The empire of scrounge

[bunnyjadwiga]

I'm interested in Jeff Ferrell, an anthropologist who generally who used an 8-month job hiatus to investigate dumpster-diving as a way of life.
The Chronicle of Higher Education had an article on him:
http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i29/29a01001.htm

He wrote a book basked on his experiences: Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving, Trash Picking, and Street Scavenging, published by NYU press in 2006.

What I find particularly interesting about such work is how it touches on the first- and second-hand economies. I'm no Freegan, and their behaviors appall me, but every time I read some writer complaining that buying books secondhand or reading them at the library is stealing from them**, I realize that in a great many ways I'm not as entrenched in the consumer cycle as I thought I was, because of my participation in the second-hand, hand-me-down, and donation economies.

** EDIT: The last time I heard this was an article by Anthony Doerr. Oddly enough, it's currently down off the sponsor's website, but here's an article that reference's Doerr's argument:
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/letters/readers/not_getting_all_deweyeyed.php

Comments

[jackoutofthebox.livejournal.com]

I'm encouraged by groups like www.freecycle.com and local dumps with swapshops that encourage folks to re-use products that others discard. I've gotten lots of feast gear, pottery, clothes, power tools (surprisingly in good shape), and a variety of other things using both of these sources. I don't live near many dumpsters except for restaurants which tend to be rather dirty.
I especially encourage the freecycle groups. They're very addictive and you meet a lot of nice folks in the process.

[colmunson.livejournal.com]

Fascinating study. Reminds me a little of people I know. Also of "the bridge" in Gibson's Virtual Light - an entire village society built out of and around second-hand materials. NAU is where my sister went, BTW. So, I can guess what a Freegan might be, but what's your take on it?
As for the complaining authors - that's pathetic.

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Freegans are trying to cut themselves off from the consumer economy, at least, that's what freegan.info says. But when you get right down to it, documents like http://freegan.info/?page=WhyFreegan
suggest that their modus operandi is a lot less, ahem, moral than I would prefer to be, and a lot more like the freeloading variety of hip upper middle class anarchist.
As someone pointed out, eating out of dumpsters because you don't *want* to work may end up vicimizing people who *can't* work: http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2006/02/09/freeganism-whats-up-with-that/

[ealdthryth.livejournal.com]

I rarely ever purchase new shirts. People give me hand-me-downs or I buy from thrift shops. Reuse is a step better than recycling. Freecycle is a great thing.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of a Freegan till this post, and then I Googled it. Eating out of Dumpsters = regular food poisoning in my book. Blechh!!

Still, I recently joined my local Freecycle group and already have gotten a couple of nice things, including several yards of a nice wool plaid from Nova Scotia.

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

*blinks at the library book comment* Whaa---?

[fiannaharpar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i'm not getting that, either.

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

The latest incarnation of this was the Anthony Doerr article; but I can't find a link to it. Here's a link to a critique of the article, though.
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/letters/readers/not_getting_all_deweyeyed.php

[kandy-elizabet.livejournal.com]

I do belong to a freecycle, but admit I hardly ever read the posts. I've had both good and bad experiences with it, so I consider it a mixed bag.

We've gotten some furniture and such from trashpicking, but never from actually opening the Dumpsters -- in apartment complexes it's pretty common to leave pieces of furniture next to the dumpster and we got a great dresser that way. Needed to be stripped and refinished but it's now our sideboard in the dining room. Then there's the original-to-the-house doors WITH hardware (circa 1880) that our attached neighbors leave out front. They're probably replacing them with hollow core doors, knowing them...

But complaining about libraries? That's just wrong. How many writers wouldn't be writers if there weren't libraries?

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I have been dumpstering off and on most of my life.
I'm more of a trashpicker, but you may see me by the side of the road picking up a piece of steel or lumber that fell off a truck, as well.

I have gotten a cherry side table, my first dremel tool, a moped, car parts, shelving, exercise equipment, lumber ( my entire deck is built of dumpstered lumber from someone's addition ), fencing, all kinds of interesting and needed stuff.

My ethics wont allow me to take what would be survival to another, so I do not take clothing which has obviously been laid out for the homeless, or anything like that. Just because it is free doesnt mean it is for me.

I do what I can to keep the costs down, within reasonable limits. I prefer to be part of the re-use economy. This allows us the budget for those items which are best bought new.

[hakerh.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend the book Mongo: Adventures in Trash, by Ted Botha. It's about the incredible things that can be found by curious New York trashpickers and scavengers. :)