Dumpster diving is when you either go into a dumpster or through the trash of a restaurant, bakery, grocery store, or more and get the free food they are going to throw out. Although that sounds extreme, more and more people are dumpster diving for good reason. The fact that supermarkets in the US throw away at least 40 billion pounds of food every year is a good enough reason for people to want to waste food less and save money while they’re at it.
Dumpster diving is perfectly legal as long as the trash isn’t behind a fence that says private property, so there’s nothing to fear! Especially if you live in a big city where places leave their trash out on the curb, there’s no harm in taking some rubber gloves and going through a bit of trash. Often places will throw away perfectly good products that are even completely sealed. And those products are usually not even in a bag with real trash, just premade sandwiches, salads, and other foods that are being tossed.
While you don’t have to make this practice something regular, there is something to be said about getting food not only for free but food that would otherwise go straight to a landfill. If you’re someone on a budget or who wants to make an impact on the environment, consider dumpster diving.
