 30 year-old Stephanie Cox’s remains
were found in a landfill.
Investigators believe while Stephanie was dumpster diving
at a Five Below in her area,
Stephanie was unable to make it out of the dumpster
before it was serviced by a garbage truck.
The Burlington, North Carolina police department
released a statement about the situation:
Dumpster diving may seem like a good way
to save money and reduce waste,
but it’s not worth risking your life over.
With all these dumpsters seemingly filled
with unsold food and products,
you might be wondering how—and why—
we got here in the first place.
And you may be wondering how we can stop this waste—
especially food waste.
But the answers aren’t exactly easy,
and the solutions don’t work for everyone.
In our past video,
we spoke about why stores overstock their shelves,
just to throw a lot of it out.
A lot of the time it can be hard
to estimate how much product they’ll need,
so they’ll order extra to avoid running out
or they’ll overstock to encourage consumers to buy more.
Unfortunately, large retailers and supermarkets
don’t have a perfect system figured out—
in fact, according to The Guardian,
approximately 45% of all fruits and vegetables,
35% of fish and seafood,
30% of cereals,
and 20% of meat and dairy products
are wasted by retailers and suppliers.
This isn’t necessarily the buyer’s fault,
but we can help do our part by reducing waste in our lives
by doing things like composting,
recycling,
and reusing items.
If you want to take things a step further,
you can shop at farmer’s markets
as they contribute to less waste.
Sadly,
a lot of food and products will continue to get tossed…
and as long as that continues,
dumpster divers will continue to give this waste a new life.
Dumpster diving isn’t for the faint of heart—
getting caught by employees
or officers can be embarrassing or frightening for some.
The situation is even more nerve wracking
when there’s a possibility you could be charged
for a number of unrelated issues.
It’s a strange world we live in,
where taking someone’s trash can still upset them—
even if the end result has a positive effect on the world.
I called one of the store managers,
I said…
“I’m not looking to make a mess or anything,
I was just wondering if um,
if it was okay if I check in your dumpster”
and stuff.
And she was like,
“well,
um, I put locks on my dumpster
because people were stealing out of my dumpsters, so…”
And that made me so…
I wanted to laugh so bad.
Stealing out of your dumpsters?
I just don’t understand how people think,
the way that they think is like—
it’s going to the landfill, why do you even care?
Dumpster diving is a way of living for many people—
it’s their way of feeling liberated
and allows them to give back to the community
in ways they never could before.
As long as you respect the laws within your city,
and stay protected,
dumpster diving is harmless.
This is the story about how dumpster divers
are changing how we see waste.