By Keltie Larter, Nexus (Camosun College)
VICTORIA (CUP) – Munkey likes garbage. In fact, he likes garbage so much he spends hours each week sorting through it. And then he eats it.
Instead of going to the grocery store and spending his hard-earned money on food, Victoria native Justin “Munkey” Gilbertson waits until the store closes and then goes shopping in its dumpsters. For some, this is strange, and kind of gross. But for others, it’s a sane response to our wasteful status quo.
Wealthy countries consume things at a startling clip never before experienced. We want everything to be bigger, better, faster and easier, and we don’t seem to realize that all of that excess comes with a price. Hundreds of millions of tonnes of garbage poison the planet daily. As we consume the products of a wasteful society, those products threaten to consume us as well.
Enter a group of anti-consumerists that call themselves “freegans”. What’s a freegan? In western culture, the freegan movement began somewhere in the 1990s, although many eastern cultures have a long history of minimalist living. For example, Digambara monks in Indian culture wear no clothes, eat once a day and are strict vegetarians. The freegan movement – the word “freegan” is a combination of “free” and “vegan” – evolved out of the environmental and anti-globalization movements. Freeganism is a form of anti-consumerist lifestyle in which people try their best to limit their participation in our conventional consumerist economy.
Basically, they try not to buy things, and dumpster diving is one method freegans use to do that. Instead, they live off of what the rest of us throw away; they also barter, trade, garden, forage, use solar energy, conserve water and reuse as much as possible.
What’s the difference between a freegan and a vagrant? Freegans live free for political reasons rather than out of necessity. They believe choosing not to participate in a capitalist economy encourages a sense of social responsibility and that it discourages greed, materialism, pollution, economic competition, selfishness, and apathy. Not to mention it drastically reduces the amount of money you need to make to pay your bills every month.
There’s a Munkey in the garbage
Munkey started dumpster diving four years ago while hitchhiking through Europe.
“I originally started dumpster diving as a protest against society and the grotesque amount of waste that we produce,” says Munkey.
His first time was fairly uneventful. He and some friends hit up a couple of office-supply store dumpsters first, and then moved on to grocery store bins.
“Our biggest find (that day) was a massive box of granola bars,” says Munkey.
But he didn’t let that stop him.
“Any city takes a lot of research and talking to other divers,” he says. “Besides that I will spend upwards of four to eight hours each week looking for new dumpsters all over the city.”
These days, Munkey goes out diving a couple of times a week and is able to gather enough food to drastically reduce his grocery bill each month.
“I purchase about $10 to $20 worth of food each week, usually specialty items like flax seed oil, and other items that are rarely found in a dumpster,” says Munkey. “I save myself, my family, and my friends well over $200 per week in food costs.”
His only regret is that he can’t take everything he finds with him.
“The only two things I dislike about diving are seeing firsthand the disgusting amount of waste our societies produce, and the fact that I have to leave so much food behind,” says Munkey.
Breaking the law to get edible trash
It’s not just morsels here and there that Munkey finds in dumpsters; sometimes it’s unusually large hauls of free food. And, every now and then, a motherload.
“In one night I found 25 kilograms of dark chocolate, a skid of orange juice, about 10 kilograms of produce, and a box of pumpkin granola.”
Food isn’t the only thing to be had in dumpsters. Munkey’s finds have also entered the realm of the high-tech.
“I’ve found TVs, DVD players, iPods, laptops, desktop computers, countless books, enough furniture to furnish a new flat 10 times over, at least five bicycles (all in great condition) enough bike parts to construct 10 new bikes to give to people in need, bike wagons, and basically all my camping gear, including my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, cooking equipment, lights.”
“My best friend even found a bag with 367 silver American dollars behind a collector’s shop,” continues Munkey. “Seriously, if they produce it, you can find it in a dumpster.”
Dumpster diving is considered illegal in Canada, however, and a diver caught doing so can be arrested and charged with theft and/or trespassing. In order to avoid trouble, Munkey goes out diving either late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.
“I’ve been hassled by police,” he says. “You’ll usually have more hassle from shop clerks and managers.”
But if you do get caught, Munkey says it’s all in how you handle the situation.
“It’s important to remember to always keep your cool and be as respectful as possible,” says Munkey. “Don’t give them an excuse to lock the dumpsters.”
Living off the waste of a wasteful society
Munkey doesn’t just dumpster dive for personal gain. The money he saves on groceries means he doesn’t need to work a 40-hour week, and can spend time doing volunteer work instead.
“I volunteer at least 30 hours a week,” he says, including for Food Not Bombs and various vegan and animal-rights organizations.
And when the volunteer shifts are over and it’s time to get started on a long night’s work jumping in the trash, Munkey can be found rustling through the rubbish with a smile on his face.
“I love the giddy feeling I get when opening up a lid and not knowing what you are going to see,” he says.
Despite the stigma attached to being someone who eats out of dumpsters, Munkey’s family has remained supportive.
“My parents and family are more than happy that I dive and will eat any meal I prepare for them with dumpstered food,” says Munkey. “My brother was recently converted from an, ‘Ewww, that’s disgusting’ pessimist to a diver.”
But not everyone is as understanding. John Denys, psychology student at Camosun College in Victoria, says eating out of a garbage can is something he would never consider doing.
“I would definitely never go dumpster diving. I’m not that desperate for food and it’s gross and dirty,” says Denys.
Munkey says this is a common reaction.
“We are born into a society that tells us from birth an activity like this is disgusting and something only hobos would do. Dumpster divers are seen as parasites feeding off the good people of society; the same people who will gladly pay over $100 for the same food I will go around back and pull from the garbage. People think it’s ethical to put food behind a lock and key and demonize those who cannot afford to pay for it, and most divers are fighting those ideas.”
And Munkey is proud to be one of them.
“Always remember that food is a right,” says Munkey, “not a privilege.”
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