Skip diving for food and other items

BrianD3

Is skip diving a thing in Ireland. Known as dumpster diving in the US. Here is an article from last year.

https://www.thesun.ie/fabulous/6583038/saved-700-two-months-bin-diving-food-trash-homeless-people/amp/

An absolute travesty to see food going to waste like that and even more so if it is happening this year given food price and general inflation. I would have assumed that supermarkets would donate as much as possible to food banks but even if they are, maybe a huge quantity still goes to waste.

I would eat out of supermarket bins but any I've seen were well secured and would require scaling fences. If they left them easily accessible, there would be a free for all, people fighting like wild animals leaving a mess behind them. Someone would then slip on a piece of food and sue.

When I was in college around 25 years ago I got lots of bits and pieces out of skips on the campus. Working computers etc. Back then there was a much more laid back attitude to both proper recycling (computers should not be in a skip with general waste) and protecting oneself from litigation. Even so, at that time, if security caught you taking stuff from skips they'd tell you to put it back and fcuk off.

pjcb

duplicate

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058252180/skip-diving-for-food-and-other-items

I started a thread on this before. Yes people do it here but not as much for food as most supermarkets have locked areas for rubbish which is part of planning rules for supermarkets. Personally I picked up a lot of things such as building materials and saved abut €4k in the last 6 months. Some people are really picky about it and think it is beneath them to do it.

BrianD3

I suppose it is one of those hypothetical "if everyone" scenarios - if supermarkets left their skips accessible, the hordes would wait until the food was being binned before arriving for their free lunch. Even if the skippers behaved themselves and didn't fight, litter or sue, soon there would be no more supermarket and then no more skips.

whisky_galore

Most Irish people wouldn't be seen dead rooting in a skip for food. If anything we buy too much food and throw a lot of it away in the end.

riclad

I still see skips with old pcs in them on the street I got 2 pcs with windows 7 on them in good condition . I think it's just most skips are secured behind gates, at least the ones they use for food. I would be nice if Tesco gave food to food banks charity's, rather than throwing it in a bin. There's company's that take old pcs from company's and sell them.

mazdamiatamx5

Probably not as big here as in the US as we have a somewhat better welfare net. Which some on this site want to get completely rid of, while posting during work hours on their employers' dime. There are some strange people on this website.

riclad

My theory is alot of people in offices spend alot of time on Facebook,social media at least before the pandemic started the work from home trend

cj maxx

i wouldn’t be sen dead rooting in bins for food. I don’t think it’s an Irish thing though it may happen in Ireland. Though I’ve heard of posh restaurants doing it

eusap

There is an app called "Too good to go" that allows shop to sell off there out of date products etc... there is an instagrammer called wasteless wander who goes dumpster diving in dublin

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119264932#Comment_119264932

Most of the major supermarkets including Tesco/Musgraves/Aldi etc already partner with food banks and Tesco sells off things past their best at lower prices. I think if supermarkets allowed free for all skip diving for food they'd leave themselves open to our well-known tendency towards litigation, people hurting themselves getting food and getting sick from spoiled food. I'd say our reluctance being seen rummaging in skips coupled with fear of getting ill from food or vermin where bins are stored would put most people off anyhow.

Bobblehats

I remember we used to go up O’Neills on lunch break and raid the skip for defects. Haring around after the soccer ball in laddered donegal socks offset with a gammy collared athlone shirt was a new kind of hybrid

Patsy167

OLIO is now in Dublin, it's a free app tackling the problem of food waste by connecting neighbours with each other, and volunteers with local businesses, so that surplus food can be given away, not thrown away.

https://olioex.com/about/

corner of hells

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119265250#Comment_119265250

Correctamundo , a lot of food retailers are partnered with Foodcloud , who are liase with various charities, food banks etc providing food to them.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119262437#Comment_119262437

How did you manage that, like are you on building sites where good stuff just gets thrown out or would you check random skips outside the houses of people doing a renovation? Pretty nifty work tbf, 4k of free stuff is not to be sniffed at. I know on Adverts there are people who go around with vans picking up free sofas, armchairs and the like and then selling them on, its like a full time job for them making money off things that might have ended up in landfill.

