That's exactly what I'm doing this april, I'm going to Nicaragua. My high school owns and feeds 1500 kids a day in school cafeterias we built. We also moved a large village to a plot of healthy land with proper bathrooms and water supply. This will be my first time going but the club(Students For 60,000) has been going for about 10 years. In the country, we help build houses, teach kids, build wells and do other helpful things.

The saddest part is that most of the central countries are poor because of the US.

Have you ever been to Nicaragua?


-Dave

When I used to work on afternoon shift me and some guys from work would go to a coffee/donut shop after work. One night at 3:00am we get there and the fellow behind the counter is taking all the trays of donuts and pasteries and throwing them in a garbage bag. My friend asked him what he was doing and he told us that he was throwing them in the dumpster. So my friend asked him if he could take some home to use in his lunches. But the guy wouldn't give them to us, he said he had to throw them out. Then he proceeded to sell us some that he hadn't thrown out yet, after he sold us some he threw them in the bag with all the rest. This really made me mad, cause they were obviously good enough for us to pay for them, but he wouldn't give them away, instead he threw them in the dumpster.

Please explain why Nicaragua is poor Because of the united states? And this had better be good because, I do not think you have a leg to stand on.

https://www.americas.org/News/Feature...nomicRoots.htm

Skip the speedo can pick up yourself a nifty nabber. Dive clean.

I work in a pizza joint. We don't throw out food-we're all poor college students. However, we have adopted a homeless man. He gets a free medium pizza a day, and all the free Dr. Pepper he wants.

I don't dumpster dive, but have considered it. I do support it, though. Unfortunately, I'm afraid of the bacteria inside the dumpster. My bf and I once saw hundreds of raw chickens inside the dumpster in garbage bags at the local supermarket. We thought about taking them, but I'm already paranoid of e-coli, and I didn't know how long they had been there.

"Yea, some bakeries will hand it over if you ask at the end of the day, some will put it in a bag and throw it out front instead of in a dumpster."

Yeah I used to study at this coffee shop in Davis and the shop officially closed at like 10p but they'd have to clean up so they'd let you stay until 11p. WELL....at 10p they'd give away all of the muffins, croissants, breads etc to the customers.....it was THE only reason i studied there and it therefore might have improved my grades a bit. Studying=free food. Thats a good trade for a college student.

jeremyb

As a college student, I also learned to go to every conference, career fair, luncheon, exhibition, club meeting that I could go to for freebies.

I used to work in a supermarket during college and you would be surprised at all the food that is thrown out! We were not not a large store by any means but we threw out CARRIAGES full of food every week. I remember throwing out 6 carriages full of bread into the dumpster. A bus pulled up and saw what I was doing and just parked there as I dumped dozens of loafs of bread into a dumpster. If I tried to put this food to aside, it would have ment my job. I can just imagine what some of these super-centers throw out every week! The tons of food thrown out in this country is insane. I remember homeless people used to go into our dumpsters every night looking for food. Very sad.

All dented cans and halfway opened packages in a supermarket MUST be thrown out. A supermarket generates a carriage full of dented cans EVERY WEEK! All produce that began to go bad MUST be thrown out or it will spoil the rest. All meat and diary that go beyond the date of sale must be thrown out or flushed.

It's against the law to sell this food and any store manager puts his job on the line if a customer becomes ill and decides to sue the supermarket. Furthermore, our insurance company would not cover us if we gave it to some charitable organization.

The cafeteria where I work today prepares dishes that are being served displayed in the open. I asked a worker what happens to these dishes at the end of the day? He told me they throw them all out! I was amazed! He then looked amazed at me and said all the food that is left over was thrown out too! Folks This place serves several thousand people a day and there is plenty of food from breakfast and luch left over! The whole situation is insane.

https://www.secondharvest.org/site_content.asp?s=7

this organization has the right idea

I got my bike, a Columbia Commuter, out of a dumpster. Does that count?

All of you guys have your hearts in the right places. I have been dumpster diving ever since gqsmoothie showed me a grocery store dumpster full of bananas with only a few brown spots on them, back in August. You will be amazed by both the quantity of things you will find in a grocery store dumpster and the variety. During the summer months, I was concerned about taking any meat since warm temperatures can easily lead to rapid spoiling. Now that it is getting colder outside, I am taking home much more quality meats that the grocery stores are always discarding for dumb reasons like sell-by dates, convenience, and any imperfections in the cut of meat. Although some grocery stores are smart enough to donate this food to food banks and other charitable organizations, most simply toss it into the dumpster or compactor - very wasteful indeed! The main reason why I dumpster dive for food is because of my philosophical and moral beliefs, and NOT because of money issues! I strongly believe that way too much food is wasted by our society and ending up in landfills, when this food is still perfectly fit for consumption (based on my experiences thus far). If this food is sent to homeless shelters and foodbanks, hunger could very well be erradicated in this country, but we must start acting now! Please help spread the word and recover good, edible food when possible. (David)

Well, I'll pay a little extra for hygiene insurance, myself. Still, I understand the indignation over the staggering amount of decent food that gets tossed every day. <p>

I once worked in a supermarket. A major chain. The milk supplier in our area was the same for each major chain. The labels on the jugs were the only things that varied. <p>

One morning a truck driver accidentally left a tall pallet of milk at our market that was meant for a competitor chain. <p>

The manager put a checker on duty, for a full shift that day, doing nothing but pouring each and every perfectly good container of milk into the sink. Wow.

