Still here, in town from LA, where the dumpster-diving is easy and plentiful. I assured my homeless, unemployed, peniless lover (Wow - doesn't sound so good when I put it like that) that he would be able to provide for us via dumpster-diving while we are staying in our rather affluent neighborhood of Highland Park (coincidentally, he stays in Highland Park, in LA). Alas, every single grocery store we stopped at - from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to Lunds and other local favorites - had a sealed trash-compactor, in lieu of dumpsters. Thank god we were traveling by car that night, or it would have been one long, hot 20-mile disappointment.

What gives? Is there some new legislation requiring trash compactors? We even noticed them at the stores as we traversed Wisconsin last week.

If anyone has any tips on diving in this town, please illuminate. Also, if a small group of divers would like to plan an after-hours ride/dive this or next week, we're down. I return to Hollyweird on the 31st.

what are you looking for?

I would also like advice on where good places are to steal. I apply my own interpretation on what laws are just and disregard ones I don't agree with.

Because you know, laws are always ethical and never change. Gawd, I don't like to start fights on the internet but wtf dude. I think your job really goes to your head.
Is dumpster diving hurting anyone?

/end sidetrack

Check out Aldi, we've had very good luck there - fresh pineapple, sealed cake, bread, fresh apples. There are usually enclosures around the dumpsters but no locks on the dumpsters themselves. Also, steer clear of the Franklin St. bakery no matter how good it smells. Unless you like taking risks and can leg it incredibly quickly.

Who's the guy who has a problem with people "stealing" other people's trash/waste? Is that a common affliction? What is this person's job that leads them to view the world this way, I wonder. If you don't disregard unjust laws, you would have faired well in Nazi Germany (assuming you're not Jewish, that is) or pre-Civil War US (assuming you're not Black). For the record, dumpster diving in the state of California is not considered stealing, nor is it *illegal* - unless the objects in question are taken from a locked container and/or behind a locked gate; or from a recylcing bin. Then, it becomes trespassing. Is it totally illegal here? How sad.

But I digress.

Bummer about Aldi, as I turned my nose up at it an hour ago, as we rode by on our way to Cub & Rainbow - who also have...trash compactors. I did swing by New French (next to Hexagon Bar) to ask when they throw out their stuff. They said every evening, when they close, they donate a lot - whatever the food shelves pass on, the general public are welcome to. Is this stealing, too, I wonder? Or not so, because they did not go through the extra step of actually carrying their waste to a trash recepticle?

As for what we are looking for - just good, clean food that some silly store manager or corporate policy deemed unfit for retail consumption. I haven't knowingly stolen/liberated anything since the mid-80s. I also haven't ever been in a position to need to do so (knock wood).

In case anyone has some inaccurate ideas about what diving is, who dives, or how it might benefit society and the environment: http://www.divethefilm.com

A buddy of mine was scrounging for some aluminum and while climbing into a dumpster he landed on some glass. Got a pretty bad cut, but didn't sue or anything. If someone does file a lawsuit, then the trash's owner passes the expenses on to the consumer and we are all hurt by it. I'm assuming that's why they are covered. So there's that.

I worked in the grocery business for 5 years and never experienced anyone throwing away good food. We always sold it or donated it to food shelves. If it was in the dumpster, it was for a reason.



If they offer it to people, it's not stealing. If you find a wallet, you can't just take the money for your own. If someone GIVES you their wallet, then you can.

I am afraid your metaphor of a wallet does not compare. You are speaking of *lost* property, versus *discarded* property.

If you are unaware of completely safe/usable food being discarded by grocery stores, then your experience is limited to the store(s) in which you worked. You are blessed to have worked for a business that chooses to donate their surplus. We have come upon countless unopened, unexpired *cases* of things like soy milk and soup in aseptic containers and cans - assumedly tossed to make room for the new shipment. Or, perhaps discontinuation of carrying a product.

I don't eat any animal products from dumpster diving, unless in a sealed container, and I only eat fresh produce that is exactly that - fresh. Even then, I generally cook it. Never in my life have I fallen ill nor injured myself while diving (maybe we should change the name to, "dumpster digging," because rarely do I see people actually diving into a dumpster!). There are far riskier behaviors - such as unprotected sex and urban cycling - an accident during which can cost an individual, business or society as a whole a great deal. I don't, however, support banning said activities.

California is one of the best examples of a location to dumpster dive (I grew up in Berkeley), sadly that level of quality does not exist everywhere. Here in Minnesota we there is a pretty extensive food shelf market and a lot of social programs to help the homeless out. You will find specific instances of stores that will be good to poke around at, but for the most part you're SOL. As for the trash compacting: it could be that their waste management company charges them by square footage, and not weight, so they are just doing what they can to reduce costs.

Hilariously, a certain amount of Aldi stuff is actually rejected stuff from Walmart.

I don't know about trash, but it is illegal to take recycling here, and the cops are fucking serious about it

Been a while since we've had a good dumpser diving argument.

especially one that was godwinned so early.

lol. Didn't take long, did it.

new french will many times put out their excess baked goods on a table at the hex.

Gah I forget. Who drops off their bread at the Salvation army?

This comment reminds me of what I might read in the strib comments.

I know it's unintentional, but I hate how opinionated and negatively critical the internet makes us all. The relative anonymity really does a number. I fall for traps like these, sometimes I set them. Maybe debate is good, but I always just leave feeling slightly grumpier than I did when I came.

Anyway - Merp. Merp. Merp.

while the comment in question was funny to me, I'll +1 your comment Tigerbeat, bc I dont think dumpster diving has any victims, except maybe occasionally the divers themselves. What is very unfortunate is 1) the system we have that creates such huge amounts of waste, and 2) the litigiousness that forces the stores to lock up dumpsters for the fear of legal ramification of injured or poisoned divers. isnt there a code of behaviour that dictates that if you will risk a dumpster find, that you release the dumpsters owner from legal bindings?