Dumpster Diving Essay

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.