You'll lick your fingers: what freegans get by in city trash heaps. Freegans: intellectuals in the landfillEating from landfills as a way of social protest against consumer society
The philosophy of freegans condemns and denies any overconsumption and overproduction - instead of participating in maintaining the traditional system of purchase and sale, they practice collecting food and other material goods in trash cans. The movement came from the USA and is now widespread in the Old World. At the same time, the problem of irrational waste of products in Europe today is beginning to be discussed not only by environmental activists, but also - not so long ago, the French parliament adopted the “Macron law”, which obliges any grocery store in France, whose area exceeds 400 square meters, transfer all items taken out of sale food products to charities and those in need.
In Russia, the ideas of freeganism are not yet so widespread, and those who practice dumpster diving here do it not so much for environmental reasons, but for pragmatic ones. Although it varies. We asked five practicing freegans about their motivations, attitudes toward consumption, and scavenger hunt rules.
Alexey Gribel
I moved to St. Petersburg two and a half years ago and after much wandering, I settled in a room without anything. Young guys lived in the apartment (it was in pretty bad shape at the time they moved in) and had not yet had time to put everything in order. I began to notice that different furniture and building materials They constantly throw it away near our house, and after some internal struggle I brought home a good folding sofa, and then various dishes.
When living conditions are low, you want to live well. So I began to visit landfills in the yards of my area more often and improve my new home. Having collected more walls from old cabinets and more boards, he built a strong second floor, which stood even after I set sail from there.
One day, a friend of mine called me a freegan and told me about the movement. But at that moment I was disdainful of taking food. I turned to food when I moved to a new place on Petrogradskaya. That's where I learned how rich wealthy people are. Fashionable things began to come into the house large quantities, which were worn for at most one season, and about 40-50 thousand were saved on clothes in six months.
I dressed myself and my girlfriend, and we distributed a lot of things to friends and took them to free markets. From food, cheeses, cottage cheese and sour cream began to appear on our table, the expiration date of which by several hours exceeded the number on the packaging. Without these numbers, many people would probably have died of hunger, not knowing whether it was lost or not.
In addition to food and clothes, I found flash drives for cameras, a player, a professional hair dryer, 17 cakes, a box of chocolates, and many different expensive women's clothes and shoes in excellent condition. expensive brands. But the crowning glory of my finds were two jewelry boxes a couple of months ago, when I was giving a tour for journalists from a local TV channel. There was mostly cheap jewelry and ornaments made from semi-precious stones, but the main find was a cracked wedding ring, diamond ring, gold and silver chain. The pawn shop valued this crown at 11.5 thousand rubles
I try to take exactly as much as I need to live. Money is the equivalent of labor, so why spend it on necessary things if they are around me for free?
It's actually amazing how many resources people turn into trash without even using half of them. By filling their refrigerators to capacity, people throw in the trash at least a third of what has simply gone bad. I try to take exactly as much as I need to live. Money is the equivalent of labor, so why spend it on necessary things if they are around me for free?
It's like a quest, there are several control points on your route, and in some of them surprises are left for you, your task is to go through these points and find what was left for you. It’s good when there are conscious citizens who, when getting rid of unnecessary things, do not throw them into the tank, but leave them nearby in a visible place - so anyone can take them for themselves and the path of these things will continue. After all, imagine that every thing that is thrown away was collected by someone, woven, sewn, knocked together, grown, born, enormous resources, effort and time were spent on this, but the gluttony of humanity is such that you need to bite off the edge of everything, and then throw it away. This is the system of consumerism.
I was horrified when behind Pyaterochka I discovered a mountain of about 30–40 chicken breasts and hips; At first I was happy, they said, there would be a feast at home, but then a picture of life flashed before my eyes. The chickens were raised, slaughtered, cut into pieces, put on shelves to show off for three days, so that later they would go ingloriously to feed the worms. Since then I haven't bought meat. I eat it only if I am treated to it or if I find it.
My family was very worried that I wouldn’t catch anything, but it’s enough to follow simple rules hygiene, wash or wash with soap - and nothing will threaten your health. Now they are calm. My girlfriend supports me and is always happy when I bring home something interesting and tasty, and also keeps me company on walks. There are a couple of friends who were previously skeptical about freeganism, but now they can compete with us in terms of the treasure they extract.
