Dumpster Diving

• May. 7 by Stacey Spencer (0)

The industry of recycling has taken on a whole new agenda. Now in the form of Dumpster Diving.

It involves people going through other people’s rubbish and claiming it as there own. This can be anything from household goods such as furniture to even food. This phenomenal approach to recycling has changed throughout history. Rag and bone men have been doing it for years for economic reasons. Mixed reviews have been given on this idea. However, it is now returning with the same reasons for why it started, to save money.

Recent debates have undergone talks about dumpster diving being good for the environment. People saying that it is “helping the environment.”

Andrew Simons, Head of Centre at ‘Centre of the Earth’ in Birmingham can see the “environmental argument” for this. He said;

“It’s an interesting phenom.”

People are dumpster diving for furniture, clothing and even food. Food dumpster diving closely connected to ‘Freeganism.’ People employing alternative living strategies with less economy and consumption resources. This deals with salvaging food. The re-using of all dumped products. Mr Simons further added;

“It’s awlful that alot of stuff is getting chucked away… people should think about dumpster diving as a good method.”

From his own personal experience with dumpster diving, he remembers putting out furniture he did not need. A man in a van came around and took some of the furniture.

Projects are also aiding the lifestyle of dumpster diving. The ‘Ladywood Furniture Project’ looks at doing this concerning furniture. They take furniture from people in the hope to improve it, re-use it then sell it to people who need it. This being at a reasonable cost. Also there are projects that deal with food dumpster diving. They go around to supermarkets for food that is passed its sell by date. This used to be common years ago in supermarkets, but is more watched now due to health reasons. Friends of the Earth have looked into computer recycling. Programmes like ‘Ubuntu’ It is an open source programme that is FREE. It runs on low spec machines. helping with basics such as word processing and graphics.

Blogs, How to Guides and tips have also been covered on Dumpster Diving.

Andrew Simons also added;

“People should be encouraged more to put of computers for cllection.”

A negative to dumpster diving is identity theft. People have been throwing out documents that contain their own personal information, leading to fraud and identity theft. Andrew Simons states;

“If people throw out personal information, I recommend shredding.”

Overall ‘Dumpster Diving’ seems like a useful method for helping the environment, however there are issues that need to be taken into account.