In amongst the anxiety and panicking and stockpiling, have you noticed how messed up our food system is? How expensive it is getting in many places? How we’re shipping things across the world only to waste them and how that food waste in turn contributes to climate change?
Dumpster diving has a lot of connotations to it – and for some it’s an absolute necessity in order to eat, something we really need to resolve – but it’s also an incredible lesson, a challenge and a way to reduce waste and spend.
We highly recommend following Matt @anurbanharvester who has been diving for over three years and shares his hauls with a whole lot of information. Matts three biggest learnings:
🥕 There is an extremely uneven distribution of resources, especially good quality, nutritious foods on this planet.
🍞 There is a huge overproduction of processed foods with a huge amount of this ending up in dumpsters (especially highly processed bread).
💰 Supermarket food waste is just as much of an economic issue as an environmental one. Companies are setting prices that are higher in relation to demand – we should be spending less!
If you’re thinking of trying dumpster diving – or you’ve done it plenty – we would love to hear your experiences. Matt’s tips are:
1. A flashlight, pair of gloves, swiss army knife (or your keys as a sharp tool) will help you out!
2. Look up local legislation and be smart. Don’t underestimate the importance civil disobedience can have though.
3. Be polite if you come across workers and leave swiftly.
4. Take pre-caution with foods like meat & seafood. Take a look online for tips on this and use your common sense.
❓Have questions? We can get you answers (and Matt shares his knowledge openly).
We adore Matt so go follow him if you don’t already! Our food waste guide, global systems guide and food challenges post are coming out over the coming months and will include special sections on this.
Ultimately you might still think this is crazy, but so is our system and the amount of food we waste at every link of the chain. It doesn’t have to be your thing, but it is awesome to think about!
