wild food and dumspter diving

[aledge]

Hi,

I've just joined the freeconomy community. I'm 21 and a part time student doing web design living in North Wales half way between Wrexham and Mold. Chester is only 20mins away. Liverpool and Manchester are about an hour.

My main hobbies are snowboarding (dry ski slope), cycling, walking and photography. I also forage food from the wild, mainly to make preserves e.g. sauces, flavoured alcohol, jam and non-alcoholic drinks but also soups mainly from tasty nettles. I try to grow some veg and fruit which I do organically. My other interests also include conservation and environmental issues. If anyone wants to come foraging or even boarding or walking let me know.

I'm interested in dumpster diving, the amount of food that is ok to eat that goes into landfill is such a waste. However I'm not sure about it legally as someone was almost prosecuted for 'stealing' plastic chairs out of a skip! but I'm considering giving it a go. Also I may find a baker e.t.c to go into just before closing to ask if they have anything. Is there anyone local to wrexham, Chester (if not Liverpool or Manchester!) who dumpster dives and would like to teach a newbie?

I'm also interested in learning more about alternative lifestyles, alternative energy and building methods.

Amy

[Voisee]

Hi Aledge,
maybe I can help out a little here as I was the manager of several service stations for a while in the Leeds area.
The secret is to catch the bin at the right time or the right member of staff at the right time, I would suggest going solo at first and if the staff seem ok then maybe go down that avenue later.
It's not allowed, even to give food stuff away, once it's beyond it's sell by date and the regular routine I adopted was to check the dates daily; any going out of date (o.o.d.) could be reduced to ensure lack of wastage. Any station well run will rarely throw stuff away as it can be reduced drastically rather than wastage but occasionally things will go awry i.e. over ordering, new management, etc. and the business does have a percentage of waste which is considered acceptable.
Once it's midneet, the food HAS to be removed and disposed of suitably i.e. the bin (or the night staff's pocket )who's job it will be to double check. So, for example, a regular 24 hr station should be throwing away o.o.d.'s after midneet but before the night staff finish their shift.
You can do a quick visual check to see if there's an excess of reduced items and keep your eye out for the sell by dates in store if and when you're passing - no need to be buying anything you coukld possibly be just visiting the toilets or something (use your 22nd century imagination
I would imagine this applies to all retail outlets where food is involved and as a general rule I'd say, keep it tidy, maybe even take a plastic bag or something for any accidental spillage and no-one should bother you.

If there's anything blatant I've missed or if you want to ask any further questions please feel free to contact me.
Voisee

[aledge]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice
Amy