Natasha Zen
I've been freeganing for about two years. It all started when I began to find materials for study when I was studying to become an artist. Then it became quite common, and I started freeganning more with my friend Alex. For me this is not a struggle or a protest, just a way to focus on more the right things, invest more money and time in your creativity and interests, and not spend on household needs. Gradually you begin to buy less and less, you get used to finding or doing everything you need yourself. In general, the DIY lifestyle has always been my ideal, and freeganism is such an intermediate experience of living in the concrete jungle. Most of the things found need quite a bit of repairing, hemming, and washing. But for most people it’s easier not to bother and buy a new one.
Usually everything happens somehow in between, on the way somewhere, for example from the metro to home. I had to purposefully go freegan only when there was absolutely no money left. We moved often and always found places to eat nearby. Well, you gradually become more attentive to such things.
I take only what I need and nothing more. There are many places where fresh food is thrown away every day, in this sense the most expensive places- the best for the poor, materials for repairs from boards to putty - an incredible amount at every step, clothes and shoes are often thrown away not because they are damaged, but simply because they are out of fashion, tired or bought something new.
For me, the DIY lifestyle has always been the ideal, and freeganism is such an in-between experience of living in the concrete jungle.
Recently, Alex brought a mirror more than two meters high, which was thrown out of a beauty salon nearby, and I always wanted one. And yet, every time I never cease to be amazed at how often people throw away new, sometimes unpacked, things that are absolutely in good working order. The general impression is that people ****** [have become insolent].
We often give things away to friends or through various mutual aid groups. They sold it a couple of times and took it to a pawn shop. Everyone I know knows about freeganism; for some, the example turned out to be contagious.
Those who know us and our way of life see positive side and treat them with interest and understanding. But I take it completely calmly and negative reaction. It usually comes from strangers. The only thing I don’t like is when freegans are compared to shoplifters. I don't support the latter at all.
I don’t recommend freeganism to anyone, it’s not for everyone. There was a time when we freeganized the entire apartment in the summer and didn’t buy food at all. As a result, one neighbor concluded that it was better for him to buy vegetables than at certain time pick them up after the vegetable stalls close, then sort them, trim them and wash them. You choose to spend your time and energy or money. You can always find a compromise, now everything happens somehow easier and faster, apparently with experience. It is better for everyone to choose their own rhythm and lifestyle.
Ruslan Zhuravlev
Yes, I've been on this topic for a long time. Now I’m 27, and I started, one might say, 20 years ago, when I was still a schoolboy - I was once walking near a garbage dump and saw my grandmother digging in a container, I also came up and looked, my eyes lit up with joy, I opened the package, and there, as far as I remember, there was a cassette player. At that time it was cool - not everyone had it.
Today in many countries people are starving and do not know what normal food and water are, but in developed countries they throw it away completely normal food and things.
In general, for me it’s more of a passion, or even a habit, or a mania. It's like smoking or drinking for someone. Although I’m sort of a businessman, I have a small chain of sushi stores in Moscow, I basically have everything, but I’m not like everyone else, and I understand that you have to be yourself.
I collect everything from the trash cans near the store, where they usually throw away good goods, right off the counter. I arrive by car, put on gloves, take wet wipes - and off we go. People, of course, look mostly disapprovingly, but some even join in, because you can’t live on one salary. Moreover, I don’t break the law; I clean up the trash after myself.
Oleg Davydchik
It all started when my friend went on a trip around the world. In New York he became acquainted with this movement. It's generally simple there. Land rent is expensive, so many stores do not have their own tanks, but simply put out large ones in the evening garbage bags with food on the street by the road. If you're ahead of the garbage men, you'll be able to fill your refrigerator to capacity.
It all looked wildly interesting! Much more interesting than just buying food in stores. Therefore, when my friend returned to Belarus, we decided to check the Minsk tanks for food. And they discovered a real fruit paradise. It was winter, but to be honest, I didn’t eat that much fruit even in summer. The first time we brought three large boxes of persimmons, the second time - two boxes of bananas and a bunch of other vegetables and fruits. Then I'm just in general outline I knew it was called dumpster diving or freeganism. It was just interesting: getting into a car, taking flashlights, gloves and going on a raid around the city after dark, and then surprising your friends with photographs of what you found and treating everyone to kilograms of fruit and fresh salads. A sort of fruity Robin Hood.
At some point we even decided to start Instagram Dumpsterchef, it mainly contains photographs of products found in garbage cans of Minsk stores or what we prepared from them. Now I know a little more about the ideas of freeganism, and many of them are close to me. The point is that this is a kind of protest. Protest against crazy consumerism, which is gaining momentum in modern world. Man produces much more than he needs, much more than he can consume.
