"Rats don't get in the way"

In Moscow, a map of garbage heaps will soon appear, where you can regularly stock up on food deducted from supermarkets. Every day, tons of products are found in the city tanks that are not fit for sale, but are quite suitable for eating. There are several reasons: the shelf life is coming to an end, the packaging is crumpled, the label has fallen off ... According to the rules of trade, all this is illiquid and cannot lie on the counter. During the day we are horrified by the prices in grocery stores, and in the evening the staff combs the shelves, and food that was sold for a lot of money an hour ago is sent to the dumpsters in the backyards. This is used by freegans - people who consider it unacceptable to throw away food and "rescue" them from garbage dumps. Today, such skills can be useful not only for ideologically minded youth, but also for the middle class, faced with financial difficulties.

Moscow freegans arranged for MK a tour of the store dumps of one of the districts of Moscow. In order to avoid the termination of "supplies", we will not publish addresses, but we will describe in detail the search algorithm. The information is worthwhile: in two hours of wandering, we collected a huge box of food suitable for food for almost 3,000 rubles.

This is the catch we collected in just two hours of traveling through the backyards of shops.

"We Freegans Don't Eat Leftovers"

In profile groups on social networks, you can admire what people took away for free, while you paid several thousand rubles for a similar grocery basket. “Today, seven packages of peaches. Half good for jam, half eaten live. Everything was in packs, about 20% was only spoiled.” “Again, a lot of products: cutlets, rice, soups, honey, sour cream, jam, fresh vegetable salads, apples, bread, my favorite cookies.” “Ten cans of beer, half a box of gorgeous tomatoes and a huge bag of tangerines - barely dragged it away.”

As a rule, ideological freegans are kind people. When asked to suggest places and teach the tricks of finding food thrown out of stores, they respond willingly. Because so much food is thrown away that absolutely everyone in need can be fed. The rules are as follows: unsold goods that are nearing the expiration date must be written off on the eve of "Day X". In Europe, such products are distributed to the homeless and the poor, in Moscow they are sent to the trash. And it would be okay if only “delay”, goods are sent there in a wrinkled or torn package, which does not affect their safety in any way. This is what every chain supermarket does. At the same time, employees are strictly forbidden to take illiquid assets home, this is fraught with fines and even dismissal. Moscow historian and culturologist Igor Zhogin has been actively saving food written off from stores for many years. He agreed to go on a joint raid on the most successful points for this business in the Izmailovo region.

I always thought it was wrong to throw away food, - says Igor. “But you need to know that we freegans don't eat leftovers. We mainly collect packaged food, with the exception of fruits and vegetables. For any person who hitchhikes or goes on expeditions, it's okay to eat out of a communal pot or someone else's bowl.

It is important to understand that the ideology of freeganism does not imply a desire to get food for free or save money. The meaning of the current is that a person should consume only what he needs, not be a victim of the economic network of consumerism. The philosophy of this movement denies glut, greed. That is why freegans tend to give away the surplus of found products to friends or the homeless. However, there is nothing wrong with becoming a freegan for economic reasons. In the end, this desire will still achieve a good goal: less edible food will rot in garbage cans.

First of all, you need to get gloves and a flashlight, Igor advises. - Flashlight - because it is better to go searching at night, before going to bed. Firstly, it is at this time that stores most often throw out unnecessary items. Secondly, it is psychologically more comfortable when no one is looking, what are you rummaging around in the garbage. You can come early in the morning. Why is it important to take food? In the morning, anyway, a garbage truck will come and compress it. So isn't it better to eat? And gloves are needed so as not to plunge into some mayonnaise or something else that has leaked: good food is thrown away with other waste ...

It turns out that few stores have their own containers - they don’t want to spend money on garbage disposal, so they take everything to the nearest garbage dump.

It’s best to start looking for decommissioned food in your area, but for practice, you can go on a tour with an experienced freegan. The guys actively communicate in groups on social networks, share their booty and addresses. You can ask the janitors at the stores where food is thrown. Since this happens regularly, you can come with bags at least every day, the main thing is to find a fertile point.

"The rats hardly bother us"

We went hunting during the day. On the way, Igor says that almost all categories of goods are scrapped. Fruits, vegetables, as a rule, are not in perfect condition, but are consistently in good condition. There are just a little soft, there are barrels. But among the banal apples and cucumbers, there are also rarer exhibits: peaches, kiwi, grapefruits, mangoes, avocados. Some retail chains have corporate standards, according to which only the freshest items should be on display.

Recently, in a popular hypermarket, I saw an employee standing and putting beautiful apples and tomatoes in a cart, and putting the same ones on the counter, - Igor recalls. - The reason for the replacement is not that they are spoiled, but, for example, that one banana or tomato came off the bunch. Everything, he is not worthy to lie in plain sight. Everything is done for a beautiful picture. The man complained that they couldn't even take it themselves. But he suggested: “If you want, eat right now in the hall, at least everything.” That's exactly what I did.

