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Freeganism is the practice of minimising one's impact on the environment by means of consuming food that has been or is about to be thrown away by someone else (e.g., supermarkets). A freegan may obtain the food by asking a retailer for what is to be discarded or by taking it from waste bins, a practice known colloquially as "dumpster diving".
Acting this way, a freegan has no responsibility for the material and energy resources used in the production process, since the goods have already exited the production-consumption cycle where money is used in exchange for goods.
In many developed countries, the quality demands and hygiene standards of consumers are so high that many foods stay perfectly edible for long periods of time after their expiry or "best before" dates. In temperate climates, the best seasons for freeganism are autumn and spring, when waste bins remain at refrigerator temperatures.
Freeganism in itself does not mean a person is following a certain kind of dietary behaviour, though it is common that freegans practice vegetarianism or veganism, possibly for practical reasons as well as moral/philosophical; as discarded meat becomes inedible faster than vegetable matter.
Many people exerting this practice have been forced into it simply by lacking the income necessary to purchase food normally, rather than making a conscious decision to sustain themselves by scavenging when other choices are available.
Freeganism is also used to describe people who are vegan, "unless it's free". Unlike the above, these people do not necessarily eat food that was already thrown away, but rather they eat non-vegan food that is offered to them, or that would otherwise be thrown away. However, they may often have the same motives, or they may simply be acquiescing to their friends', relatives', or coworkers' attempts to feed them non-vegan food.
Vegans often argue that many self described freegans do not strictly follow the rule of only eating animal products that would otherwise go to waste. Violations of that freegan principle could range from bumming food off of friends to even buying non-vegan food because it's cheaper. Therefore, the vegan critics argue, "freeganism" for many is more a label or pretension than a principled diet which is actually followed. Some freegans counter that there are also a good number of self-described vegans who are less than dilligent in following the rules of their diet.
See also
External links - Freegan.info (http://freegan.info)
- Freegan discussion list at Yahoo! Groups: scavengeuk (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scavengeuk)
- Why Freegan (http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3609/lib_whyfreegan.html)
- Green Crow (http://www.green-crow.com)
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