Wife Swap - Bin Raiders

[TooNice]

Rave mentioned bin raiding in another thread and while I could guess what it vaguely entails, I decided to Google it up to see if there is some sort of culture behind it. So I came across the concept of freeganism and it seems that it's more than just a hobby for those who embrace it.

Then I came across this program on Channel 4 online, and yet was kinda interesting: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/w...ap/4od#2926139

While I am not going to do the bins anytime soon (as much as it would save me money given how much I eat), the idea of not wasting food is really one that's drilled deep into me. I don't need to deal with leftovers because I make sure that I only take what I know I can clean up.

[Rave]

Hmm....watched the first 20 minutes- then thought I'd probably see all I needed to see. I'm not a freegan. I'm also a hardcore atheist. I've chatted to, and on one occasion met up with, some commited freegans. In my experience, if they have any strong belief, it tends to be pagan/gaia/man-made climate change. This Christian sect are a new one on me, and not representative of the larger freegan movement in my experience.

I'm ashamed to say that, now I earn a decent wage and work shifts, I don't bin-raid unless I'm bored of an evening- I tend to go about once every six months just to keep my hand in. But back in the day I had many awesome scores- I'll list a few.

1)23 cans of Stella- the 24th can had punctured and crudded the cardboard packaging of the rest. My mates who used to take the piss out of bin raiding said nothing when they were drinking free Belgian premium lager.

2) 5 bottles of Pantene shampoo and 7 Lux soaps. I washed every day for free for 6 months out of that one.

3) Pretty much my entire social circle was in the pub with us, back when pubs used to kick out at 11pm. I invited everyone to go back with my wife for an after hours session at our flat, while I checked the bins. I came back with 3 packs of organic bacon and an unopened bottle of white wine. This was January, it was freezing outside and the bacon was in date. Everyone had, and enjoyed, a free bacon butty, especially me, bloody delicious.

4) Whole box of in-date Battenburg cakes- clearly the tastiest cake ever. I took them in to work and fed a good 20 people, who were all grateful. I lied about where they'd come from. Nobody got sick AFAIK.

5) 6 premium sausages, with nothing more that a minor hole in the shrink wrap. We casseroled them at 200 degrees for a good 2 1/2 hours- all bugs killed, and they were spot on.

6) an old Pioneer hi-fi amp. I've set it up downstairs in the dining room with my old Mission 71LEs and a spare DVD player as a source. Sounds pretty good and the wife uses it more than she does my proper system in the front room.

7) my favourite. I was at work, bored, and randomly thought for some reason that I hadn't listened to the first Rage Against The Machine album for a good while. I did my usual bin raid on the way home; the charity shop bins were entirely empty except for one CD in a plastic sleeve. I 'swan dived' it out-and it was, of course, the first Rage album.

Please be assured that all the above is entirely true, and merely scratches the surface of my bin raiding exploits.

[zipzap]

Bin-raiding culture has dramatically increased in popularity in recent times...I know in Germany, people reguarly raid bins of the local establishments, in particular bakeries and supermarkets. Quite often, you can expect to see groups of enthusiastic, middle-aged/middle-class Germans gathering around a skip bin or two at 1 in the morning...I guess for a country based on the concept of efficiency, I can understand why it has become so popular! I'm all for freeganism!

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