A lot of dairy and sour-milk products disappear. Empirically, freegans found out that yogurt and cottage cheese will be tasty and safe for at least a week after the expiration date, and if they ferment, they can be used for pancakes and cheesecakes. An interesting detail: in Russia, only one expiration date is set - the day after which the product is not recommended to be consumed. And in some countries, there are several of them on the product: while it is tasty, while it is “normal”, while it is safe, and when it is time to throw it away. And we often put an expiration date on products that do not have it at all. For example, honey. It can be sugary, but spoiled - no. Nevertheless, this fact will not save him from disposal.

Here in this dump there are a lot of yogurts and canned food, - Igor points to a tank across the street from the store. - True, there are rats here, but they hardly interfere with us, they don’t touch the products, since they are securely packed. I often see that pensioners come and take away various food…

Milk is most often found among the freegan catch, carried away in whole packages. And how much bakery products are thrown away - horror! You can feed the whole entrance. And the most chic is on duty at the stores that bake their own products. By the end of the day, all unsold puffs, baguettes, cakes, etc. are written off here. The same goes for small bakeries.

Much more difficult - with meat: it is practically not thrown away. However, even if it is found, you should not rush to include it in the menu, since it is not known how long it has lain at the wrong temperature. Freegans have a special relationship with meat. Initially, Western freegans are vegetarians. And those who eat meat are called megans. In Russia, everyone is called freegans. And even those who do not approve of the meat industry in principle see nothing wrong with getting it out of the tank. They explain it this way: I do not buy meat so as not to participate in the killing of animals and production, but I will eat decommissioned meat, because the resources for its production have already been spent. There are many fruitarians among them, which is convenient because fruits and vegetables are the easiest to find.

But look, they left us apples, - Igor confirms the theory, approaching the boxes at the back door of the store. - And good ones! We take…

Right next to it are bags of onion peels. Igor carefully probes them and fishes out whole bulbs: it always makes sense to delve into the husk. The backpack is noticeably heavier.

GROODS BASKET THAT WE COLLECTED AT THE BACKWAYS OF STORES:

* three kilograms of imported apples

* three pomelo

* pack of waffles

* kilogram of fresh cucumbers

* two zucchini

* three lemons

* two tomatoes

* half a kilo of carrots

* two oranges

“We have one criterion: not for sale”

When we pass by a coffee shop of a popular network, Igor sighs sadly: before, ready-made food in trays was constantly thrown away here. And in such quantities that it was impossible to overpower one. Rolls, pancakes, casseroles, cheesecakes, meatballs... And now they have stopped - apparently, they began to save money during the crisis. True, not everywhere. Judging by the feedback in the profile group on the social network, in other areas, employees still take out trays to the delight of freegans. That is, how they take it out - they dump it in a common heap in tanks. Thanks for that too. Because there are stores whose management prescribes in the rules that the goods withdrawn from sale must be destroyed before being sent to the trash: cut, poured with cleaning agent, etc.

In the next three garbage dumps, we did not come across any food. The wrong time is after lunch. There will be something to profit from closer to the night. But we find other useful things: an easel, a folding stool, empty glass jars, cables, a doorbell, some boards. Igor hides all this in tall grass to pick up on the way back: it will come in handy for the dacha. Oh, men!

We pin great hopes on the container at the service entrance of a large supermarket, from where products are taken out several times a day. And at first glance inside, we understand that the hopes were justified: among the checks, packages and other garbage, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini are visible. As well as a can of coffee (however, there was very little coffee left in it), waffles and cookies. Armed with a stick, Igor fished out the vegetables one by one from the bowels of the garbage heap and began to dig further. And for good reason: at the very bottom, we found three large pomeloes and a bunch of lemons. Tip from the freegan - Fruits and vegetables from garbage dumps are best peeled. Still, they were not in the most pleasant neighborhood. In the midst of the research, a store employee approached us and asked what we were doing:

- We are conducting a social experiment: can you find something good in the garbage cans or not? Here we found it.

Do you think this is good?

- Well, yes.

Good for what?

- For food.

For food - for example, but not for sale.

- And you do not want to give what you write off to pensioners?

Once we have a separate container, it's easy. Now the problem is that we do not have a division into good or bad, we have one criterion: not for sale. Everything that fits this definition, including our rubbish bins, goes into this bin.

According to Igor, many store employees have stupid paranoia - that a person, for example, finds an expired product, then comes to them and accuses them of selling it. There is little logic here: after all, in the same way, you can take a delay in your refrigerator and go to the store to download rights. However, the guards often chase fans to pick up the decommissioned. So in this sense, the absence of garbage dumps at stores is just in favor of freegans, because the powers of security in the territory of public yard containers do not apply.

According to Muscovites with ecological thinking, the main problem of Moscow's grocery turnover is that the stores themselves do not want to think about the benefits of decommissioned goods. Sellers are afraid of everything and at the same time they themselves are horrified by the rules. Many people hate to throw away good food, but they do not dare to violate corporate guidelines. Those who are especially ideological show initiative - and, for example, bread, which is still warm, is not thrown into the trash, but simply put in bags near the service entrance.

