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America the waistfull
14 years ago
General
The truth may come in clever disguises...
Some of you may know-others not so much...I dumpster dive-often, sometimes I hit the same location multiple times a day.
Why do I do this?....because there is a plague in America, a sad trend that is ignored because it is often times hidden. But it hides in plain sight, just behind retail stores, in the alley or just out of sight behind neatly painted fences or built to match walls...its the daily tossing of food and damaged products into the trash bins. Big retailers are not the only guilty partys in this habit of "replace, not re-purpose" mentality...all of us have done it too.
America is a Wal-Mart~7-11~Walgreens ridden land of replenishment at our fingertips. Where ever you have "new" neighborhoods pop up-eventually theres going to follow the building of strip malls, banks, gas stations even schools etc.
This kind of urban sprawl is two fold in purpose, First, it gives us the false sense of a never ending supply...we pass the stores every day and could never imagine them gone or even out of business. Second, it creates a "micro-community" of businesses and such necessitated by the urban sprawl of suburbia in most major U.S. cities.
This is all a designed to stop, of all things, "Grid lock" yes, grid lock. The overflow of too much traffic caused by all essential services being in one central location. (IE- the town market of olde)
The amount of food that is thrown out is staggering-the things people simply choose to throw away rather than re-use or even give away maddens me.
My community is one of the worst...there such a silent stigma here of being seen as "well to do" or a need to "keep up" with the affluent members of this village of idiots. Just yesterday the mate and I found over $65.00
+ of food and drinks from a single bin. We encountered two other fellow divers and divided up the haul among us...it felt so good to give it all away right there in plain sight of the truck drivers delivering more. One of the vendors walked over and to our surprise~asked if we wanted 8 frozen pies he was about to toss-we took them off his hands gladly-he even returned with a second load...talk about timing. So yes...I'm out there-jumping into your trash bins-rummaging thru your dumpsters at all hours of the day. And I'm gonna sell it back to you at my garage sales.
(By the way-should any of you need anything...for free or close to nothing-I think Karma has its own reward~feel free to note me~my inventory is in constant flux.)
As always-The dumpster mutt
Why do I do this?....because there is a plague in America, a sad trend that is ignored because it is often times hidden. But it hides in plain sight, just behind retail stores, in the alley or just out of sight behind neatly painted fences or built to match walls...its the daily tossing of food and damaged products into the trash bins. Big retailers are not the only guilty partys in this habit of "replace, not re-purpose" mentality...all of us have done it too.
America is a Wal-Mart~7-11~Walgreens ridden land of replenishment at our fingertips. Where ever you have "new" neighborhoods pop up-eventually theres going to follow the building of strip malls, banks, gas stations even schools etc.
This kind of urban sprawl is two fold in purpose, First, it gives us the false sense of a never ending supply...we pass the stores every day and could never imagine them gone or even out of business. Second, it creates a "micro-community" of businesses and such necessitated by the urban sprawl of suburbia in most major U.S. cities.
This is all a designed to stop, of all things, "Grid lock" yes, grid lock. The overflow of too much traffic caused by all essential services being in one central location. (IE- the town market of olde)
The amount of food that is thrown out is staggering-the things people simply choose to throw away rather than re-use or even give away maddens me.
My community is one of the worst...there such a silent stigma here of being seen as "well to do" or a need to "keep up" with the affluent members of this village of idiots. Just yesterday the mate and I found over $65.00
+ of food and drinks from a single bin. We encountered two other fellow divers and divided up the haul among us...it felt so good to give it all away right there in plain sight of the truck drivers delivering more. One of the vendors walked over and to our surprise~asked if we wanted 8 frozen pies he was about to toss-we took them off his hands gladly-he even returned with a second load...talk about timing. So yes...I'm out there-jumping into your trash bins-rummaging thru your dumpsters at all hours of the day. And I'm gonna sell it back to you at my garage sales.
(By the way-should any of you need anything...for free or close to nothing-I think Karma has its own reward~feel free to note me~my inventory is in constant flux.)
As always-The dumpster mutt
"That which is given has no value"
The internet itself is a grand example of everything you seem upset about in this, love. The year of effort that went into making a well-liked movie, the hundreds of people, the sweat and blood mean very little when it's available at the click of a finger. The days , weeks, years of emotions and pain that go into composing a song, performing a play, writing a story mean nothing to people who grow up having it at a glance as they desire.
And people. Relationships, even artificial ones, superficial ones, mean very little in the 'electronic age' to most people. Delineating people who agree with us as our 'peeps' and people who don't as 'haterz', applying moral standard based on level of comfort... As people can access a degree of companionship at the click of a mouse, they no longer value people and friendship very much.
You're a wise one, love, part of why I value you and yours. A society can be judged by what it deems as refuse just as well as what it deems as treasure. People would do well to read this journal and take it to heart, not just agree with you because you're popular or disagree because... well, they're not very wise. *snofts* I'll leave it at that.
