About The Freakin' Freegan:
Freegans are individuals--often, but not all vegans--who seek to minimize participation in a wasteful, consumer-driven society that so greatly impacts our environment and sense of material values. They reduce their ecological footprint in ways that are sometimes unique and controversial, the most notable the practice of "dumpster diving" to salvage some of the millions of dollars' worth of perfectly good food, furnishings, and other household items trashed by a throwaway economy each year.  In a world where a child dies of hunger every two minutes, such wastefulness is shocking. 
This blog series discusses my household's experiment with freeganism. For more on freeganism, visit freegan.info.

Freegan Outing 2

The night's goal was to salvage what we could and seek new venues where good items are trashed.

Despite learning on our first outing that our area goes to great lengths to lock waste down tight, we had found one potential site...and a midweek recon turned up a second (and a perfectly good watermelon sitting on the ground outside the dumpster). Tonight we hit those first and got lucky right away. The first stop yielded four bunches of small wrapped bananas, a wrapped head of cauliflower, and a good head of lettuce. Most of the bananas had some spots but were quite serviceable, so I froze them to add to my morning breakfast smoothies. Much more produce had been destroyed, but had we room at our apartment for a proper compost pile we could have salvaged some to throw in. I'll  gauge the interest of local gardening friends...perhaps another time.

Our second stop found that last week's open bin (packed with amazing vandekamp's baked goods) was padlocked. Oh well. Off we went to seek new venues, and after four dumpster armories found one open...though empty. Will stop by again and see what the discount store wastes.

We were pleased, but wished we could say we didn't get more to share because all our local merchants donate usable items to the poor/food banks/etc. This is not the case. Some things are donated, but far too much is destroyed, locked and hidden so it can be sure to clog the landfill without a better use. Pity.