Freegans in Detroit

[dfunkycity]

Are there any ? I would assume with how tight money is for a lot of us surely there must be some people who dumpster dive around the area.
I saw a video on this and was simply amazed at the amount of good food being thrown away by our society.

Want to fight capitalism? This might be the best route if you can look past your pride and see it for what it is.


http://freegan.info/?page_id=2

[Gannon]

Dfunk,

I can introduce you to those I know in the Woodbridge area. This movement is not new to Detroit, and predated the current crisis.

One woman already had fifteen minutes and more of relative infamy on the DetroitTODAY show on WDET.

Her freegan dinner parties are wonderful. I never thought capitalism could serve up such delights for free.

Cheers!

[shock]

Neat link !!.......when I was a kid we called these people Bums, Vagrants, and Hobos.

[lilpup]

There's a pretty active freecycle list, too.

[jmcguire39]

Shock, most bums, vagrants, and hobos are on the streets b/c of mental illness and/or drug addiction. The Freegans made a decision to stop being part of our unsustainable consumerist society. I think they make some good points about the amount of food and other necessities wasted in our society.

[Sludgedaddy]

Hey....I got dibs on that green boloney that Ahmed finally threw out , eight months beyond it's expiration date, in the dumpster behind his party store !!!

[dfunkycity]

Dfunk,

I can introduce you to those I know in the Woodbridge area. This movement is not new to Detroit, and predated the current crisis.

One woman already had fifteen minutes and more of relative infamy on the DetroitTODAY show on WDET.

Her freegan dinner parties are wonderful. I never thought capitalism could serve up such delights for free.

Cheers!

I appreciate the offer but my partner and I recently relocated to NYC because its a little easier to find work here.

Since we both only eek out [[barely)a living we were thinking of possibly joining the New York group but we are not sure if we can get over the initial hesitations about eating food that was retrieved from the dumpster.

We may just dive into it [[pun intended) because the price of groceries in this city is through the roof.
Of course not too mention the neccecities like rent and utilities.


We were also interested in possibly seeking out other people that were interested in a commune type living arrangement to help ease the cost of living for those of us that are pulling through life by the skin of our teeth.

Possibly getting a group of people together to purchase an inexpensive apartment building somewhere and each member have their own unit .
Like a co-op only we initially purchase it together as a group instead of purchasing separate units.

If things do not get going for us here in NY then we will probably return to Detroit and try the commune idea.
With a half-way decent job we can at least make a better life in Detroit than here but for now we are going to at least try.
Do you know if any commune type situations exist now in the Detroit area?
I think if a place with a little land on the east side were purchased it could possibly work if everyone were willing to do what work they could possibly do to help.

We would not have to worry too much about crime or about break-ins because chances are that someone will be at the home at all times.
We could garden and really have some sort of sense of a small community.

Its really something to ponder. NY is nice but there is no sense of community at all here.

[Bearinabox]

Hey....I got dibs on that green boloney that Ahmed finally threw out , eight months beyond it's expiration date, in the dumpster behind his party store !!!

That's pretty much my reaction to this whole concept. Whatever floats your boat, I guess, dfunkycity.

[dfunkycity]

Don't get me wrong, I am very skeptical about it but it would not only help monetarily it would also help socially.
From what I understand we as a nation waste 80 million pounds of perfectly good food every year.

This food could be used to help those in need but it is not.
So joining would kill two birds with one stone in essence.

If I can get over this mental resistance I could not only help myself but help save food and all the byproducts of waste associated in creating that food in the first place.

[Sludgedaddy]

dfunky....let your hair grow long, sprout a beard, carve a swatstika between your eyes, brainwash a few young girls and get them to do your bidding, and like, your in there,man !!!

[dfunkycity]

That might be just a tad too far too go. I'll do without the swas tika tat.

[Russix]

Reminds me of the two hula hoop girls at the Dally walking around and pouring the remains of discarded alcoholic drinks into a giant 5 gallon water jug. It first struck me as being very unhealthy, but then I realized that all that alcohol probably disinfects the freegan cocktail pretty well.