This is how employees of a small store on the ground floor of one of the residential buildings act. Vendors regularly store decommissioned cakes, pastries, and other goodies in a separate bin, which many residents know about. It empties out in minutes. Moreover, among the sweets, there are often not expired ones at all, but simply with crumpled packaging, which in the case of cakes is already fatal, you can’t put it on the counter. However, even the expired expiration date in our time, few people are embarrassed. “A lot of people would love an expired cake right now! There are so many preservatives that they won't have anything. And there are too many poor people, people want to eat!” - share sore habitues of garbage dumps.

Igor emphasizes that during the years of freeganism he has never been poisoned.

During the years of freeganism, Igor has never been poisoned. Even found red fish, which are very sensitive to the correct method of storage. And if the freshness of the gifts of nature is in doubt, you can subject them to heat treatment or put them into jam. This was done with five dozen bananas and apricots, which were recently found in the back of a supermarket.

FREEGAN HONOR CODE

* Do not invade restricted areas - only search near shops and apartment buildings.

* Do not take anything from medical containers.

* Never leave fallen debris near a container that has been sorted out.

* Do not take documents or papers with any records: intrusion into the privacy of people based on finds from the garbage dump is strictly prohibited.

Igor plans to create a map with the addresses of "fertile" store and yard dumps.

I also want to develop a new theme - to go to abandoned gardens and collect fruits, berries, herbs, etc. But here it is important that the site is open. I hitchhiked in the Vologda region, there are villages where there is only one residential building, the rest are empty. And fruits and berries grow on the plots. Does it make sense for them to disappear?

Igor also wants to ensure that stores do not throw away scrapped food, but donate it to charities or volunteers who will distribute it to the poor.

For example, in Helsinki there are several points of distribution to everyone who wants products with an ending expiration date. These are bakery and dairy products, meat, sausages, sweets, vegetables and fruits. Everything is laid out on the shelves, people go and take everything they need. Some products are handed out one by one, asking if supplements are needed and what the person wants to choose from. At the exit, everyone is offered to feed soup and tea with buns. True, you will have to stand in line, but after visiting these places, you can hardly go to the store for a month.

In France A few months ago, a law was passed prohibiting the throwing away of food. It is also forbidden to dispose of unsold food before the expiration date. The adoption of the law was preceded by a long campaign, which was attended by both ordinary citizens and organizations fighting poverty and irrational spending of products. From now on, grocery stores with an area of ​​more than 400 square meters are required to conclude a contract with charitable organizations to provide food as a gift. Otherwise, they face fines of up to 75,000 euros or arrest for up to two years. In turn, firms involved in charity are required to ensure that food is received and distributed in hygienic conditions. France is the only country in the world where this rule applies.

AT Denmark there is a supermarket for expired products - goods in it are sold at a price of 30-50% less than in other stores. The authors of the idea thus seek to reduce the amount of food waste in the country. Such an initiative is the first in the world practice, since it is aimed not at the poorest segments of the population, but at all categories of citizens concerned about environmental problems. It is known that over the past five years, Denmark has reduced the amount of food waste by 25%.

The philosophy of freegans condemns and denies any over-consumption and over-production - instead of participating in maintaining the traditional system of buying and selling, they practice collecting food and other material goods in the trash. The movement came from the USA and is now widespread in the Old World. At the same time, the problem of irrational waste of products in Europe today is starting to be discussed not only by eco-activists, but also - not so long ago, the French parliament adopted the “Macron law”, which obliges any grocery store in France, whose area exceeds 400 square meters, to transfer all food items withdrawn from sale products to charities and those in need.

In Russia, the ideas of freeganism are not yet so widespread, and those who practice dumpster diving here do it not so much for environmental reasons as for pragmatic ones. Although it happens differently. We asked five freegan practitioners about their motivations, attitudes towards consumption, and rules for scavenging.

Alexey Gribel

I moved to St. Petersburg two and a half years ago and after long wanderings I settled in a room without anything. Young guys lived in the apartment (its condition was pretty dead at the time they moved in) and had not yet had time to put everything in order. I began to notice that various furniture and building materials were constantly thrown away near our house, and after some internal confrontation I brought home a good folding sofa, and then various dishes.

Under low living conditions, one wants to live well. So I began to visit the landfills in the yards of my area more often and to ennoble my new home more. Gathering more walls from old cabinets and more boards, I made a strong second floor, which stood even after I set sail from there.

Once a friend of mine called me a freegan and told me about the movement. But at that moment I was squeamish about taking food. I turned to food when I moved to a new place on Petrogradskaya. That's where I found out how gorged rich people are. Fashionable things began to come to the house in large quantities, which were worn for one season at most, and about 40-50 thousand were saved on clothes in six months.

