Freegans of New York. Why New Yorkers eat food from the trash | RT Documentary

The New York freegans don’t spend money on food, because they can find perfectly good food discarded in the nearest trashcan. Freegans can afford to buy groceries, but they opt to go dumpster diving. When retailers and cafes don’t sell everything, the food invariably ends up in bags on the sidewalks. Fruit, pastry, bread, canned and other processed food goes to waste, because the expiration date is looming, or the produce just doesn’t look perfect anymore.

Dumpster diving is a way to tackle the food waste problem, according to freegans. Between 30-40 percent of the US food supply, or 100 million tonnes of food, is wasted. It means that almost one fifth of the farmland and four trillion gallons of water is wasted too. Freegans strive for more sustainable lives in an increasingly consumerist economy.

Freegans are confident that it’s not shameful to rummage through the trash in search of dinner. They encourage businesses to donate food instead of throwing it away. In the meantime, volunteers serve meals cooked from salvaged food in parks, and set up community fridges in the streets.

While freegans eat for free, they also shop for free and entertain for free. New York’s freegans promote the practice of freecycling - matching things people no longer want with things others need.

Join us on a dumpster diving spree and swap markets as we delve into the freegan lifestyle in New York.

Timestamps
00:00 - Dumpster diving for food
1:12 - Food rescue
2:04 - Food waste problem
5:07 - Why does perfectly good food go to waste?
8:37 - Why freegans don’t take more than they need
10:24 - Freegan community in New York
11:26 - Furnishing for free
12:44 - Freecycling
13:50 - Free store
16:20 - Swap market
17:16 - Reducing waste as the core idea of freeganism
18:11 - Food inequality in the US
19:41 - Donating food
24:15 - Community fridges

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