A local woman says she is helping to educate the growing number of Sarnians she says are salvaging food as well as reusable items from dumpsters.
The woman, who is in her 50s, says there is a lot of stigma related to dumpster diving and she prefers to remain anonymous. So let’s call her Carolyn.
Carolyn is the administrator of a Facebook group called the Dumpster Diving Network of Sarnia Lambton Ontario. She started it in August 2021 and has 3,100 members. People ask to join every day, she said.
About half the membership lives in Sarnia-Lambton and many of them post their “scores,” trade “dumpster goodies” and sometimes share good dumpster locations.
The other half is from as far away as the Philippines, where Carolyn says women strapped for cash sign on because they want to learn the do’s and don’ts of searching dumpsters so they can feed their children.
Locally, dumpster diving has quietly occurred for decades, according to Carolyn. But numbers are climbing as the economy worsens and food prices skyrocket.
Canada’s Food Price Report from Dalhousie University confirmed that food prices increased as much as 7% last year and are expected to increase another 2.5 to 4.5% this year. For a family of four, that works out to about $700 more in 2024 for a total annual household grocery bill of $16,297.20.
Working class families are having trouble keeping food on the table and increasing numbers using local food banks and local soup kitchens reflect that.
Carolyn thinks dumpster diving is a good alternative especially since expiration dates don’t mean the food is not good to consume.
“There’s more than enough food for Canadians,” she said. “The issue is money.”
She supports a movement to eliminate best before dates, which indicate a manufacturer’s estimate of when a product is at its peak freshness, not if it’s safe to eat.
Carolyn has lived in Sarnia most of her life and said she has never seen so many people without food security. She is disabled, relies on government support to live, and said that several years ago she began leaving any extra food she had on the downtown “Giving Bench” at the corner of Lochiel and Christina streets.
During the pandemic, she saw a growing number of people climbing into dumpsters outside restaurants, grocery stores and apartment buildings. They often found food or items they could sell for food, she said.
“So I started putting food out in bags marked “Free” and placing them inside the fence of dumpsters where I knew people were looking,” she said. “It might be leftovers that I’ve got or a doggy bag from a restaurant. I just leave it out by a dumpster and people take it.”
The more she hung out near dumpsters, the more she saw people routinely sifting through them.
“I knew it was a big thing in Toronto,” she said. The Dumpster Diving Network of Toronto has 9,800 members on its Facebook page
“I realized a lot of people badly need food here as well, so I modelled my page after the one in Toronto and am surprised by the numbers who have joined. Dumpster diving in Sarnia is bigger than you’d think.”
Some people judge others who search through garbage, so Carolyn said she wants to promote an understanding that taking discarded food that is expired or near expiration is diverting it from the landfill, producing less waste, and providing food for people who need it.
“I am horrified by the amount of food waste there is,” she said. “Until we have a better system, we need to support dumpster divers.
“The public shouldn’t ostracize them. At least they are trying to help themselves,” she added.
Numerous members of the Dumpster Diving Network of Sarnia Lambton use pseudonyms and often post tips or good locations, but then take them down quickly.
“That’s because they are fearful of how others will see them,” said Carolyn. “I wish we had more people sharing the good locations and discussing which dumpsters are locked. It would be helpful.”
She said her disability precludes her from physically climbing into a dumpster but she helps where she can. Not only did she start the Facebook group, she also drives friends around on garbage days to see if there are large items on the curb that can be sold to raise money.
She said one of her friends needed cash to pay for expensive drug prescriptions, so they raised extra money by selling discarded items on Varage and other online sites. Apart from dumpster diving, a growing sector in this economy is becoming increasingly inventive about other people’s garbage.
“We have stores in Sarnia that throw out perfectly good stuff,” said Carolyn. “I don’t see anything wrong with salvaging it as long as you’re not on private property.
“I know people tend to dumpster dive at night and I wish they wouldn’t,” she added. “It’s much safer during the day.
“People who don’t make a mess when they are looking for food in a dumpster, aren’t usually bothered.
“That’s an important part of it. Be respectful. Tidy up after yourself.”