Stacy Mills
Professor Kelly Warren
ENC 1102
March 11, 2013
Dumpster
Diving, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Dumpster diving…would
you do it? That’s the big question after watching the documentary “Dive”. Many
people dive because they are either homeless or poor, but some do it because
they want a simpler life style. Dumpster diving is for anyone. They do it for a
wide variety of reasons. It could be a matter of desperation, or one of
convenience. It can be a last resort, or a daily ritual. People go to dumpsters
to look for anything from food to furniture and other potentially sellable items.
“One doesn’t go into dumpsters looking for the answers – they do it because
they need something.” (Features) If only
there was some kind of way to figure out how to donate the “96 billion pounds
of food that every year in America gets thrown away” (Dive), people in America
wouldn’t be starving. “The
kind of society that would waste this much food is one that doesn't value the
earth or the products it produces. It's in our own personal detriment to
continue the process.”(Dr. Timothy Jones)
The
good thing about this is there are so many organizations in the United States
that feed the poor and homeless. A portion of this film was showing the guy
picking up the food that was being thrown out, and he took it to the Salvation
Army that housed 450 people. He brought enough food to feed all of them from
just one grocery store. If there were more grocery stores in the world that would be
willing to donate food, homeless shelters could feed more people. Another good
thing is the old saying; one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Homeless
people find clothes to wear and blankets to cover up with. Some people even
find good furniture that has been thrown out.
The
bad thing about this is so much food is wasted in the United States. How much
food is wasted? “Every
year in America we throw away 96 billion pounds of food. One half of all food
prepared in the US and Europe never gets eaten. The Department of Agriculture
estimated in 1996 that recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted
could feed four million people a day; recovering 25
percent would feed 20 million people. Today we recover less than 2.5 percent.”(Dive) It is
sad that so many people throw away this much food. “Today the government is
helping feed over 45 million Americans through the food stamp program.”(Economic)
With the government paying for groceries for so many, I’m thinking that some of
them think easy come, easy go, and a lot of food gets wasted.
The ugly
part of this is dumpster diving can be legal or illegal in some areas. In some
areas it can be considered as trespassing. Most grocery stores keep their
dumpsters in a fenced area that’s locked. If you are caught, you can get a
ticket for trespassing on private property. “Although in most areas the police
have so many other problems that they aren’t really concerned about cracking
down on dumpster divers.”(Economic) The next ugly thing would be contaminated
food that you could possibly get from dumpster diving. The chance that you take
by eating these foods can possibly cause serious health problems. Unfortunately,
people fail to understand the risks associated with dumpster diving. Dumpster
diving poses a serious safety risk
for humans and creates liability issues for property owners. Since dumpsters
contain trash and garbage of all types, entering a dumpster always creates the
potential for physical, personal, and health risks. “Property owners must use
precautionary methods when storing garbage and
dumpster divers should assess their risks and use other avenues to obtain used
or discarded items.”(Dumpster) Inside a dumpster resides broken, out of date,
or potentially poisonous materials
like chemical bottles, sharp objects, broken glass, metal objects with sharp edges,
and even used needles. Cuts and abrasions caused by these objects carry the
risk of infection, tetanus, and other diseases. Coming into contact with used
needles may expose you to sexually transmitted diseases and illegal substances.
There is also a possibility of becoming ill
from the bacteria inside of the dumpster especially during the summer.
Dumpsters breed bacteria and companies spray them with pesticides.
In conclusion, dumpster diving can be for anyone. People
look for anything from food to furniture. Dumpster diving can cause serious
safety and health issues with divers. It also creates liability issues with the
property owner. With 96 billion pounds of food being thrown away each year in
America, the United States should come up with some type of program for the
grocery stores to be able to donate this food to needy causes. Our war on
hunger might not be over, but it sure would help it out tremendously.