I dressed myself, my girlfriend, and we gave away a lot of things to friends and took them to free markets. Cheeses, cottage cheese and sour cream began to fall on our table from food, the expiration date of which for several hours exceeded the number on the package. Without these figures, many people would probably die of hunger, not knowing whether it was lost or not.

In addition to food and clothes, I found flash drives for cameras, a player, a professional hair dryer, 17 cakes, a box of chocolates, there were many different expensive women's things and shoes in excellent condition of expensive brands. But the crown of my finds was two jewelry boxes a couple of months ago, when I was conducting a tour for journalists of a local TV channel. There was mostly cheap costume jewelry and ornaments made of semi-precious stones, but the main find was a cracked engagement ring, a diamond ring, gold and silver chains. This crown in the pawnshop was estimated at 11.5 thousand rubles

I try to take only as much as I need for my stay. Money is the equivalent of labor, so why spend it on necessary things if they are all around me for free?

It's actually amazing how many resources people turn into trash without even using half. Clogging refrigerators to capacity, people throw in the trash at least a third of what just went bad. I try to take only as much as I need for my stay. Money is the equivalent of labor, so why spend it on necessary things if they are all around me for free?

It's like a quest, there are several checkpoints on your route, and in some of them surprises are left for you, your task is to pass these points and find what was left for you. I am glad when there are conscious citizens who, getting rid of unnecessary things, do not throw them into the tank, but leave them nearby in a conspicuous place - so anyone can take them for themselves and the path of these things will continue. After all, imagine that every thing that is thrown away was assembled, woven, sewn, knocked together, grown, born by someone, huge resources, effort and time were spent on this, but the gluttony of mankind is such that you need to bite the edge of everything, and then throw out. Such is the system of consumerism.

I was horrified when behind the Pyaterochka I found a mountain of about 30-40 chicken breasts and thighs; at first I was delighted, they say, there will be a feast at home, but after that a picture of life ran before my eyes. The chickens were raised, slaughtered, cut into pieces, put on the shelves to show off for three days, so that later they went ingloriously to feed the worms. Since then I have not bought meat. I eat it if only I am treated or if I find it.

My relatives were very worried that I would not catch anything, but it is enough to follow simple rules of hygiene, wash or wash with soap and nothing will threaten your health. Now they are calm. My girlfriend supports me and is always happy when I bring home something interesting and tasty, she also keeps me company on walks. There are a couple of friends who used to be skeptical about freeganism, but now they can compete with us in terms of the extracted belongings.

Natasha Zen

I've been a freelancer for about two years. It all started with the fact that I began to find materials for study when I was studying to be an artist. Then it became quite habitual, and I started to freegan more with my friend Alex. For me, this is not a struggle or a protest, just a way to focus on more necessary things, to invest more money and time in my creativity and interests, and not spend it on household needs. Gradually, you start buying less and less, you get used to finding or making everything you need yourself. In general, the DIY lifestyle has always been ideal for me, and freeganism is such an intermediate experience of living in the stone jungle. Most of the things found need quite a bit of repair, hemming, and washing. But for most people, it's easier not to bother and buy a new one.

Usually everything happens somehow between times, on the way somewhere, for example, from the subway to the house. It was necessary to purposefully go freeganizing only when there was absolutely no money left. We often moved and always found bread places nearby. Well, you gradually become more attentive to such things.

I take only what I need and nothing more. There are many places where fresh food is thrown away daily, in this sense the most expensive places are the best for rogues, repair materials from boards to putty are an incredible amount at every turn, clothes and shoes are often thrown away not because they are spoiled, but simply because that went out of fashion, tired or bought something new.

For me, the DIY lifestyle has always been ideal, and freeganism is such an intermediate experience of living in the stone jungle.

Alex recently brought in a six-foot-tall mirror that had been thrown out of a nearby beauty salon, and I've always wanted one. And still, every time I never cease to be amazed at how often people throw away new, sometimes unpacked, absolutely serviceable things. There is a general impression that people ****** [became insolent].

We often donate things to friends or through self-help groups. A couple of times sold and handed over to the pawnshop. Everyone I know is aware of freeganism, for some the example turned out to be contagious.

Those who know us and our way of life see the positive side and treat us with interest and understanding. But I'm completely calm about the negative reaction. It usually comes from strangers. The only thing I don't like is when freegans are compared to shoplifters. I don't support the latter at all.

I don't recommend freeganism to anyone, it's not for everyone. There was a moment when we freegan with the whole apartment in the summer, we didn’t buy food at all. As a result, one neighbor concluded that it was more suitable for him to buy vegetables than to pick them up at a certain time after the vegetable stalls were closed, then sort, cut and wash them. You choose whether to spend your time and energy or money. You can always find a compromise, now everything is somehow easier and faster, apparently, with experience. It is better for everyone to choose their own rhythm and style of life.

