On Dumpster Diving - Lars Eighner
When I was 17, I remember my best friend moving away to Montreal because she had been accepted to McGill. By her second semester I remember her calling me and saying she had started to dumpster dive. She had found one dumpster in particular, belonging to a grocery store, which she would visit frequently for food that’s “best before date” had passed earlier on in the day. Even though these products are technically considered “garbage” to her it was simply free food. She genuinely felt like she was living the dream.
Lars Eighner speaks openly about his struggles while “scavenging” with his canine, Lizbeth. After exploiting his own adventures from the streets, his tone is not resentful or embarrassed. Even after fighting off alley cats, birds, and worst of all - fire ants. He is truly grateful to have experienced ten years of Dumpster diving. It brought him to the realization there is way too much unnecessary waste, and shares that “everything [he has] now has already been cast out at least once”.
He talks about all of the perfectly good food he finds: yogurt that “will keep for several days, even in warm weather”, cheese with mold that just needs to be “pared off”, peanut better, and not to mention all the pizza. He ate well enough while living on the streets, he says he actually gained weight.
With multiple references to wasteful college students, Eighner directs this piece to the “young-adults” of North America. Of course they are not the only wasteful people out there. But he wants this lesson to be understood by a younger generation, so that in the future things might change. He talks about how students throw things away simply because they’re young and don’t know any better or it’s their parent’s money.
This piece is an eye opener to how much people really waste. Eighner explains that “even in poorer areas, Dumpsters, if attended with sufficient diligence, can be made to yield a livelihood.” Putting emphasis on the fact that even people who don’t have a lot of money, can evidently still afford to waste? He wants all his readers to take this to heart, and really think about what they’re buying and/or throwing away. Eighner calls attention to the fact that too many people hoard everything that comes their way, for nothing more than “sentimental value”. He believes that you should only acquire things that are necessary, and the rest doesn’t matter.
Eighner did a wonderful job of creating a sort of “Dumpster diving etiquette manual”. Everything came down to detail, whether he was referring to the condition of the food he found or his health, because of his vivid imagery and detail, you feel completely involved. It also makes you think slightly different about dumpster diving. I always assumed people in that situation either made some pour decision which lead to homeless-ness, or had a mental disorder. After reading this and seeing Eighner make the best of his situation, I realize this is not always the case.
As a question for the class: Could you live by Lars Eighner’s philosophy? Only acquire what you need?