Yes. I know what you're thinking. Diving in dumpsters? Who in the world would want to do that? It may be stereotyped as unsanitary, yet it comes with a huge reward.
That reward is the feeling of satisfaction you get when you help out those in need. Especially those in need of food. 17.5 million households in America are deemed "food insecure", meaning that these people don't know where their next meal is going to come from.
Meanwhile, you're probably reading this while eating a huge Chipotle burrito or enjoying a homemade Italian dinner. Whatever it may be, I'm assuming you know that you're going to eat when you wake up in the morning.
However, those living in poverty or even under the poverty line don't.
This is where Grocery Store Dumpster Divers come in (yes, I capitalized each word because these heroes are that important). The work of GSDD's is pretty self-explanatory. It's obviously not a full-time or even part-time job. It's just an example of a good civilian deed you receive by traveling to your local Albertson's dumpster one Saturday morning and searching through it for packaged food thrown out for no legitimate reason.
Here's a GSDD in action:
And here's how much a GSDD can potentially salvage:
The reason that most grocery stores throw away perfectly edible food is because it has lost its aesthetic appeal, meaning that the packaged product, fruit or vegetable has turned ugly. Hm. That stumps me because I like my bananas spotty. That's when they're most sweet.
Another reason is that no customer bought the product before the expiration date, so the company believes the product has gone bad. In reality, a bag of expired bagels can last another week. Even if they still wanted to get rid of the food item, the supermarket could always donate it to homeless shelters or the needy.
About one-third of food produced worldwide is wasted each year. The U.S. throws away up to 40% of the food it produces. How ridiculous is that. This is why more countries need to be aware of this in-demand issue.
In fact, just this past February, France's senate banned supermarkets from throwing away food, instead being ordered to give to food banks and charities. I found this out from Jaden Smith's Twitter account, and it warms my heart when celebrities acknowledge present world issues on their social media because it encourages their followers to spread the message.
The downside is that we're obviously not famous, so we don't have a big impact. But you can still pitch in. You don't have to dumpster dive like Mr. Greenfield in the video above, but make sure that you're doing something, however small it may be.
Please don't take your meals for granted. Don't throw away food that you don't want to eat (especially those crusty bread pieces in the very front/back of a loaf that no one seems to care for). Take action and spread the word. Sign a petition. In the words of Rob Greenfield, tell your grocery store to #DonateNotDump.