Ruslan Zhuravlev

Yes, I've been on this thread for a long time. Now I’m 27, and I started, one might say, 20 years ago, when I was still a schoolboy - I was walking around the garbage heap and saw how my grandmother was digging in the container, I also came up, looked, my eyes lit up with joy, I opened the package, and there, as far as I remember, there was a cassette player. At that time it was cool - not everyone had it.

Today, in many countries, people are starving and do not know what normal food and water are, but in developed countries, quite normal food and things are thrown away.

In general, for me it is more excitement, or even a habit, or mania. It's like smoking for someone or having a drink. Although I'm kind of a businessman, I have a small network of sushi shops in Moscow, I have everything, in general, but I'm not like everyone else, and I understand that you have to be yourself.

I collect everything from the trash cans near the store, where they usually throw out good goods, right from the counter. I arrive by car, put on gloves, take wet wipes - and go. The people, of course, look condemningly in the main, but someone even joins, because you can’t live on one salary. Moreover, I do not break the law, I clean up after myself.

Oleg Davydchik

It all started with my friend going around the world. In New York, he met this movement. There it is generally simple. Land rent is expensive, so many stores do not have their own tanks, but simply put large garbage bags with food on the street by the road in the evening. If you get ahead of the scavengers, you can fill your fridge to capacity.

It all looked wildly interesting! Much more interesting than just buying food in stores. Therefore, when my friend returned to Belarus, we decided to check the Minsk tanks for food. And they discovered a real fruit paradise. It was winter, but to be honest, I didn’t eat so much fruit even in summer. The first time we brought three large boxes of persimmons, the second time - two boxes of bananas and lots of other vegetables and fruits. At that time, I only knew in general terms that it was called dumpster diving or freeganism. It was just interesting: getting into a wheelbarrow, taking flashlights, gloves and after dark to go on a raid around the city, and then surprise friends with photos of what they found and treat everyone with kilograms of fruit and fresh salads. A sort of fruity Robin Hood.

At some point, we even decided to start Instagram Dumpsterchef, there are mainly photos of products found in the trash cans of Minsk shops or what we have prepared from them. Now I know a little more about the ideas of freeganism, and many of them are close to me. The bottom line is that this is a kind of protest. A protest against the crazy consumerism that is gaining momentum in the modern world. A person produces much more than he needs, much more than he can consume.

I read somewhere that 30 to 50 percent of food is wasted in the world at different stages. This figure even seems to me a little overestimated, but still I see that food is actually thrown away by the ton. These are colossal volumes. But the production and disposal of all this takes a huge amount of energy and natural resources. So it is directly related to environmental issues. Nevertheless, I cannot call myself an ideological freegan. Yes, I agree with many of his ideas, but to be honest, I do this more out of interest. Somewhere it's a good way to save money (especially in expensive countries like Norway), somewhere it's a way to have fun: collect food, and then gather a bunch of friends. Well, in general, I think it's stupid to go and buy something that just lies on the other side of the store. It seems to me that there is some absurdity in this. We have never seen anything like it even close in our countries. On the top left, you can see a pineapple. In all seriousness, I have never eaten a tastier pineapple in my life. We don't even sell these in stores.

In addition to fruits, there is a lot of milk, various sweets, bars, pastries. My friend and I do not eat meat, but it can also be collected there in kilograms. The expiration date of almost all products has not expired, but is only coming to an end.

In general, in Europe they are much more loyal to this. Some fruit shops have a practice of simply displaying stale goods in front of the store. If you want, take it. Sometimes pastries were displayed in a separate large package. In many bakeries, in the late afternoon, you can ask for old bread directly from the sellers. They will easily give away what they could not sell in a day. We still have a slightly different attitude.

For Minsk, we made a special map with shops in those areas that we managed to drive around. There are stores marked on it, where you can at least pick up something for dinner. But most often it is worth taking a larger package. In general, you should choose larger stores where there is a large turnover of products. Then we head to the backyard of the selected store and look for trash cans. Most often, we have ordinary plastic bins, but sometimes there are also special large containers for destroying garbage. It is better not to climb into them - it can end badly.

It is also worth understanding that if the tanks are just on the street, then you can look into them without any problems and not be afraid of threats from the store employees - you are not breaking the law. But if the garbage cans are behind the fence, on the territory adjacent to the store, then officially you cannot go there. However, if the gates are open or you feel brave enough to climb over a meter-long fence, you can check these trash cans too. Most likely, the jackpot awaits you there. But only in this case it is better not to enter into conflicts with the administration and, at the first request, leave the forbidden territory.

Then you just start to explore the contents of the tanks. Most often, it’s immediately clear: either there’s nothing besides gobies and empty boxes, or it’s worth taking a closer look - and, most likely, a couple of kilograms of peaches are waiting for you in this package. We basically throw out only fruit. But in general, it is better to carefully watch what you take. Pay attention to the expiration date. especially if it is dairy or meat products. If you doubt the freshness of some products, then it is better not to take them. Also, don't take more than you need. We don't want to throw it all away in the second round, do we?

