Was doing some reading this morning on Freegans, and either the practice has become more mainstream, the economy's getting better, or people just don't care any more. I didn't run across any new articles, and few old ones.
I've dumpster dived (dumpster dove?) on and off all my life. It's like treasure hunting, sometimes you find the chest of gold, and sometimes you find a bunch of sand. Never done it for food though. I was getting culled produce from a local store, but they got bought out by Whole Paycheck, who doesn't allow for that, no siree Bob. (The 'hippy grocery store' from Austin Tx doesn't allow poor people to make use of their discards any more. Hhhmmm......) The bread store, instead of throwing out the no longer saleable but edible items to be scavenged, they slash the wrappers, rendering it unusable for human consumption and selling it for animal food. The two racks I picked up the other day for the chickens had just been slashed, the bread was all still soft. If you were really poor and hungry, it could be eaten. Thanks the Goddess we're not at that point.
The latest thing for Corporate America to do since the freegans came out of the dumpster is to pour ammonia on any discarded food items, rendering them totally unusable, even for animals. Many places have locks on the dumpsters, for several reasons, mostly to keep people from dropping off their trash. I understand this, since they have to pay every time that dumpster is emptied, and also to keep some idiot from hurting themselves and suing. (We've all seen something like that.) But how hard would it to park discarded food products outside for awhile every day and let the poor take it? It would be an urban version of gleaning the fields, a practice that still goes on today, where poor people are allowed in the harvested fields and orchards to glean anything useable that the harvesters missed. It's probably a legal thing, but sometimes, morals need to step up. Come on Corporate America, we're all in this together.
A Theory
7 years ago
Speaking from the perspective of someone whose every action at work must be prefaced with the thought... "now how, exactly, is this going to get my company sued for a bazillion dollars"... I gotta say... leaving the food out for "anyone" to take, then having it taken, and having JUST ONE person get sick from some kind of bacteria because the food was past it's date - yeah - HUGE settlement for leaving that food where the unsuspecting person could come across it and eat it "not knowing" it was bad.
ReplyDeleteTHIS is why we need tort reform in the US - lawsuits stop people from being able to just be nice - they always have to CYA
I know, I've seen it. Back in the day when I was an EMT, we were taught that as emergency personnel, we could be sued if we DID'NT stop and render aid when we were off duty. The Good Samaritan Law was repealed here in Texas a few years ago, which means if you stop to help someone, they now have the right to sue you. Case in point, a suicide was halted by some motorists on a bridge, and the guy sued the motorists from stopping him. (Never heard how it ended)Still, there's ways it could be done on the sly, and more poor ppl wouldn't be going hungry tonight.
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