Heh Heh... There's a NAME for what I do!

[Frank Lee]

I didn't know that.

What is a Freegan? : freegan.info

Can't say I drop into that slot 100%, but... mostly.

[SuperTrooper]

I guess they got tired of being called hippies???

[Formula413]

I like it.

[groar]

In France more and more supermarkets are putting Javel (bleach ?) on what they are putting in the dustbin
Other one are organizing themselves to give to associations such as Restaurants du CÅ“ur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denis.

[Frank Lee]

I've even come across that here, in the middle of nowhere. The owners of one of my most "fruitful" dumpsters took offense to having their refuse recycled and actually started taking the time and manpower to open all food containers and dump soap water in them. Duh, it's not like they're losing any sales cuz of my recycling- I wasn't gonna buy their stuff off the shelf anyway.

[akashic]

Aw, man, I was totally into that lifestyle. Heck, I would've signed up to write for the website. I used to joke that I was a "Nonprofit Organism". But where I live now, all the dumpsters are locked up in gated concrete sheds. Amazing really. It must be part of the commercial building code or something.

[blueflame]

People used to put free things on the grass verge in front of the house but you dont see it much anymore.

I think its now illegal to do so.

[Frank Lee]

One year later....

still scavenging, but not as often. Opportunities drying up with open bins being replaced by enclosed compactors. Should be the other way around... still hit the occasional jackpot though. The best one is our local gas station convenience store, which evidently doesn't move groceries and food items as well as it may appear. They'll toss out huge garbage bags full of, for instance, boxed cereals, potato chips, bagged pecans, individual sized juices, sandwiches, breakfast muffins, etc. as soon as they hit the "expiration date"... meanwhile the local food shelf begs for donations...

[Christ]

C'est la vie!

[SentraSE-R]

I used to find adulterated food all the time as part of my job. We'd ask the companies what they were going to do with that food, which was unfit (and illegal) to hold for sale. They usually offered to "voluntarily dispose of it." We suggested they adulterate it so scavengers would not try to eat it. That's where the soapy water, or motor oil or bleach, gets poured on apparently good food.

Brother Frank may think it's a waste, but I hope he wouldn't have wanted to eat food with mouse turds and hair and urine in it, or grain with beetle larvae nestled comfortably inside the kernels. You can't see the bacteria that cause the cans to swell, or the meat to spoil. When in doubt, throw it out.