1. Freeganism Milton Saier Why? To instruct, to inform,
to provoke thought,
to challenge convention,
to be our best selves, and
to be true to our ideals -
At the
individual,
community,
national, and
international levels.
Milton Saier

2. Freeganism defined:
Freeganism is a practice and ideology of limited participation in the conventional economy, with minimal consumption of resources, particularly through recovering wasted goods like food.
The word "freeganism" originated as a play on the label "veganism”, and research on freegan.info in New York found that most participants were vegetarian or vegan prior to becoming freegan.

3. The philosophy of veganism and freeganism
Vegans often avoid buying animal products as an act of protest against animal exploitation.
 However, freegans also avoid buying anything as an act of protest against the consumerist philosophy promoted by economists.  
The food system is only one of the many areas in our economy which freegans boycott.

4. The practice of freeganism
Freeganism is often presented as synonymous with "dumpster diving" for discarded food, although freegans are distinguished by their association with an anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist ideology.
Freegans also engage in a wide range of alternative living strategies, such as voluntary unemployment, squatting in abandoned buildings,  and guerilla gardening.

5. The History of freeganism
Freegans' goal of reduced participation in capitalism, and tactics of recovering wasted goods, share elements with the Diggers, a street theater group based in the  Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in the ‘60s.
The Diggers provided free housing and clinics, and gave away rescued food to the needy.
Their intent was to share the opulence of the few with the less fortunate.

6. Origin of the word: Freeganism
The word “freegan" was invented in 1994 by Keith McHenry, the co- founder of Food Not Bombs.  They distributed (and still distribute) free vegetarian meals as a protest against militarism and as a way of providing "solidarity not charity” to refer to vegans who eat animal products only if they have been discarded, most commonly in a (super)market  dumpster.
Published accounts of freeganism show the word was first used in the mid- 1990s by participants in the anti-globalization and environmental movements.
The word has gained meaning socially, humanistically and philosophically.

7. Expansion of freeganism
"Why Freegan?”, written by Against Me! drummer Warren Oakes (1999) defined freeganism as "an anti-consumeristic ethic about food and other resource wastage”.
It describes practices including plate scraping, foraging, gardening, employee scams, and bartering as alternatives to paying for food.
It also expanded the activities associated with freeganism with a section on non-alimentary practices, including conserving water, recycling, reusing goods, and using solar energy.

8. Political and economic impact of freeganism
Freeganism has had an overarching political goal: an "ultimate boycott” of money-centered corporations and stores, harmful pesticides and wastage of land and resources.
Freegans believe that the capitalist system involves the all-oppressive dollar, promoting wage slavery. Freeganism opposes the "whole burrito”, in favor of living a full and satisfying life...while treading lightly on the earth.
It encompasses all of the principles of the environmental movement.

9. The first “official” freegan organization
The first organized group of self-described "freegans" formed in 2003 as an offshoot of the Wetlands Preserve nightclub and the associated Activism Center in New York City. 
After years of trying to boycott  products from unethical corporations responsible for human rights violations, environmental destruction, and animal abuse, many found that no matter what they bought,  they ended up supporting something deplorable. 
They  came to realize that the problem isn’t just a few bad corporations but the entire capitalistic system that ignores human rights in favor of the ruthless pursuit of $$$.

10. The international freegan movement
Self-described freegan groups have and do exist in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Austria, France, Canada, Greece, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan and Brazil, as well as many U.S. cities.
The principles of “no waste”, promoted by Freegans, have been supported by numerous peoples and governments including those of China, India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, etc. etc.
Yet, wastage continues at an appalling rate, particularly by the wealthy in many developed and underdeveloped countries. 

11. Freegan rejection of veganism?
Freegans' rejection of pure veganism is tied to their discovery of food waste.  It is estimated that up to 40% of the food supply in the United States and other Western countries is thrown away.
 For many, statistics about the ecological impacts of food waste, up to 12% of global crop lands and 23% of global freshwater, goes to produce food which is never consumed.
Freegans claim that wasted food of any type, including meat, should be used to maximize the utility of our global economy, although they realize that a local market system would benefit our lives. 
Freegans, therefore, do not disparage vegans, but put emphasis on the need to eliminate the evils in our “throw away” economy. 