I read somewhere that in the world on different stages Between 30 and 50 percent of food is wasted. This figure seems a little high even to me, but I still see that food is actually thrown away in tons. These are colossal volumes. But the production and disposal of all this takes huge amount energy and natural resources. So this is directly related to environmental issues. And yet I cannot call myself an ideological freegan. Yes, I agree with many of his ideas, but to be honest, I do this more out of interest. In some places this is a good way to save money (especially in expensive countries like Norway), in others it is a way to have fun: collect food and then gather a bunch of friends. Well, in general, I think it’s stupid to go and buy something that’s just lying on the other side of the store. It seems to me that there is some absurdity in this. photograph. We have never seen anything like this even close in our countries. You can see a pineapple at the top left. In all seriousness, I have never eaten tastier pineapple in my life. We don't even sell these in stores.
In addition to fruit, there is a lot of milk, various sweets, candy bars, and baked goods. My friend and I don’t eat meat, but you can also collect kilos of it there. Almost all products have not expired, but are just coming to an end.
In general, in Europe they are much more accepting of this. Some fruit shops have the practice of simply displaying stale goods in front of the store. If you want, take it. Sometimes baked goods were displayed in a separate large bag. In many bakeries, in the late afternoon you can ask for old bread directly from the sellers. They will have no problem giving away what they couldn’t sell in a day. We still have a slightly different attitude.
For Minsk, we made a special map with shops in those areas that we managed to travel around. It shows shops where you can probably at least pick up something for dinner. But most often it’s worth taking a larger package. In general, it is worth choosing larger stores where there is a large turnover of products. Then we head to the backyard of the selected store and look for trash cans. Most often we use ordinary plastic bins, but sometimes we also come across special large containers for garbage disposal. It's better not to climb into them - it could end badly.
It is also worth understanding that if the bins are just standing on the street, then you can look into them without any problems and not be afraid of threats from store employees - you are not breaking the law. But if the trash cans are located behind the fence, in the area adjacent to the store, then officially you are not allowed to go there. However, if the gate is open or you feel brave enough to climb over a meter-long fence, then you can check these trash cans. Most likely, there is a jackpot waiting for you there. But only in in this case It is better not to enter into conflicts with the administration and leave the forbidden territory at the first request.
Then you just start exploring the contents of the tanks. Most often it’s immediately clear: either there, in addition to bulls and empty boxes there is nothing, or if you take a closer look - and, most likely, a couple of kilograms of peaches are waiting for you in this bag. We mostly only throw away fruit. But in general, it’s better to carefully watch what you take. Pay attention to the expiration date. especially if these are dairy or meat products. If you doubt the freshness of some products, then it is better not to take them. Also, don't take more than you need. We don’t want to throw it all away for the second round, do we?
Photos: Wikipedia, , , Oleg Davydchik.
During times Soviet Union gullible citizens were often told that in the “decaying West” the poor were forced to look for food in garbage containers. It would seem that these propaganda tales are now a thing of the past. However, in recent years In America, the number of people who specifically look for food in garbage dumps is rapidly growing. These are not homeless people or sick people. These are freegans.
For an ordinary person, a garbage dump is an accumulation of garbage, waste, where unnecessary rubbish and spoiled food are thrown out. This place seems so unpleasant that few people would think of taking things from the trash heap, much less looking for food there. It is believed that this is the lot of completely degraded people: homeless people, alcoholics, beggars.
From time to time, Russian television shows huge landfills, where grimy little people crawl through impressive mountains of garbage, trying to find something useful (for example, clothes or parts made of non-ferrous metals). Pretty journalists, driving away flocks of garbage seagulls with their hands, tell the camera that one of the inhabitants of the garbage dump has earned a fortune by looking for valuables among the waste.
Perhaps such a report might inspire some homeless person near the station to rummage through the nearest trash heap, but to an ordinary person the idea still seems disgusting.
If you don’t eat it yourself, give it to someone else
The situation in America is completely different. Of course, there are also homeless people there, who are always not averse to rummaging through the nearest trash can. However, in recent years, more and more young and successful people who have high paying job and good housing, they go shopping for food for dinner not at the nearest supermarket, but at the trash heap. But they do this not out of poverty, but, so to speak, for ideological reasons.
The freegan movement arose in America at the very end of the 20th century. The word "freegan" is formed from two English words: “free” (free) and “vegan” (full vegetarian). Actually, freeganism was originally one of the radical types of vegetarianism. As you know, vegetarians do not eat animal products. Freegans also adhered to vegetarian diet, however, they left themselves a small loophole: there is meat products you can if you get them for free.