As for food Im sure some people do it just as others gather roadkill and eat it. Personally though I just cant imagine rooting through a filthy skip for ham sandwiches with flies buzzing around them. I pass by the Cappacuin centre now and again and they hand out bags of free food in the mornings, at least that way theres no issues with how its been stored for those who need it.

BrianD3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119271066#Comment_119271066

Supermarket food bins are unlikely to be disgusting - much of the food would still be sealed in its packing, not in the bin very long and they probably separate the loose stuff (eg fruit and veg) from the packed stuff.

A brown bin from a restaurant would likely be disgusting alright - like a giant Dog's Dinner.

Anyway I have been snooping around the local supermarkets and as I suspected, the bins are not accessible. Big gates and fences, CCTV etc. Probably easier to steal food out of the shop itself than save anything from the bins.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119271066#Comment_119271066

The 'country cousins' are regular callers to the skips at Harvey Normans.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119271066#Comment_119271066

Random skips from renovations nearby. The big item that made the difference was steel beams one guy was throwing out and I needed for a plan. Mostly building material stuff but picked up some designer furniture from the 70s that people don't see as valuable but actually is. Thought of doing it as a business but I get paid very well doing a lot less work so it is a mild hobby. It is shocking what people throw out. Got about 10 tour guides from concerts in the 80s in one skip and gave them to friends who liked the bands (U2, Thin Lizzy, Erasure etc...)

I got a full kitchen that was a year old because the people selling did it up and the new owners didn't like it. So I spent about 30 mins helping take it out and they dropped it to my house. The kitchen was then put into a rental property I have. It was immacule and better quality than what was there. Picked up a bathroom suite bar the shower enclosure too but they are a lot less expensive than people think still saved me €600. It is about timing and need but given supply issues it make sense to me to grab stuff even if it is to give it away.

One of the people who worked under me showed me her kitchen after getting it done and it cost €12k. She was ripped off big time. It was all flat pack stuff and cheap materials. At most it should have been €6k as the materials were max €3k

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119272115#Comment_119272115

jesus throwing out steel beams, its amazing the things that people dont put a value on that actually have a good value. There is definitely a business in that type of thing, I know of a Filipino lad who buys up furniture for cheap around Dublin as a sideline. He specifically concentrates on the south side and lands some really good bargains of quality stuff off people who just want it gone. Then when he has a certain amount he fills up a shipping container and ships it to Manila where it is flipped to the upper middle classes there for 3-4 times the price he paid for it here. So definitely a business in it but as you say its hard work lugging sofas and armchairs and all sorts around the place.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119272197#Comment_119272197

They are 2metre long and I got 6 of them. Took me 2 weeks to move them from the front garden and the amount of calls in to take them away was rather annoying. I bought a huge wall unit (3m*2m) for €90. It from the 70s and has mirrored veneer on all the doors. It is so big that only has value to some people but it was a very expensive piece of furniture at the time that 2 people came over from Germany to install it. It took two of us 4 hours to dissemble it and get it into a van. Another 6 hours to reassemble it with some changes including adding wheels so when I make another change to the house I can move it about. It is like something out of Madmen including the drink section in it.

I also went to an estate auction and bought tons of equipment for 10th of their value so have a pretty well equipped workshop. It is a bit of a shame I had to go back to a full time job as I was planning to do both. On hold for the next 6 months as I have a full time contract. Was planning on donating all proceeds to charity to boost my tax free allowance making it viable

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119272197#Comment_119272197

You're correct. Many an African person over here too likes to buy a banger of a van say, fill it up with stuff either gotten for free or next to nothing and then ship it back home all to sell. We do live in a wasteful society over here even with broken things. Say the washing machine goes. What you gonna do? pay to fix it? Nah get a new one. But you ship that back to Africa someone is gonna find the fault, fix and sell.

riclad

Lots of old buildings get turned into offices, they ll fill a skip with bricks, blocks , metal ,windows, doors, I think theres a law in America building materials ls should be sent for recycling if an old building is being converted or demolished . I saw a skip today, full of old furniture, chairs, metal, and wood. If you have old furniture you can put it on jumbletown ie and someone will probably take it if it's in good condition

Akrasia

There was a great group in Dublin called Food not Bombs which was a collective that took perfectly good waste food donated from businesses and used it to feed homeless people and people surviving in squats.

Hope they're still going but they were always operating on the vulnerable side of the law