Photos: Wikipedia,,, Oleg Davydchik.

What kind of phenomenon is this - a struggle for the environment, an example of moderate consumption, a protest against generally accepted norms? In the United States, there is a rapidly growing number of people who specifically look for food in garbage dumps. These are not homeless people and not sick people. These are freegans.

Garbage cans on the streets serve us for the disposal of household waste and nothing more. So we do not accumulate garbage in houses, we do not throw it on the streets of the city. And eating waste is not at all our level. Homeless people, alcoholics and beggars consider garbage cans to be their second home, and, as practice shows, they do not want to change anything, with rare exceptions. But, as it turns out, they are not the only ones - orderlies of society and the hierarchical pyramid, only in the world of people, not animals.

Often the plot of one of the reports of the evening news becomes the story of how a homeless person found a fortune in the garbage dumps, just thrown out by someone. Probably disliked. But none of us will go to the garbage heap to get rich tomorrow, except perhaps another beggar, inspired by the trophies of his neighbor. For us, as before, the landfill will remain a disgusting place.

If you don't eat it yourself, give it to someone else

The situation is quite different in America. Of course, there are also homeless people there who are always willing to dig in the nearest trash can. However, in recent years, more and more young and successful people who have high-paying jobs and good housing go to the garbage dump to buy groceries for dinner, not in the nearest supermarket. But they do it not out of poverty, but, so to speak, for ideological reasons.

The freegan movement originated in America at the very end of the 20th century with the advent of generation Y. The word “freegan” (freegan) is formed from two English words: “free” (free) and “vegan” (complete vegetarian). Actually, initially freeganism was one of the radical types of vegetarianism. Freegans followed a vegetarian diet, but left themselves a small loophole: you can eat meat products if you get them for free.

Over time, freeganism separated from vegetarianism and became an independent social movement. Freegans began to extract not only meat from the garbage dumps, but also other products, as well as clothes, household appliances and, in general, everything that is necessary for life. They don't go into dumpsters because they can't afford to shop for groceries. Freeganism for them is a lifestyle, a kind of philosophy.

Researchers of Western economics have long been sounding the alarm. According to experts, from 27 to 50% of food products that go on sale in the United States never reach the consumer and end up in the trash. For example, if in a large batch of tomatoes several fruits turn out to be spoiled, then the entire batch is sent to the trash. Throwing out a container for a company is cheaper than hiring a person to sort vegetables.

freegans, most made up of educated young people of the left, believe that in a situation where people in developing countries are dying of hunger, throwing millions of tons of edible food into the trash is a crime. And in this, of course, they are right, but the number of starvation deaths in Africa does not decrease from this.

American dump - fun and delicious!

American freegans look for their food in the dumpsters of restaurants and supermarkets. As a rule, employees of such establishments carefully pack in clean plastic bags those products that are about to expire, or those whose packaging is slightly wrinkled. At the end of the working day, these bags are taken out into the street and placed in clean garbage containers that stand in the backyards. That's when the freegans appear out of the darkness.

I must say that freegans are very warm towards their own kind. Their main website www.freegan.info provides detailed recommendations on how to distinguish spoiled products from normal ones, what products are better not to take.

Freegans living in New York are even luckier. For them, the same site contains detailed instructions on where and in what mode the most “delicious” garbage dumps work. It describes in detail which garbage container lovers of exotic cuisine should look into, at what time bags are thrown into the trash at one of the most pretentious restaurants, which establishment has a particularly rich selection of discarded products. This is a kind of culinary guide for those who walk through the garbage dumps.

Do not roll - do not eat

In Russia, freeganism is a utopian phenomenon for a number of reasons. (If not, please let us know). Our dumps are unappetizing - everything falls into one heap - food, batteries, bags, worn sneakers. What is edible here? Where there is at least some kind of culture of cleanliness and separate waste, this would be possible, but so far this is the privilege of such areas of elite housing, where trash cans are almost under lock and key. Freegans are not allowed!

The owners of Russian restaurants are in no hurry to separate leftovers from slightly spoiled products or products with wrinkled packaging, but simply throw them away when in the USA a chef can sort into “edible-inedible” and leave food in a bag for the poor and needy in the back of the restaurant. Many companies are engaged in charity, but for some reason they cannot do simple things. Well, if suddenly someone wants to eat something tasty in the garbage, you are welcome to America! The freegans there still can’t cope with all the food.

For those who touch on the topic only superficially, freeganism looks very simple and impartial - it is the search for food in the garbage dumps by people who do not have money to buy it in stores. However, the freegan movement has its own history and philosophy. These people collect material resources where others throw them, not because of the inability or unwillingness to earn something on their own. They deny excess production and consumption in all its manifestations, therefore they do not want to participate in it.

Freegans prefer to exclude themselves from the usual economic life, for which they minimize the resources consumed. They differ from the poor and homeless in that they look for food in landfills not out of need, but to eliminate environmental damage from excessive consumption.