Over time, freeganism separated from vegetarianism and became independent social movement. Freegans began to get not only meat from garbage dumps, but also other products, as well as clothes, household appliances and in general everything that is necessary for life. They climb into garbage containers not because they can’t afford to buy groceries in the store. Freeganism for them is a lifestyle, a kind of philosophy.
Western economics researchers have been sounding the alarm for a long time. According to experts, from 27 to 50% of food products that go on sale in the United States never reach the consumer and end up in the trash. Moreover, very often these products are not expired, but are quite edible. For example, if in a large batch of tomatoes received in a container, several fruits turn out to be spoiled, then the entire batch is sent to the trash. It is cheaper for a company to throw away a container than to hire someone to sort vegetables.
Freegans, most of whom are educated young people with leftist views, believe that in a situation where people are dying of hunger in developing countries, throwing millions of tons of edible food into the trash is a crime.
They are trying to prove the depravity of the capitalist system not in word, but in deed. By getting food from garbage cans, they clearly show society that they should not be so wasteful.
In America, the number of freegans is growing rapidly. According to the testimony of Russian emigrants in New York, journalists line up in long lines to interview the leaders of the movement, and 2-3 freegans, several film crews and a dozen “sharks of the pen” come for demonstration “walks through garbage dumps.”
American trash - fun and tasty!
One should not think that Western freegans, like Russian homeless people, go with string bags to large landfills and there they try to pick up something edible for themselves where the garbage has not yet been leveled by a bulldozer. American freegans look for food in dumpsters of restaurants and supermarkets.
As a rule, employees of such establishments carefully pack in clean plastic bags those products that are about to expire soon, or those whose packaging is slightly dented. At the end of the working day, these bags are taken outside and placed in clean garbage containers that stand in the backyard. This is where the freegans appear from the darkness.
Their task is simple: open the containers, take out the bags and sort out their contents, separating what is edible from the truly spoiled food. They say that these are extremely rare. Freegans hide packages of edible products in their backpacks and rush home to cook dinner. Typically, food from the trash can and food from the supermarket are not much different. But you don’t have to pay for the first ones.
It must be said that freegans treat their own kind very warmly. Their main website www.freegan.info provides detailed recommendations, how to distinguish spoiled foods from normal ones, which goods are better not to take, in a word, how to eat from the trash without getting sick.
Freegans living in New York are even luckier. For them there are posted on the same website detailed instructions, where and in what mode the most “delicious” garbage dumps operate. It describes in detail which trash container lovers of exotic cuisine should look into, at what time they throw bags in the trash near one of the most pretentious restaurants, and which establishment has a particularly rich selection of discarded products. This is a kind of culinary guide for those who walk through garbage dumps.
In short, in the civilized world, eating in garbage dumps is truly safe and convenient. They say that some of our emigrants take advantage of this. But they are not doing this out of lofty anti-globalist considerations. And just like that... to save money.
If you don't lie around, you don't eat
But in Russia, apparently, the Western fashion for freeganism will not come soon. And not at all because we have no opponents of the capitalist consumer society. It’s just that domestic garbage containers look... not very appetizing.
Owners of Russian restaurants and supermarkets are in no hurry to carefully put expired goods in bags and put them out on the street. What’s more, homeless people will come running in and scare away decent customers. It’s better to let everything rot so that no one gets anything. And this is not the worst option.
Sometimes, in pursuit of profit, stores continue to sell expired products. They say that a smart person won’t buy expired goods, but a fool deserves it, it’s his own fault. The main thing is to pay the money to the cashier. Besides there is the right way sell such a product by announcing a discount. In short, civilized capitalism does not threaten us yet. And if suddenly anyone wants to feast on something tasty in the trash heap, you are welcome to come to America! The freegans there can't handle all the food anyway.
Mikhail Alekseevsky
News last week– the landfill in Balashikha was finally closed. Local residents have long been tired of the terrible sight and disgusting smell. The landfill was rotting, smoking, stinking, but, oddly enough, it brought some citizens a good income.
ON THE TOPIC
30% of the garbage at the landfill is food waste. And it’s unpleasant to poke around in them. But it may happen that your efforts will be rewarded handsomely. You can dig up some pretty interesting things in discarded things. And individual items can bring good income.
