Hello everyone! Welcome to the first issue of Dumpster Diary
The idea behind this diary is to give visibility to one important issue of our society: Over Production.
Chapter 1: Introduction
I've been scavenging and "dumpster diving" for about 20 years.
From clothes, to food. Electronics, machines... u name it. We produce it, buy it and throw it away.
Supermarkets, big ones, small ones.. they're all throwing away food that's still edible, while somewhere on the other side of the world there's not enough...
The supply chain can't fail, so we always produce more than we consume. Whatever is left over, we throw it away, but still charge for it on the units sold. Consumers are still paying for whatever goes to the trash.
Every time you buy an apple, your're paying for some other apples that won't be sold becouse they don't meet the "market standards".
Where do this apples go?
Some are reprocessed into some other product. Some others might be donated to charity, still having to pass controls, of course. And the rest, goes to the trash.
What about those apples on the supermarket that were not sold yesterday, or those bananas that begin to be mature? Garbage bin is the answer most of the times.
Some supermarkets will sell products that are close to the expiration date at a discount price, others simply toss it and increase the price on the rest of the stock.
I won't discuss politics or my points of view, is not the point of this diary, the point is to just make this images visible, as im sure many are not really aware.
As they say: One image is worth more than a million words, isnt it?
Day 1: Fruits & Veggies, Sausage, Ham, Bread...
It was raining, so i did a quick tour around the local supermarkets. Two of them out of four in town.
This is what i found...
Yoghurts: expiration date? wait a second...
Hot-Dogs, cheese, veggie burgers
Then supermarket number 2:
Back at home, time to do some proper washing and cleaning!
After a good wash and desinfectation (yes, the garbage bins aren't the cleanest place in the world), whatever is long lasting goes to the shelves or fridge.
Veggies, fruits, old bread and cheese, if it's no good for me to eat, then this guys take care of it. No waste.
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of what i expect to be a more or less frequent diary. I'll be posting my scavenges and dumpster finds, i hope it raises some attention and hopefully lead to reflexion about our consumism. Tanks for reading and feel free to debate or ask any questions on the comments!