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The rise of freeganism

The word "freegan" appeared in the United States in the mid-1990s. It is believed that this concept was introduced by the drummer of the rock band Against Me! Warren Ochs, who wrote the 1999 manifesto for freeganism, the pamphlet Why Freegan? By that time, vegans had already gained quite a lot of popularity, which is why the consonant name “freegans” took root. This is due to the fact that people who oppose themselves to the consumer society support radical vegetarians in the main provisions of their movement.

Freeganism was supposed to appear in the United States - a country with a relatively small population (in China or India there are several times more people), which has the largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP. Due to overproduction in developed countries, many products are indeed easier to throw into a landfill than, for example, to hire a person to sort and process them. Freegans often voice statistics from which it follows that 30-50 percent of food suitable for consumption ends up in landfills in the same States.

After the United States, freeganism began to develop in the richest countries in Europe. In the Old World, this problem is being discussed today not only by environmental activists, but also by serious politicians. For example, in France, the so-called “Macron law” was recently adopted, according to which grocery stores operating in the country with an area of ​​​​more than 400 m2 are required to give all food taken off the shelves to charities and people in need.

There are few freegans in Russia. The welfare of our society is far from being a large number of edible food ended up in landfills. Those who do freeganism in our country do it for the most part for pragmatic reasons, and not for the purpose of improving the environment and counteracting the consumer society.

Freegan ideology

It is easiest for representatives of small social movements to identify themselves as opposed to something big and understandable to everyone. Freegans are positioned as fighters against a consumer society built on competition, greed, conformity and lack of morality. Followers of freeganism must consume the necessary minimum resources, they are required to be generous and help others.

The main goal of freegans is to minimize their own financial support for global corporations, and in the ideal case, to completely eliminate them from these processes. Of course, dumpster food collectors will not destroy the society of uncontrolled consumption, they remain only one of the last links in this chain. However, some of them really manage to at least partially distance themselves from social processes that are unpleasant to them.

Freegan code of honor

For several decades of existence, the movement has issued a number of unwritten laws. They are needed not only to hold the community together, but also to form a normal attitude on the part of other people towards strange characters rummaging through the garbage. So, freegans go out to "hunt" only in the garbage dumps near supermarkets and apartment buildings. They will not climb into the backyard of a private house. For their own safety, freegans do not approach the containers in which medical institutions throw their waste.

Freeganists are also prohibited from entering closed areas, even if there is definitely something useful for them there. They only dig into publicly accessible dumpsters. Freegans must keep their trash cans clean. Moreover, the rules prescribe to leave the visited garbage dump in a better condition than it was before their arrival. This is due to the desire to facilitate the "work" of the next group of freegans. However, here, most likely, there is also a desire to remain “in good standing” with the owners of the dump, so that they do not restrict access to it.

If a freegan comes across documents and other records with confidential information among the garbage, then he does not use them for his own purposes. It is strictly forbidden to interfere in the privacy of people.

All these rules are broadcast, including on special Internet resources. For example, in the United States, Adam Weissman, who founded the site freegan.info, is considered a well-known promoter of freeganism.

Freegan Prey

Adherents of freeganism for the most part try to monitor their health, so the right freegans will not eat expired products. First of all, they look for what supermarkets reject before laying on the shelves and throw it away fresh. For example, entire batches of products end up in the trash due to the substandard condition of one sample.

Freegans are not only interested in food. They often dress in discarded or discarded clothes, and also use used household utensils. Found things freegans can change at flea markets for what they need. Here they try not to engage in buying and selling, as they reject monetary relations.

The realities of freeganism in Russia

In our country, you can be a freegan only in a big city, where there are rich high-rise buildings and neighborhoods, as well as large stores. Russian society as a whole is condemning people who dig in garbage containers. Young people involved in this cause particular misunderstanding. Freegans have to make a choice - to break away from society completely or to disguise themselves, for example, to go for prey at night, and to the questions of others to say that they are looking for their mistakenly discarded things.

For some people, freeganism is a habit, a passion, or even a mania. Some freegans drive up to the trash bins in a car, put on gloves, take wet wipes and send them to the fishery, sincerely rejoicing at the vegetables they find, which, after trimming, will fit perfectly into a salad. Others take only certain types of food, such as bread and pastries. They buy the same vegetables because they once made a choice - it is easier to spend money on tomatoes and cucumbers, and not the time required to sort and process spoiled fruits. However, it is not clear to what extent "canonical" freegans will consider such situational collectors of food and things in trash cans as their brothers.

About a third of all food produced in the world annually (about 1.3 billion tons) ends up in the trash. Such information is provided in one of the latest reports of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. At the same time, with reasonable consumption, these figures could be reduced by at least 80%. In contrast to such statistics, a movement of freegans arose in Western Europe. The Telegraph has compiled a dictionary that will help distinguish freegans from vegans and homeless people.

Alternative - the need to choose one of two or more mutually exclusive possibilities, which the freegans decided by fundamentally abandoning excesses and culinary delights, speaking out against the consumer society in favor of the environment.

