
by Isaure Cointreau
One night while I was walking down the street I was surprised by the number of people hanging out in front of the supermarket. From where I stood they looked pretty busy as if they had lost something. The closer I got to them I realized they were actually looking for something very specific: food.
Looking into the trash bags for edible fruit, meat and bread; they organized their finds in little piles carefully guarded by their partners. They didn’t look as hoboes or anything; they were just smart enough to take advantage of the situation. However I was pretty shocked of the amount of goodies they would later on take back home. The street then appeared to me as the illustration of the waste Capitalism makes us all contribute to. Though it made me realize the tragic fate of consumerism, I was still a bit skeptical upon Freeganism. Because I had so many questions upon this movement, I decided to join in as a tryout.
Apparently when the supermarkets close they take out all the products they cannot sell anymore so that an hour later they would be picked up by the garbage collectors. Since I saw the Freegans at 10h30 and the Carrefour closes at 10h, it made sense.
At 9 O’clock one night, a friend and I met up in Malasana to have a drink. Although the police was present the botellon on plaza 2 de Mayo was on. Dogs running around, their owner happily enjoying their friend’s company with beer or sangria, summer was in the air. In between conversations, I brought up the subject of dumpster diving. Explaining to Abby the movement and what I saw the other night, she agreed to join me. When our glasses were emptied we then moved to the supermarket for our little experience.
Just as expected, a bunch of people were checking out the belly of the bins at the exact same time. Stopping their activity for a few seconds, they all looked at us as if we were intruding. They seemed to all know each other, and it felt as if they were related, as one could feel somewhat of a family vibe going on. They were all Latin American looking women of different ages; some could be around 20 others maybe 60. It seemed pretty obvious that they had been there for a while as their bags were already full. I counted 5 of them.
Starting to put our hands to work, we found baguettes, steaks and salad. All were wrapped up in cellophane so the question of sanity needn’t to be asked. Seeing that we were actually going for it, the Freegan’s attitude changed completely. We started talking and they gave us bags to put our finds in. The wall between us had been destroyed as for a few minutes we would share a same motivation in the lookout for interesting products.
When we parted we could not believe the amount of stuff we had found, and the fact that all of this was considered waste felt incredibly wrong. Having a wild guess, the food we found altogether would have been able to feed at least 20 people. Considering this process takes place everyday, why not make a donation? I’m sure many shelters would be delighted by this contribution. Multiplying the number of supermarkets in Madrid to the amount of edible food that goes on the street, one gets a heartbreaking picture of perfectly avoidable waste. Although some people find it profitable to them, it still feels outrageous.
However I can’t help it wonder, does Starbucks‘s people by any chance carefully wrap up their muffins when they throw them out?