Of course, rarities are rare. There is a lot of old Soviet furniture in the trash heap. Few of the former owners know that it is made of solid oak or walnut. Because she looks like junk. If you collect a lot of such fragments, you can sell them well. A cubic meter of solid oak sells for 30 thousand rubles, and a cubic meter of solid oak sells for 60 thousand.
There is a lot of broken equipment at the training grounds. People throw away computers and TVs that don't work. And enterprising citizens collect discarded monitors and system units, dismantled piece by piece and taken to a buyer. You can find old clothes and broken dishes. And, most importantly, among all this rubbish it’s possible to find very interesting, and sometimes not at all cheap, things. Almost all more or less decent finds from garbage dumps are sold at flea markets such as Saltykovka.
the site asked flea regulars how much you can earn from garbage
Andrei Anatolyevich, a free trader and junk dealer, is glad that the garbage dump in Balashikha will be closed: “At least it will be possible to travel freely.” He is generally sure that now it is almost impossible to find anything valuable in garbage dumps. This is rare and very lucky. About seven years ago, he went to the waste paper collection point as if he were going to work. I found 3-4 antique books a week in in good condition, and not torn (when there is no cover or sheets). Now he doesn't walk. The main more or less normal product is collected by janitors when they dismantle apartments when moving. Everything found is brought into the basement and then sold in bulk. He buys from them.
“But, of course, you can walk by yourself,” says the seller, “but firstly, you need to understand well, and secondly, have time to get ahead of your competitors. Just now, for example, a team has arrived from Kyrgyzstan, and their children even rake out candy wrappers - They put everything in waste paper. I used to go to big garbage dumps, like Kuzminki, to get the packaging. Sometimes, of course, you can find it. , for example, look what they throw away."
Andrey takes out two watches from the bins. Both dials are Swiss. Moreover, one watch is a reward one. With a memorable inscription - “to the officer... for long service.” “It’s a shame,” he says, “they gave it after the war. The person deserved it, but the relatives don’t care at all. They throw everything away. This is not possible.” But nevertheless, since it was thrown away and no one needs it, it can be sold. Such watches cost about 5,000 rubles.
Almost everything Andrey sells comes from the trash heap. He doesn't really understand the product. Just sorts it into boxes. Badges - with badges. Beads - with beads. Clock - with a clock. His personal hobby is old books. But everything has to be sold. Among the piles of small items there are also real rarities. Buyers, knowing this, come to Andrey regularly. The morning is open only on Saturdays and Sundays - and not close. Once a week they come to look for wealth. It is unknown where the goods purchased here end up next. Maybe to antique shops. Maybe for personal collections. The only thing Andrei Anatolyevich advises is: “Everything you buy, treat it first with at least vodka, otherwise you’ll find it in the trash.”
Here, at the flea site, many people wear gloves. Not so as to avoid damaging the value of the exhibit, as in a museum, but so as not to get dirty or, even worse, to get infected with something. Natalya Ivanovna has only porcelain. Different quality and different times. Mostly my own, from home. But it happens, and she buys from the one who brings it. She's not even sure it's from a landfill.
“I don’t ask. If some old woman comes up, or sometimes a young guy, is it necessary? If the price suits me, I take it. The law of the market, if I know that I’ll sell it, of course I’ll take it,” she says.
I ask an elderly man who has quite decent old kerosene lamps, samovars and other tin utensils on his bedspread - is it possible to make money from “garbage collections”? Uncle Borya, as he introduces himself, is offended: “First of all, I don’t go through garbage dumps myself. Who told you this? How about making money? Do you see a lot of millionaires here? God forbid you scrape together enough bread! All this trade is not from a good life. in the USSR, my pension would have been 132 rubles, today it’s 86 thousand - good money, would I really have traded? Otherwise, the grandmother stood there all day today - so no one bought her anything. the market had something to eat..."
This is what business is like. Unreliable…
But there are real “sharks” here too. These are not lonely old men, and not rogue traders. They arrive in Gazelles, chock-full of junk. These include old clothes and worn household items. The seller asked not to be named, but said that all this is collected by teams at landfills and sent to a transshipment point, and traders come and take it in bulk - by weight.
There were people who tried to make the “dumpster business” civilized. And they suggested that residents of several cities at once should not throw away unnecessary things, but call them. They will come, pick up everything and take it away absolutely free. And old furniture, and household trash, and dishes. They named their project accordingly – “Dump”.
