Eating for free?
How would it be to eat without spending money for it? The modern society is used to an immense food consumption. In Germany, 320.000 coffee-to-go-cups are wasted within an hour. Most of the people take the abundance of food for granted. Opponents of the ‘throwaway’ society have created an alternative way of feeding: freeganism.
Freegans do not spend money for their nutrition. They save the food before it arrives at the rubbish bin. This process is not legal in every country. Simone, a convinced freegan from Münster, Germany, calls freeganism a ‚legal grey area‘. Although it is allowed to steal somebody else’s garbage in New York, where the trend was created, it is officially called a robbery in Germany. The illegality does not hold the convinced freegans back from what they are doing. They go out at night and search for suitable groceries in the big dustbins of supermarkets. As Simone describes it, she can nearly supply her shared flat and her neighbors with it. The fact that she is actually searching for something to eat in the garbage does not really bother her. Simone advices: ‘Especially vegetables, if you clean them carefully, should not be a problem’. Per head, 82 kilos of baking, that would in fact still be tasteful, are disposed every year.
Despite some heavily involved consumers, some food suppliers think about the waste as well. So does the SuperBioMarkt in Münster. Press officer Tim Koch is proud of their cooperation with the project ‚food sharing‘. From 2 to 5 times a week, so-called ‚grocery-savers‘ come to SuperBioMarkt to take food with them. The food which the owners are not allowed to sell anymore but which is still fresh enough for consumption. The food savers share afterwards the groceries in public fridges, offer it via Internet or they consume it on their own.
Apart from the freegan lifestyle, there are a lot of options to contribute to a reduction of waste. Many cities have ‚food sharing‘ Facebook-groups where people share the food that they have got left for free. The government is also involved in finding a solution for the coffee cups. Ideas as deposit or recyclable materials have already popped up. And even if we sometimes take a closer look on the food instead of trusting the arbitrary placed minimum durability date, we will protect some edible groceries from being wasted.
Judith Stein