Me personally, I've always lived within my means and enjoyed what work has provided as well as shared that with my friends. At the same time, it's not good to be wasteful. Just from a cost perspective, if you don't watch when you cook the food you buy, you end up having to pitch some which is wasting money. I felt bad for having to buy two fresh baked french loafs the other day when I only needed one, but they aren't packaged that way. Needless to say, I ate the one and the second began molding. My first though was, pick off the mold and save it, but then I remembered I didn't have anything to go with it or for it at that point and how I only wanted to buy just one. It's not just the stores that are being wasteful, but consumers which is largely due to "packaging". Whether it be in actual trash or excess product bundled in a way that forces folks to be wasteful. Also, it's good to note that for stores, they are only supposed to buy product based of previous sales and expected growth trends. So the stores throwing out the most are not being as efficient with orders and watching their numbers. They also aren't running sales and discounts on product that is being rotated out of the fresh produce sections. I used to love those cause it was usually half off on meats you needed to use right away. Great way to go out for dinner and cook cheaper instead.
People gain a little more income and they seem to buy even more than they were getting by with before there unexpected boon. If they would only put that income to good use instead of stuffing more clothing,food, cars etc. into there lives.
They used to put leftover food at the store I worked at in the breakroom... But I worked with a bunch of greedy idiots and they started making new stuff and just tagging it as old, or they would take home the WHOLE box for themselves, and nobody would get any. So they had to quit doing that. I hated that store so much.
hey oki be on the lookout for a wire birdcage, one of those that people use at weddings to put cards in. I can't believe how much they cost for a one time use thing! I don't care if it's a little banged up, let me know how much you want for it if you find one, thank you!
There were several times I would bring up the issue of the stuff being wasted and could be donated or something to supervisors but their hands on the subject are also tied by corporate. At times, even at the risk of my own job, me and a few others would take it upon ourselves to see some of the food wasn't being wasted. (My mom misses the boxes of food I would sometimes bring her.)
I applaud your commitment and you "method" of recycling.
Going with you today, made me aware a bit more of just how wasteful humans are, even myself sometimes. It's a lesson indeed. Thank you. <3
5 Heavy-duty locking tool cases
1 Stereo in perfect working order
1 Cordless drill, needs only an AC adapter to work.
1 computer, needed only a hard drive and peripherals (Kobi used it hard for about a year before the mother board finally gave up the ghost).
I kind of miss those kind of pickings, although I'm at least glad that people here in Oregon are more likely to take perfectly good things to a thrift shop than throw them away.
WHY can I not give it to those who need it? Why?
Roughly the first half of this year, I worked at a convenience store which sold roller-grill items (hot dogs and such) and microwaved sandwiches (burgers, breakfast sandwiches, and the like). Before I started working there, some employees would intentionally overstock the roller grill or sandwich warmer areas and, when it came time for stuff to expire, they'd simply take the excess for themselves. Now if this were a once-a-week occurence, they could simply claim that they "thought it was going to be busier". But if it happens consistently, it becomes apparent that they are intentionally putting more out than they know will sell. When someone does this just to get something for nothing, it is an indirect form of theft. When this becomes a problem in multiple stores, they often have very little choice but to implement policies of throwing out the leftovers, and keeping track of what gets pitched. At least then, if someone continues this practice, they can be disciplined for it.
Do places frequently "make too much", so that they won't run out? Certainly. Do they throw out the leftovers? Some do, absolutely. Do they have good reason? If it discourages intentional waste, I tend to think so.
The solution, at least when it comes to food items, is to do what I've seen done in countless grocery stores. When a product (most often fresh baked goods or produce) is nearing its expiration date, say 3-5 days away, they mark it down.
As most discount shoppers will attest, the "expiration date" on perishable foods is usually the "sell by" date, not the "use by" date. Milk is almost always good for at least 2-3 days past its date, often as much as 5 days. Bread can be kept for weeks after its date, if you just keep it in the refrigerator. Produce is a bit trickier to extend its life, but if you do any canning, you can even save that way, if you know where to look. Once in a great while, you can even find stores selling near-expired canned goods, or even candy. Though I can tell you from experience that old chocolate bars can vary from merely discolored, to "ewww!"
*taking a breath*
My point is that, while dumpster diving CAN yield some amazing finds, shopping at places that try to avoid creating such waste in the first place may actually lead to better practices and policies at currently wasteful stores, if they start losing business to more "sensible" stores.
P.S. - as a side benefit to stores that mark stuff down, the less they have to toss out, the cheaper their waste collection bill.
Honestly, the government needs to just back WAYYYYY off, when it comes to corporate taxes, and back off a TON of the non-sensible regulations (sensible, safety regulations are fine, but when the government dictates wall paint colors, or thickness of bathroom mirrors, or whatever, that's just insane). If they'd do that, businesses would have a firmer footing on knowing what's going on from one month to the next, not need to keep so big a buffer, and most importantly, not have to spend a TON just to comply with ridiculous tax-and-regulation codes.