Germs are a myth. If I can't see 'em, they don't exist. At least until some poor woman marries me and makes me change my mind.

Two weeks ago I walked by a garbage can with a pizza box on top of it. My roommate flipped open the lid and there was half a supreme pizza in it. We ate it. It was glorious.

Free pizza. Woot.

My girlfriend works at the food co-op next to my house. All the stuff that would probably get thrown out at most places is held for employees to get there. I end up getting a fair share, too, and I'm really surprised by the stuff. Great bread, tons of produce, cans with little dents... I'm all for it.

There is a lot of dumpster diving in Seattle, much restaurant & bakery food is tossed in bags or boxes. I used to walk to work from the ferry dock & my back alley route took me past the "a la Francais" bakery dumpster. Always enjoyed seeing the street guys who were in the know walking past me munching on French pastry & breads. Also, some of that supermarket & restaurant throw away food is not wasted. One of our attorneys has a pig farm in Elma & he cut a deal for all the throw away food from a local supermarket & several restaurants.

A while back my GF worked for an Organic Coffee company, doing delivery/sales to grocery stores and restaurants. Each day she would come home with breads, cookies, produce(mostly fruits), and tons of other stuff that was "thrown away" by the local organic type groceries. Apparently, all of the produce and breads would get chucked into seperate "dumpsters" then say ordinary trash, or simply left on the loading dock for employees/others to just take home. Most of the stuff would be expiring date of that day or the next, or just 1 bruised orange in a bag of 12.
It's ridiculas that this much food gets wasted...especially from a "green" grocery store...for me, it's a perfect example of American Corporate wastefullness of our enviornment, economy, and well being. C'mon corporations...give this stuff away to the hungry!

The waste is incredible. I used to work at a high volume buffet style restaurant. ANYTHING that was set out on the buffet line had to be tossed. At least mgmt let employees take home "to go" boxes ... but I know there were some issues cause they thought the cooks would purposely prepare more food late in the shift so staff could take stuff home.

Food is not the only thing wasted in this country. A couple of summers ago, the local Home Depot moved to a larger store a few miles away. So for the next several months the old Home Depot had a moving sale. Finally at the end, whatever they didn't sell and deemed "not worth taking to the new store" was tossed out. HD employees were tossing out full-on brand new loads of lumber, carpets, doors, hardware, insulation, etc. They were throwing them out in shipping containers so it gave the impression that they were loading them to move. But I watched how they were doing this so hap-hazardly so asked an employee their intentions and when he said they're being loaded to take to the dump, I asked if I can take some. Even though he gave the standard "sorry but it's a liability issue" story, he gave me the wink-wink and said, "But who's going to stop you once we leave?" So after they left, hubby and I came along with our truck and got free lumber and hardware. We completely filled our half-ton truck! A man stopped and asked what we were doing (I think he thought we were stealing). I told him the story and he climbed in and helped himself. Then word spread and people were in the shipping container like flies on horse manure.

Weeks later at the new Home Depot, I saw the employee who gave me the tip about coming back once they left and thanked him. He said that he intentionally scheduled for the dumpster pick-up to occur several days after being loaded figuring that the dumpster divers would be there in no time. He thought it wasteful by just throwing it all away and thanked me for getting the chain started.

Although corporations will usually frown on this circuitous way to avoid waste, this employee was obviously doing the right thing. Imagine how many hungry people could be fed with food overages if liability was not a concern. Maybe restaurants and supermarkets could post a standard waiver of liability on food dumpsters that contain items just past their prime.

That's tha sh1t.

I love dumpster diving for stuff.

I still will never forget one of my best finds. I was dumpster diving behind a KMart not too far from my house and found a playstation. I already owned one, so I nabbed it anyway. I took it home, plugged it in, and it worked with NO ISSUES! I wound up giving it to one of my friends. It's still working today!

-Matt

Did you find a bottle of Kaopectate in that same dumpster? It might come in handy if you keep diving!

My wife works in the deli of a large chain store and they have lots of rules about waste disposal that are designed to keep employees from intentionally "misplacing" stuff until the expiration date for the benefit of them or their dumpster diving friends.

You know, leftover food can be composted, along with green waste, for use on landscaping.

You may consider pressuring your city council to make it some kind of goal to reduce waste going to the landfill by composting and food banking otherwise wasted food, and recycling. Our county had a mandate to reduce waste going to the landfill by 50%. They have been able to divert 60% of waste from ending up in the landfill. I think a lot of food is still wasted, but it goes to show you that change in behavior can happen.