Citizens get rid of all unnecessary items without ever going to the trash heap. And the exported items are collected in a warehouse, where everything is disassembled, washed, disinfected with quartz, and then sold. "Svalka" employee Irina is sure that people often do not understand at all what they are throwing away and giving away, for example, "Kuznetsov" antique cups or other rarities. True, she is convinced that now this happens extremely rarely. But the law is the same - what is trash for some is valuable for others.
Oddly enough, a lot of young people come to buy old things. They buy vinyl records and look for cool clothes. Older people come for books. Young parents are looking for toys. Everything is sold, and every item finds its owner. But since the purpose of the project is charitable, this is not a very profitable business. But, according to Irina, it is interesting and pleasant: “People come and are happy, they say how interesting it is here. There are so many different things. And the buyers are unusual, extraordinary people. It’s always interesting to talk with them.”
As it turns out, not everything in the trash is trash. But by evening, even at the flea market, there are many things left that have never found an owner. And all the rubbish is again dumped into containers nearby. It would seem - garbage from garbage... But no! And here, indefatigable citizens still manage to find something valuable. Mostly books. Which no one needs at all today... Such is the cycle of garbage in nature.
Yura is not homeless or marginalized. He eats food from garbage dumps because he is convinced that he doesn’t have to buy all the food he needs. This method of obtaining food is called freeganism or freeganism. Pavel Nikulin spent several days with freegans - ideological opponents of the consumer lifestyle.
Overproduction crisis
“And now someone is going to lose their a**!” - an angry peasant cry broke the silence of the night.
I heard this terrible scream and pressed my back into the plastic trash can. The palm felt the rusty stationery knife found a couple of minutes ago.
A shout distracted me from digging in the trash heap of one of the grocery retailers on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. I didn’t seem to have done anything illegal, but suddenly the thought came to me that I had been exposed and would be punished. My companion Yura covered his headlamp with his palm and raised his finger to his lips.
A minute in silence. The cry is not addressed to us. It's time to go back to the trash cans.
Bend it and shake it,” Yura commands. Potato tubers roll out of the tank. We put them in an acid green plastic garbage bag. There I also throw a package of champignons, zucchini, a bunch of carrots in a net, soft low-fat cottage cheese, which I usually eat for breakfast. Yura is packing some sweets into his backpack.
All that's left is to divide the bananas. In my opinion, there are about two kilograms of them here. Large bright yellow bananas with thin black veins lay in a wooden box. Real wealth. Holiday. Feast.
Yura is an anarchist. He has a house, he often does some kind of work for money, and loves to travel.
“I skated for a month and a half without money. I didn’t really know how to steal, and it was scary to steal there - I didn’t know what the responsibility would be. It was a big discovery for me that there were organic yoghurts, cane sugar, and cakes in the trash heap. What I can’t buy there is in the trash,” he says.
Freeganism became popular in the West not so long ago - a little more than 10 years ago. The idea is that you can take edible food from landfills, the amount of which sometimes reaches half of the store’s assortment. Many of the freegans, like my friend Yura, are anarchists or at least take strict anti-capitalist and anti-globalist positions. Therefore, their explanation for why suitable food ends up in the trash is simple: a crisis of overproduction. It is easier for a store owner or director to throw a bag of potatoes or apples into a landfill than to sort through it.
“The best dump is the one where you need a little work to get there - climb over a fence, bend something. So that it would be difficult,” explains Yura.
“All the dumpsters are open. I have seen that sometimes the locks are cut off from them, but such dumps are popular and are quickly depleted. You come, and everything is taken apart,” he spreads his hands and smiles.
Together with him and his two comrades Anya and Gosha, we pack the collected food on the lawn near the supermarket.
It's better not to take kefir. It's heavy, and it deteriorates really quickly. And you can take milk and yoghurts without worry. They often live longer than their shelf life,” Gosha shares his experience.
And the cheese? - I ask, seeing Yura take a piece covered with mold on the sides.
Cheese is really cool. Right after they started banning food, we found a whole tank full of hard cheese.
Hello! - a guy and a girl call out to us, appearing from somewhere out of the darkness. They are also acquaintances of Yurina. The guy has a big package. The girl has a plastic box full of cakes, bananas, yoghurts, as well as beer and wine. The guys willingly share part of the spoils. I don't claim their food. Home I take mushrooms with potatoes, cottage cheese, bananas.
I fried mushrooms and potatoes for dinner. I had cottage cheese and bananas for breakfast. Nourishing.
