Comment by Heather Spoonheim on May 29, 2010 at 10:13pm

The consumer is actually just as much at fault as the big corporations. We won't pay for a bruised apple, but we won't pay for Grade A apple if bruised apples are being given away. Demand for only premium product coupled with a drive to circumvent profit leaves stores having to dispose of 'second rate' items without letting the public know what's going on.

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on May 29, 2010 at 10:20pm

Heather: The consumer is actually just as much at fault as the big corporations. We won't pay for a bruised apple, but we won't pay for Grade A apple if bruised apples are being given away. Demand for only premium product coupled with a drive to circumvent profit leaves stores having to dispose of 'second rate' items without letting the public know what's going on.

Yes, that is very true. And if they gave away the unwanted food at the end of the day, people wouldn't shop for it, they'd just wait until it was handed out later. That is the trouble with capitalism: It does not protect resources, it wastes them.

There are food banks that some of the food could be given to, but corporations are just wierd about giving stuff like that away. For a long time, the local PetSmart would give our animal rescue torn bags of dog and cat food that they could not sell. I'd pick it up and drive it out to a lady who did rescue in a poor part of town. She'd give it to the poorer families, and feed strays with it. Then the manufacturers pressured the stores (all of them) to stop donating the food. They just put it in the dumpster.

BTW, I'm just as bad about not buying a bruised apple. : [

Comment by Heather Spoonheim on May 29, 2010 at 10:31pm

I don't think capitalism is entirely the problem but rather the opulence in which we live. No one in western society seems to grasp just how much wealth we ALL have - and this video is proof of that. Unfortunately, in our great wealth, we have come to disdain all acts of scavenging. People in my old condo hated that I specifically bagged my aluminum for a fellow that I called 'the neighbourhood recycler' and they called 'dumpster dave'.

All of this can be solved by just making the conscious decision to respect the role that scavengers play in our society. By reducing our waste, they are doing us a huge favour. If anything, we should be encouraging the proliferation of scavenging skills in our society. Those who have such skills are also better adapted for the economic maelstrom that we are just entering (in my opinion).

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on May 29, 2010 at 10:33pm

All good advice, Heather. : )

Comment by Shine on May 30, 2010 at 3:00pm

Restaurants are another source of massive food waste. Having worked in the industry for over a decade in my youth, I vividly remember being appalled at how much perfectly edible food landed in the dumpster every night. Some places will not even let employees eat the excess perishable portions as owners fear that this would lead to cooks "accidentally" preparing an excess just for employee consumption.

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on May 30, 2010 at 10:27pm

I've worked in foodservice too, Shine. And that is so right. It is sickening. I used to take cakes and stuff to the fire dept, but they complained about that, too.

Comment by Violet Chartreuse on May 30, 2010 at 11:46pm

compelling

Comment by Rachel Burke on May 31, 2010 at 2:59pm

I've done this before

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on July 22, 2010 at 2:33pm

This is an interview with Jeremy Seifert on The Story. Scroll down to July 21, 2010. - DG

Will Dive for Food

Jeremy Seifert has become an unlikely hunger activist. Some friends of his showed up at his LA apartment one day with bags full of gourmet food from the dumpsters behind the local Trader Joe's market. Jeremy was shocked and intrigued. Soon after, he waited until midnight and hit a dumpster himself, bagging delicious meat, veggies, eggs, cheese - enough to feed his family for days. Jeremy started going regularly, and decided to turn his dumpster diving adventures into a movie. But his movie "Dive" isn't a how-to video; Jeremy is digging deep for answers. Why is so much edible food wasted, thrown away behind hundreds of grocery stores across the country every night? Jeremy talks with Farai Chideya about using his nose to tell good food from bad, and taking his fight up the Trader Joe's corporate ladder.

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