[wolverine]

I don't understand why people keep saying the food in the dumpster is "wasted." There are many laws regarding food safety and what must be removed from store shelves so that people will not get sick.

The food being thrown out is removed for a reason, and there is really no way to prevent that from happening.

FYI, when I worked a job at a convenience store during college, I used to take home items immediately after they expired, despite that we weren't supposed to. I recall getting extremely sick from eating packaged food just a couple days after the maximum sell date. Same happened from time to time to other employees who removed expired food and beverages from the store as well.

I thought it was great how much money I saved in college until I got sick during exam week.......and to think that food never even reached the trash.

[texorama]

Has anyone heard the old song about dirty deep fried chicken and dirty dirty rice?

[Retroit]

From what I understand we as a nation waste 80 million pounds of perfectly good food every year.

Here's 85 million pounds with just one product:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125090314736050931.html

[shock]

Shock, most bums, vagrants, and hobos are on the streets b/c of mental illness and/or drug addiction. The Freegans made a decision to stop being part of our unsustainable consumerist society. I think they make some good points about the amount of food and other necessities wasted in our society.

"Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed."

Ah I'm sorry...............but..........ahh.....ok....sou nds like a Bum to me....and kinda gross, unhealthy, and lazy.

[Roq]

ewww, yuck.

[dfunkycity]

Here's 85 million pounds with just one product:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125090314736050931.html

That's disgusting. Just so they can keep the prices up. If they flooded the market and brought down the prices I'll just bet that a whole lot more people would be eating cherry products on a regular basis.

Imagine all the food pantries feeding the poor that could be stocked with those cherries.

[dfunkycity]

ewww, yuck.

Oh alright Roq. I guess I"ll remove you from our first freegan dinner party list.

[Bearinabox]

Freegans Irish Pub has a nice ring to it. Just don't tell anyone where you got the food.

[dfunkycity]

You could also recycle the beer from the patrons.

[Roq]

Oh alright Roq. I guess I"ll remove you from our first freegan dinner party list.

I wonder what happens to the leftovers after a freegan dinner party ?

[Retroit]

I wonder what happens to the leftovers after a freegan dinner party ?

Where do you think granola bars, fruit cake, and hot dogs come from?

[Jimaz]

I've known two dumpster divers in my lifetime.

Both were extraordinarily intelligent. At the extreme top end of the intelligence bell curve, eccentrics are often found who may be unemployable simply because of their eccentricities. They're still brilliant despite their independence.

One was forced to feed from dumpsters because of an unfortunate family situation. I applaud him for placing family above his own dietary health but he had a good head on his shoulders and a cast-iron stomach. Last I heard he is still surviving in Phoenix.

The other concentrated on harvesting dumpsters behind hitek firms. This guy collected incredibly advanced technology waste. Some of that stuff looked like it came off of an alien space ship. Massive RF vacuum tubes containing complex etched circuitry in gold. This guy made his own custom microscopes and micro-drillpresses -- better than what was on the commercial market. In appreciation for his efforts I awarded him this T-Shirt for his birthday:

[Gannon]

Most now doesn't even end up IN a dumpster.

There are enough spotters and sympathetic folk that the best stuff gets grabbed before it is dumped.

Not a one of the freegans I know would eat processed food, most of that is poison on the shelves...well before it expires! And Wolverine, how much do you think your immune system was distracted and weakened from the stress of those tests?! Do you know it was the food ONLY that made you sick?


Nah, I was skeptical at first, but every time I've been over to visit I've been amazed. I am very pleased that many consider this ugly, there will be more for the rest of us.


I wish you well, dfunk, with your communal experiment. You should attempt to weed out the takers and slackers before they vampire the energy, though. Better to have a group of givers and doers, and some way to manage the group collectively...with firm grace.


Cheers, this has been lively.