12. Back to nature?
Some freegans associate themselves with "back-to-the-landers" or "anarcho-primitivism," the latter of which asserts that human beings should reject the evils of capitalism and the evils of civilization. 
Freeganism is a largely urban or suburban phenomenon with few of the country folks participating.  This may result because the latter people are already in touch with Nature.
Freegans overcome this apparent contradiction by attempting to re- naturalize the city, treating urban waste as a "natural” resource, and approaching dumpster diving as a practice analogous to hunting and gathering.

13. Sharing with others
"Sharing" is a common freegan practice, associated with the idea of a "gift economy”. 
For example, Food Not Bombs recovers food that would otherwise go to waste to serve warm meals on the streets or in parks to anyone who wants them. 
Really, Really Free Markets are free social events in which freegans can share goods instead of discarding them, share skills, give presents and eat food together.  Swap meets and garage sales utilize these principles.
A free store is a temporary market where people exchange goods and services outside of a money-based economy.

14. squatting
Just as freegans argue food waste should be recovered and redistributed, many believe that unoccupied buildings are a form of "waste" to be reclaimed. 
Squatting was widespread in Western Europe as well as parts of the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s. 
Activists used squatted buildings not only for housing but also to create community centers, pirate radio stations, and free schools. 
A widespread crackdown by municipalities closed many squats, but some were legalized.
In practice, freegan living situations vary, ranging from trading work for rent to traditional home ownership.

15. Working less Working less is another component of freeganism.
Freegans oppose the notion of working for the sole purpose of accumulating material items. 
Their need to work is reduced by only purchasing the basic necessities and acquiring the remainder for free from the garbage. 
Not working frees up time for political action while avoiding tasks such as taking orders from someone else, stress, boredom, monotony, and in many cases, risks to physical and psychological well-being.
Many freegans prefer to work in social justice and teaching organizations to minimize harmful effects on the Environment and the human psyche.

16. Sanitation and stigma
Contact with "waste" is seen as a taboo and socially unacceptable in some developed countries. Freegans are sometimes stigmatized.
Public health officials may explicitly discourage dumpster diving for sanitation reasons, emphasizing the "ick” factor, while ignoring the political message. 
Freegan.info has made "disgust" attached to wasted food part of its messaging, arguing that social disapprobation should instead fall on those who throw out food, rather than those who recover it.

17. Who are the “freegans”?
Socioeconomic research on freegans finds that most come from middle-class and upper-class backgrounds and have high levels of education, even if their present lifestyles make them low-income. 
Freeganism has erroniously been described as 'racially exclusive', because some minority  freegan's voluntary association of waste seems to suggest that  "people of color are dirty and polluted”. 
As one freegan of color wrote, ”When people to see me diving, I tell them 'I’m not just me, I’m also a representation of black people in general’. Sometimes I get harassed by security while diving on my own campus, until my white friends pop their heads out of the dumpsters, and then it’s OK.” 
This in itself clearly indicates we still live in a racist society.

18. Legalities and corporate responses
The legality of freegan practices of reclaiming wasted food, space or buildings varies depending on local laws around property, trespassing, and waste removal. 
In some places, like New York City, freegans dumpster dive publicly. In other locations, urban foraging is a secretive activity.
Arrests of dumpster divers for political reasons have occurred in the UK, Belgium, and France, although charges have almost always been dropped.
While employees may threaten to call the cops, they seldom do. The police have better things to do than to chase freegans. 

19. Criminality of acts of survival
Criminalization of acts of survival—like sleeping in public places,  sharing food without a permit, or recovering aluminum cans to re-sell, has affected freegans as well as affiliated groups like Food Not Bombs and the homeless.
In France, a new national law bans the practice of destroying food to prevent freegan activities, and in the U.S., legal cases have generally found markets responsible for freegan illnesses only if malicious intent can be demonstrated.
The public have generally taken a permissive attitude, and this attitude has also been adopted by many markets, perhaps to avoid public disapproval or condemnation.

20. The 3 r’s: reduce, reuse and recycle
Reducing - Try to reduce the amount of waste you produce as the best way to help the environment! 
 Reusing - Think of ways you could reuse something, like shredding paper for your hamster rather than buying bedding, or saving glass jars for storage.
Recycling (and composting) - This enables discarded materials to be used again by making them into new products.

21. Conclusions
Freeganism represents a new philosophy involving intentional living outside the bounds of our consumer-promoting society.
It has been considered “Radical Environmentalism”, but why not if it favors humanitarian sharing and environmental protection?
It advocates a “return to Nature”, bringing Nature to the cities, and promoting an urban “hunter/gatherer lifestyle”.
It involves minimization of waste and preservation of our support system.
For references and documentation, see: