If a person needs to eat, he or she usually goes to a grocery store, a restaurant or a cafe. But some people do it differently: they dress in things that do not pity to spoil and go about rummaging through trash about the nearest supermarkets. Once the stores are closed people line up in the queue near the garbage of the district stores. Connoisseurs of “diving” can get not just fresh bread and apples, but also working computers, typewriters, etc.
What is dumpster diving
Dumpster diving is the practice of sifting various trash in a garbage container in search of things that their owners have nobly transferred it to free use, but which can be useful for a “divers.” The practice of dumpster diving is also known as “urban food search”, “limited shopping”, “surfing alleyways”, “aggressive recycling”, “G-market” (G- from “garbage”), “junk selection”, “raid on garbage container “,” choice of trash “,” hunting for treasure “, etc.
Among people who are engaged in dumpster diving, you can meet teachers, engineers, and mechanics who live in their own apartments and houses. The philosophy of dumpster diving despises abundance, greed, extravagance, conformism. Freegans, or how they still prefer to call themselves “scavenging,” foraging” or “Dumpster”- they are consumers of the necessary minimum, which includes in its menu food, exclusively important for life.It goes without saying that this notion is well-spread. Despite that, we intend to show you its deep context on the example of the literary masterpiece. We are sure that you will catch the main idea. Moreover, we invoke you to be patient and let your imagination work/ Believe that the smallest ordinary things hide exciting and unique meaning.
Is this way of life mainstream?
This way of life becomes mainstream for many, even the most affluent countries. Thanks to the dumpster diving it is possible to decorate the apartment for pennies, fill the fridge with food or even earn money on the sale of other people’s garbage.
The term comes from the name of the most famous manufacturer of garbage containers, “Dempsey,” using as a logo a bizarre image of someone’s head jumping into a garbage container, like in a swimming pool. In practice, the size and design of most trash containers allow getting a lot of useful things hidden in them without having to “dive” into them.
Some dumpsters are engaged in monitoring the process and obtaining utility from the debris; some deepen to the direct lifestyle of an unsecured person.
The other “diver’s” motivation can be completely different. For example, some “divers” tend to avoid a materialistic and consumer lifestyle. Artists, sculptors, use materials are thrown out by people to create artworks. Students willingly use the debris extracted from the trash in their technology projects. Some can get carried away by this just for the sake of entertainment or finding unusual things. But most people who turn into dumper diving lifestyle, after all, are forced to do so because of the economic need.
Lets realize such notion with the help of literature
So, Lars Eighner – a scavenger, the author of the essay “On Dumpster Diving,” began to dive into the trash container because his savings were depleted. Because of the difficult financial situation Lars along with his dog Lisbeth, appear homeless and had to spend their leisure time on the streets of Los Angeles and Austin. At the first side, it is the ordinary story about the homeless. But if we keep reading the essay, we will make out its main deep plot. Try to put yourself at the place of the main character and anticipate his following actions.
In his essay, the author describes scavenging as a full-time job, which requires a lot of effort. Since not all found items are suitable for use. Lars tells us that what is safe to eat and what is not safe, he reveals good places where it can find good food, and what garbage containers should be stayed away from. According to Eighner, in order to find good food and useful things, it is needed to tackle two rules: 1. Know the place and time; 2. Know how to use things from the garbage safely. This is very important because when diving you can cut yourself with shards of bottles, run into a needle or take something completely unusable.
Lars makes us think that a dumpster diving is a much better way of life than a modernized world and how much people in the modern world are profligate. They often throw away good, usable things, so many good things. Such as clothes, shoes, bedding, toilet paper, love letters, candles, medicines, books, personal care items, household appliances that Eighner finds on a regular basis, which means that the sum saved is hundreds of dollars. While for most people this is just garbage, for Eighner these findings are like a treasure.
The essay says that the most wasteful people are students. They throw out a lot of good things, including food. A huge number of products suitable for food are in the trash. According to the estimations of food organizations, 1/3 of all food products produced in the world go to waste, which is approximately $ 1 trillion per year. Although, when it comes to throwing out other items before throwing something away, it would be more accurate to use the thing to the maximum.
The most amazing thing is that despite the fact that the topic of the essay is scrupulous enough, the author managed to avoid the emotional side, on the contrary, his entire story is written in a very casual tone as if everything should be so.
For the author, “Dumpster diving is outdoor work, often surprisingly pleasant. It is not entirely predictable; things of interest turn up every day and some days. I am always very pleased when I can turn up exactly the thing I most wanted to find”. But it is important not to miss out on life with us wasting so much.
