I just watched the documentary about food waste in America - called Dive.
It features a "freegan" family that gets most of their food from dumpster diving - and efforts to discover why the food isn't being donated to food pantries.
Awesome documentary, and yet very disturbing, to realize exactly how much is wasted, and why.
I knew the problem was big, I just didn't realize the full extent.
I know back in Australia that the Health Department was to blame as to why certain foods couldn't be donated to homeless shelters etc. Basically their rules are pretty strict. I guess it's the same here in the US.
I know back in Australia that the Health Department was to blame as to why certain foods couldn't be donated to homeless shelters etc. Basically their rules are pretty strict. I guess it's the same here in the US.
That's what's so crazy - the documentary even went into that, and proved that isn't the "real reason" (at least in the USA) stores don't donate.
There's a "Good Samaritan" law that protects grocery stores from being sued as a result of good-faith donations (apparently it was a law passed under the Clinton administration)- and still the stores don't usually donate anything but bread and some dented cans.
Also, the filmmaker was able to get many stores to donate what would have gone into the dumpster - just by calling the store manager and then the filmmaker took the foods to a Salvation Arm shelters. Which shows the stores CAN and DO give the food away, they just don't go out of their way to do it, and there's no system in place to make it easy.
Now some stores that originally agreed to donate, "backed out" at the last minute (saying they had given the food away to another charity - then when the filmmaker went to that store's dumpster that night he found tons of food in the dumpster - indicating that they probably lied and decided to throw the food away instead).
Now it's true that the grocery store owners may be afraid of being sued, but the law apparently is on their side. So why aren't they giving the food away?
Primarily, because it's just far easier to throw it away. To give it away, they'd have to make a deliberate effort. And in some (although not many) cases, they would have to LEARN how to judge food safety. A lot of the food, they know is safe, and they're legally protected to give it away, it's just easier to throw it away.
It does make me think though, if this guy could just call up a store and ask - and receive the food that was about to be thrown away - why aren't more people doing it? Is it really as simple as people aren't asking, so they're not receiving. Wouldn't you think every food bank would be asking?
And if the store managerss are willing to give the food to an individual, but not a food bank (because why? they think it absolves them and puts the responsibility on the individual?) still why aren't more people taking advantage of this?
It makes me want to get involved, and yet not sure how to go about it (go to local stores and talk with the managers and ask to have the stuff, and promising to sort it and take responsibility myself?)
I definitely want to do more to find out what is the real problem. Is it that the food can't get to the foodbanks, or it just isn't because there's not enough people willing to do the legwork and transport it.
I work in a grocery store bakery department, and it's actually disgusting how much goes to waste. Every morning, dozens of buns, bagels, donuts, etc are all dumped into an "organics" bin and thrown out. Last Christmas, they began donating the excess product to the local food bank, but that quickly changed after about 2 weeks. I asked my boss once why we didn't continue with the donations, and all he said was, "Just because".
I have some friends who did the Fregan thing and some places completely destroyed the food in the bins by pouring paint all over it so nobody could have it. One place even put bleach on the stuff which I just thought was so sick.
There's also a movement called Food not Bombs that I used to help out with. They took food donations and cooked good food on the street and gave it away for free. The one I helped out with got shut down as the police were worried we'd poison someone (it was all good food and meat free, so ugh).
My mom worked at a large chain grocery store- she would spend, no joke, under $20 for a family of 4 per month. Every day, they'd put produce, packages, dairy, meats aside to throw out when the clock hit 8pm on the expiry date. She'd cook everything the next day, it was still perfectly okay just 'imperfect' or a few hours past the expiry.
Food regulations required it be thrown out and not donated...!
That's what's so crazy - the documentary even went into that, and proved that isn't the "real reason" (at least in the USA) stores don't donate.
There's a "Good Samaritan" law that protects grocery stores from being sued as a result of good-faith donations (apparently it was a law passed under the Clinton administration)- and still the stores don't usually donate anything but bread and some dented cans.
Unfortunately, the law doesn't necessarily mean you're fully protected from lawsuits. The Emerson Good Samaritan Act does allow a grocery store to be sued for gross negligence in food donations (so, for example, if food was expired and donated, they could still get sued if someone got sick). Since there is that exception, any lawsuit wouldn't be thrown out immediately - it would have to be defended, and the donating party would have to show that they were not grossly negligent. Even if the person bringing the suit wouldn't ultimately win, the possibility of having to pay to defend against a lawsuit can be enough to deter donations.
It could also be that food banks don't have the necessary refrigeration to hold perishable food that was just donated. Many of them just do pantry stuff or have limited space for milk and meat that isn't near an expiration date. Just because the people are poor, doesn't mean they will want food that could be spoiled.
I remember seeing something on freegans before. They were living in my general area and could subsist on dumpster diving for food alone.
One thing that stands out in my mind is a man pulling a fresh-looking bunch of bananas out of the trash.
When I was in undergrad I volunteered as part of a campus organization that would package up extra food after events and donate it to shelters. The amount of food we would throw away on campus was ridiculous otherwise!
I run our small local foodbank and we have absolutely no place to store perishables, in fact barely enough space for canned goods. We also are not allowed to accept canned or boxed foods past their expiry date. That really angers me as the dates are pretty arbitrary. How can catsup spoil in a vac-sealed bottle if three days past the best before date?
I run our small local foodbank and we have absolutely no place to store perishables, in fact barely enough space for canned goods. We also are not allowed to accept canned or boxed foods past their expiry date. That really angers me as the dates are pretty arbitrary. How can catsup spoil in a vac-sealed bottle if three days past the best before date?
Exactly! Which is why I grew up eating this stuff on a daily basis from 0-18 years. Funny enough, I've never had food poisoning either. It takes a lot to actually get food poisoning from spoiled processed foods these days, it seems the majority of it comes from restaurant poor hygiene.
I used to be really into reading about dumpster diving. I heard that some grocery stores will spray stuff onto the food before putting it in the dumpster, so that people can't get to it. But I've seen some awesome grabs for products as well - like books, software etc from Best-buy type stores. Also, people go to colleges on move-out day to grab stuff - someone went to Yale's move out day and found 2 ipods and designer jeans. I also see lots of people going thru the trash for bottles outside of the stores.
Last edited by pixelllate; 06-19-2012 at 10:36 AM.
Dive (food waste documentary)
