Dumpster diving with the freegans: Why pay for food?

James Hall is amazed at all the goodies on offer as he joins anti-consumerist activists in 'dumpster diving'

Sleep is cheap for Dave Hamilton. That's because the Bristolian paid almost nothing for his king-sized wooden bed. Mr Hamilton salvaged the bed frame from a skip.

The mattress came from Freecycle.org, a free online exchange site. All he paid for were the screws to put it together. "The entire bed cost me less than £3," he boasts.

Dave and his identical twin brother Andy are a new breed of ethical consumer, often referred to as freegans. Everything that freegans "consume" - food, clothing, furniture - is scavenged, swapped or donated by like-minded people.

Anti-consumerist movements like freeganism are growing in the UK. Websites such as Freecycle.org, Swapstyle.com, and Selfsufficientish.com, which the Hamilton brothers run, have experienced a steady increase in traffic over recent months.

Existing freegans say that people are joining their ranks by the week. But these are not dippy hippies or trampy hobos. They are educated people who have decided to seek an alternative way of life outside the economic norms.

[Via Telegraph]