Sunday, August 4, 2013

Speaking of Food

       This may be a subject some of you will reject but maybe you should do a little research before you judge. The subject I'm talking about is dumpster diving.
       That's right. This is a very fast growing culture of people who now call themselves freegans. They are protesting against waste in America.
       The statistics on food waste are staggering. You may want to be sitting down for this. Almost 40% of the food produced in America is wasted. That is 1,400 calories per day for every man, woman, and child in America. Do I have your attention yet?
       10% of the total energy used in the U.S. is used just to get food to the table. A whopping 80% of all water used in the U.S. is used getting food to the table.
       So what can we do about this waste? Here is a video to watch and you can see hundreds more by searching freegan or dumpster diving on youtube.

       Ok, I know you are wondering so I will tell you. Yes I have done a pretty good little bit of this and it is amazing what shows up in just my small rural county. One of my best finds was a bottle of perfume brand new in the box which I sold on ebay for $55.00. Someone had evidently cleaned out a house and put the stuff in a dumpster behind a store.
       I have gotten so much good stuff and the competition is tough even here. Diving has become big. Let me know your opinion on this.

1 comment:

  1. I have heard of this. Great idea there is so much waste in the US. I have seen another women's blog that talks about going to stores to get produce for her chickens. They give her what they have pulled from the shelves that is now unsellable. She picks out a lot of good stuff for her family before she gives the rest to her chickens.

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