"Burp of Capitalism"
Your grandfathers did not fight so that you would give up hunting and gathering! - Gosha jokes. He calls freeganism a “burp of capitalism,” although he does not disdain freeganism himself. - Freeganism is a cool tool. You can find all sorts of clothes for a meal. Really for free and without getting involved in commodity-money relations. And you see how capitalism works. The bananas that people rage over in Ecuador cost a lot of money, but then they end up in a heap in the trash.
We are sitting with him, Yura and Anya in the food court of one of the St. Petersburg shopping centers. People nearby constantly leave half-eaten portions of rice, french fries, and salads. You can get enough food for a decent dinner in about twenty minutes, and wash it all down with someone’s half-drunk cola. I did just that while I was waiting for the guys, the day after going to the first garbage dump.
One of our comrades does not eat non-fair trade products like coffee or sugar, but gorges on them from the trash heap,” Yura nods (fair trade or fair trade is often positioned as an alternative to free trade. Fair trade supporters are sure that market prices do not reflect the true cost of production, and believe that new trade rules should promote economic growth in developing countries and offer better trading conditions for producers and workers - author's note). “He doesn’t pay money for goods that are produced in slave conditions and then thrown away in tons.
Bananas really are the best frequent product, which can be found in the trash, so any freegan, as Anya jokes, knows thousands of recipes for banana dishes. She lists the main food basket of a freegan: bananas, milk, potatoes, carrots, “in short, everything that quickly spoils, or something that loses its presentation.”
95% of food can be found in garbage dumps, says Yura. But you still have to buy something. For example, there are no products with a long shelf life in landfills - sugar, vegetable oil, flour, tea, coffee and all household chemicals like washing powder. True, the Europeans found a way out similar situation. Western anarchists, when they ran out of coffee, pierced the packages they needed with knives, and then took them from the trash heaps, Yegor said.
What about meat? - I ask.
Yura doesn’t eat because he thinks it’s easy to get poisoned by eating meat from the dump. And Gosha eats, although he considers himself a vegetarian.
There's a lot of this meat, plus you can find all sorts of delicious things like salmon, which I haven't eaten for many years. I used to think that a vegan shouldn’t drink milk. And then I realized that if you don’t buy or steal, then there’s nothing wrong, you’re not participating in consumption and you’re not supporting the industry. Not eating meat and milk from the trash heap is not very good. It rots and rots. Who cares?
Should food be free? - I ask Gosha while Yura goes to look for someone’s unfinished glass of cola.
Yes, sure! This follows from the right to life. This is our privileged position - we can go to the trash heap for food. Some African children do not have this opportunity. Even homeless people will be chased away by security, but we look decent.
And most of us work. This is just one of the methods to get food. We are not saving for a car with an apartment. We don't spend it on wine. We invest money in important projects, in helping our comrades.
Crime scene
Guys, how legal is this? - I asked Yura and Zhenya.
Still, we entered the locked trash heap.
In Europe, there were cases when the police dealt with freegans, but here usually no one cares,” one of them answered. In most cases, they try not to notice people like us. We simply don’t exist for them, although sometimes they can yell at us or, conversely, tell us that the milk has not gone bad yet.
***
We manage food quickly. This time we have plenty of flour, yogurt, eggs and, of course, bananas.
***
When I was watching TV, someone on the screen said that it’s not shameful to dig through garbage, but it’s shameful to be happy from it. I thought about this in a half-empty St. Petersburg metro car, which carried me to the city center. I smelled like rotten chicken, my shoes were smeared with crushed fruits and vegetables, but my backpack was bloated with food found in the trash.
At that moment I was for some reason for some unknown reason absolutely happy.
About a third of all food produced in the world annually (about 1.3 billion tons) ends up in the trash. Such information is provided in one of the latest reports of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Moreover, with reasonable consumption, these figures could be reduced by at least 80%. In contrast to such statistics in Western Europe The freegan movement arose. The Telegraph has compiled a dictionary that will help distinguish freegans from vegans and homeless people.
Alternative - the need to choose one of two or more mutually exclusive possibilities, which freegans decided by fundamentally abandoning excesses and culinary delights, opposing the consumer society in favor of the environment.
The founder of freeganism is the drummer of the group Against Me! Warren Oaks. In the late 90s, he coined the term freegan, and also wrote a freegan manifesto - the pamphlet “Why Freegan?” The word freegan itself comes from free - “free, free” and vegan - “veganism”. This is what radical vegetarians call themselves, and this is due to the fact that most freegans also support the main provisions of the vegan movement. But freegans use landfills and garbage containers for food. Unlike the homeless and beggars, freegans do this because they do not want to be part of a consumer society. However, there are those who simply hide behind ideology in order to save money.