The founder of freeganism is the drummer of Against Me! Warren Oks. In the late 90s, he coined the term freegan, and also wrote the freegan manifesto - the pamphlet "Why freegan?". The word freegan itself comes from free - “free, free” and vegan - “veganism”. This is what radical vegetarians call themselves, and this is due to the fact that most freegans also support the main provisions of the vegan movement. But freegans use landfills and garbage containers for food. Unlike the homeless and the poor, freegans do so out of an unwillingness to be part of a consumer society. However, there are those who simply hide behind ideology in order to save money.

free market - garbage dumps, places near restaurants and grocery stores.

In the US, expired or out-of-date products are neatly packaged and then sent to clean containers. There is even a special Trashwiki service - an overview of garbage dumps with specific places and recommendations for freegans. In Russia, the necessary information is still reluctant to share. To find a trash can that regularly contains the necessary products, you will have to go around many doorways and use all your communication skills to negotiate with a supermarket security guard or a greengrocer owner. If you're lucky, you can just give away the products, which will then be thrown away anyway after a while.

Free fast food - food that can be eaten in a cafe.

For Russian adherents of freeganism, this is not leftovers, but free food. Such can be, for example, a bitten hamburger or a fallen cheburek. But, as the freegans themselves admit, finding food left in a cafe is not so easy today. Too many today are trying to save money and do not order too much. In addition, uninvited visitors are often kicked out of some cafes. However, in other countries it can be even more difficult. To reduce the amount of food being thrown away, a number of restaurants even impose fines. They first appeared in restaurants in Hong Kong, where the territory of the state itself is small and there is little space for garbage. For each uneaten sushi they take an additional $ 1.5. In the US, there are also restaurants that warn that a visitor will be charged a fine for half-eaten dishes, which can be up to a third of the order price.

Production or catch - this is what is not only eaten, but also photographed, and then proudly posted on social networks, usually anonymously. (It is rare that freegans in Russia tell their relatives and acquaintances about their beliefs).

Prey can be broken tartlets, expired sausage, yogurt, a slightly rotten apple or darkened bananas. May come across cakes, pastries or canned food. The main thing, experienced freegans advise, is not to take food without expiration dates or when the products are overdue for more than two or three days. Also, do not forget about thorough heat treatment.

Health- Freegans eat irregularly and, to put it mildly, unbalanced.

Hardly any nutritionist can recommend such a diet. Fruits are often spoiled, and dairy products are expired. In addition, few freegans eat meat or fish, some for ideological reasons, others because meat requires more stringent storage conditions. In addition, it is rarely thrown away. At the same time, the freegans unanimously argue that it is impossible to get poisoned by food from the garbage heap. Most freegans either really choose their foods very carefully, or their beliefs are so strong that they do not attribute the causes of their illnesses to their eating style.

The reaction of the people around the attitude towards freegans in society can hardly be called friendly. There are either those who are ready to eat from the dumps themselves, or those who do not understand them at all.

On various forums in social networks, you can see the following phrases: “My opinion is that there are certain standards of hygiene and sanitation, and, of course, there should be at least some moral principles.” “Only individuals who have no self-respect can do this. Well, we are not animals to eat from garbage dumps. “I consider their behavior a challenge to society, leading nowhere but to a hospital bed with food poisoning. It's either a disease or a deviation."

The main answer of the freegan: “The main idea is not saving money, but saving natural resources, reducing the amount of garbage and caring for the environment. Often freegans are supporters of Greenpeace, they sort garbage if possible, hand over recyclable materials, etc.”

Student - the most common type of freegan in Russia.

The idea, which arose in Western Europe and the United States, was noticeably transformed in Russia. If abroad it is rather an ideology, then we often have a way to save money. Due to over-consumption and over-production, a significant part of the contents of garbage dumps in developed countries turns out to be quite suitable for food and even rarely out of date. In Russia, you have to make a lot of effort and forget about the feeling of disgust in order to find something interesting. This, perhaps, is more likely to be dared by those who are forced to save austerity, and this is precisely what most students do.

Feeling of disgust - in freegans it is almost completely atrophied.

A real freegan will be able to get a piece of fruit or an open package of chips out of a trash can, even if a rat or a cockroach has just run over it. At the same time, freegans who hide their beliefs can offer their prey to unsuspecting friends. So, on one of the forums, a freegan girl shared her personal experience: “One of my friends does not know about my lifestyle, I don’t tell her, because. she will not communicate with me, and I have been friends with her for many years and do not want to lose communication. If I know that she will come, then I leave the best for her so that she does not suspect that it is not from the store.

Foodsharing - food exchange.

Volunteers first collect waste products and then distribute them to those in need. There are even special distribution tables. For example, in Germany there are about 900 of them. In Russia, the movement is not very popular. So far, these are only groups on social networks, where those who wish are offered products that they did not have time to eat before the holidays, or surpluses from their garden.