Free market - garbage dumps, places near restaurants and grocery stores.
In the US, food that is past its expiration date or in bad condition is carefully bagged and then placed in clean containers. There is even a special service Trashwiki - an overview of garbage dumps indicating specific places and recommendations for freegans. In Russia, the necessary information is still reluctant to share. To find a trash can that regularly appears in necessary products, you will have to go around many gateways and use all your communication skills to negotiate with the supermarket security guard or the owner of the vegetable shop. If you're lucky, they may simply give you food, which will then be thrown away anyway after some time.
Free fast food - food that you can finish in a cafe.
For Russian adherents of freeganism, this is not scraps, but free food. This could be, for example, a bitten hamburger or a fallen pasty. But, as freegans themselves admit, finding food left in a cafe today is not so easy. Too many people today try to save money and don’t order too much. In addition, uninvited visitors are often kicked out of some cafes. However, in other countries it may be even more difficult. To reduce the amount of food thrown away, some restaurants even impose fines. They first appeared in restaurants in Hong Kong, where the territory of the state itself is small and there is little space for garbage. For each uneaten sushi they charge an additional $1.5. There are also restaurants in the United States that warn that visitors will be charged a fine for uneaten dishes, which can amount to up to a third of the order price.
Prey or catch - this is something that is not only eaten, but also photographed and then proudly posted on social networks, usually anonymously. (It’s rare that freegans in Russia tell their relatives and friends about their beliefs).
The catch could be broken tartlets, expired sausage, yoghurt, a slightly rotten apple or darkened bananas. You may find cakes, pastries or canned goods. The main thing, experienced freegans advise, is not to take food without an expiration date or when the food is expired by more than two or three days. You must also not forget about careful heat treatment.
Health- freegans eat irregularly and, to put it mildly, unbalanced.
Hardly any nutritionist can recommend such a diet. Fruits are often spoiled and dairy products are expired. In addition, rarely do any freegans eat meat or fish, some for ideological reasons, others because meat requires more stringent storage conditions. In addition, it is rarely thrown away. At the same time, freegans unanimously claim that it is impossible to get poisoned by eating from a garbage dump. Most freegans either choose their foods very carefully, or their beliefs are so strong that they do not connect the causes of their illnesses with their eating style.
The reaction of others - The attitude towards freegans in society can hardly be called friendly. There are either those who are ready to eat from garbage dumps themselves, or those who do not understand them at all.
On various forums on social networks you can see the following phrases: “My opinion is that there are certain standards of hygiene and sanitation, and, of course, there should be at least some moral principles.” “Only individuals who do not have the slightest self-respect can do this. Well, we’re not animals to eat from garbage dumps.” “I consider their behavior a challenge to society, leading nowhere except to a hospital bed with food poisoning. It’s either a disease or a deviation.”
Freegan's basic response: " Main idea- not saving money, but saving natural resources, reducing the amount of garbage and caring for the environment. Often freegans are supporters of Greenpeace, sort garbage whenever possible, donate recyclable materials, etc.”
Student - the most common variety of freegan in Russia.
The idea, which arose in Western Europe and the USA, has noticeably transformed in Russia. If abroad it is rather an ideology, then here we often have a way to save money. Due to overconsumption and overproduction, a significant part of the contents of garbage dumps in developed countries turns out to be quite edible and even rarely expired. In Russia, you have to make a lot of effort and forget about the feeling of disgust in order to find something interesting. This would probably be something that someone who is forced to save money would rather dare to do, and this is exactly what most students do.
Feeling of disgust - in freegans it is almost completely atrophied.
A real freegan will be able to get a piece of fruit or an open bag of chips out of a trash can, even if a rat or cockroach has just run across it. At the same time, freegans who hide their beliefs may offer their prey to unsuspecting friends. So, on one of the forums a freegan girl shared personal experience: “One of my friends doesn’t know about my lifestyle, I don’t tell her because... she won’t communicate with me, but I’ve been friends with her for many years and don’t want to lose communication. If I know she’s coming, I leave the best for her so she doesn’t suspect it’s not from the store.”
Food sharing - exchange of food.
Volunteers first collect unwanted food and then distribute it to those in need. There are even special distribution tables. For example, in Germany there are about 900 of them. In Russia the movement is not very popular. For now these are only groups in social networks, where those who wish are offered food that they did not have time to eat before the vacation, or surplus from their garden.
