For free and sweet vinegar: who are freegans and how do they get everything for free in the USA

Recently, an unusual movement called freeganism has been gaining popularity in the United States and around the world. What is hidden behind the unusual name, the author told blog "Americano / Americano" on "Yandex.Zen".

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“During these few years of living in the USA, I have seen many strange things, but the States still never cease to amaze me. I recently learned about a local movement that has recently become popular among young people here. And it’s called freeganism - this is when people eat and dress in trash cans and dumpsters,” writes the blogger. — The movement, which will be discussed below, originated in the United States around the late 1990s - early 2000s, but began to gain popularity a little later. It has especially grown in recent years, appearing in many European countries, perhaps even in Russia, although not on such a scale.”

The author of the blog is not a representative of freeganism, but learned about it from a friend.

“His daughter became a member of this movement. At first I practiced vegetarianism, but now I’ve switched to freeganism,” says the blogger. “The essence of it is simple; it will be easier to explain using the example of the United States.”

Everyone knows that the United States is considered to be a consumer country. There is an opinion that people living there have an irrational approach to resources - they throw away clothes that they can still walk in, edible food, and much more.

“Therefore, freegans refuse the consumer needle of large companies, minimize their expenses on the items necessary for life and simply take them from landfills,” explains the blogger. - Why buy clothes if people throw away good things, or why pay for food if companies themselves take away still-useable products to trash and landfills. They are not limited to clothes and food. According to activists, you can also find absolutely everything you need for a comfortable life there, without paying a cent for it. So they abandon the consumer life of the majority of citizens.”

The author believes that such an extreme is not entirely appropriate.

“As for me, this is another manifestation of maximalism, because people always need a global goal to justify an unusual activity: vegans, diggers, hitchhikers, roof climbers - all this is a hobby with a far-fetched “global” meaning,” the author believes blog.

But do not confuse freeganism and the urgent need for the necessary when a person has no choice. These are completely different concepts.

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“It is impossible to attribute freeganism to need. Many participants in the movement are wealthy people; take my friend’s daughter, for example, she comes from a quite wealthy family, but she chose this hobby for herself,” the blogger shares. “Even after living in the United States for several years, this country never ceases to amaze.”

Why do people become freegans

Since they never buy anything, it is obvious that freegans spend much less than other Americans. However, for most supporters of this movement, the money saved is only a secondary benefit, and not the main goal, writes Money crashes.

Adherents of this trend name many reasons why they prefer to live this way and not otherwise. Among others, these are:

Taking care of animals. Many Freegans reject all farm produce and prefer to eat food grown in small gardens.

Human rights. Freegans claim that the production of almost all products sold in stores hurt someone, including farm workers. They believe that even ethically produced products, such as Fair Trade goods, still help support a destructive store system. The best solution, in their opinion, is to make purchases as rarely as possible.

Environmental Protection. They are opponents of industrial pollution, production waste, as well as the intensive use of oil at all stages of the technological process - from production to delivery and waste disposal. Therefore, the less a person makes purchases, the less harm he causes to the environment.

A simpler lifestyle. These people reject the idea that life should be an endless cycle of work and spending. They prefer to make fewer purchases so that they can work less. This gives them more free time for family, community, social activities and entertainment. Many freegans view living off discarded items as a more natural way of life, just as our ancestors did.

Principles of Freegan Life

They use all kinds of strategies to get things for free, not buy them. Experienced Freegans know how to find food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and entertainment without spending a penny.

Representatives of the community living in rural areas are often settlers, they are completely self-sufficient, because they grow their own food, sew clothes for themselves, raise livestock, use natural resources, heat their homes with wood or other alternative fuels. Thus, they can completely stay away from modern society.

However, most freegans are city dwellers, so they have to use different strategies: they collect and reuse items that would otherwise be wasted, share with other people who have extra space in their homes and cars; sometimes, instead of paying in cash, they use barter - they exchange their goods with others or provide services to them.

Freegan Principles

1. Reuse and recycling

They are overwhelmed by the amount of waste generated by the economy. To avoid contributing to this, freegans try to use things as long as possible. Whenever possible, they repair broken items rather than replace them, recycle containers and compost food waste.

Freegans are regulars at free shops and free markets, where people can leave unwanted goods and pick up usable items. They rely on these markets to make “purchases” only when necessary.

These people exchange goods with others online. They make extensive use of Freecycle, a network of local groups where users give out unnecessary but useful items, and use the "free" section of Craigslist.

2. Gathering in cities

There is another way that freegans get rid of waste. They collect trash that others throw away, a practice known as “urban foraging.” Many people consider the phrase a euphemism for "dumpster diving," but there are also softer forms of urban quest for means to support one's livelihood.

For example, freegans collect waste at construction sites and walk around curbs in search of useful items abandoned on the sidelines.

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In dumpsters they usually find clothes, food, books, videos and DVDs, lumber, toys, tools - all in excellent condition. You can even find large items there, such as furniture, appliances, computers and bicycles.

3. Growing food

In addition to getting food, some Freegans grow their own vegetables and fruits. For example, those living in rural areas often have their own land, but even urban freegans can grow vegetables in public gardens. These shared plots give townspeople the opportunity to produce food while enjoying the fresh air, exercise and the company of their neighbors. Some use the harvested crop to produce compost for their garden plots.

In the absence of accessible public garden plots, adventurous urban freegans can occupy vacant lots to grow food and flowers. This practice is called "guerrilla gardening" because, like guerrilla warfare, it is often based on stealth. Many guerrilla gardeners enter empty plots late at night to plant and tend their crops.

Although there are those among them who do not hide their activities and boldly march to abandoned areas to openly dig and plant-sow. This type of guerrilla gardening is a form of activism that draws attention to the problems of ugly, neglected and underutilized urban land.

4. Eco-friendly transport

Most freegans do not own cars because they have a detrimental effect on the environment, which is polluted not only by gas emissions, but also by their production. These people are against the destruction caused by oil drilling, against the wars that often arise over oil. And since buses and trains usually run on fossil fuels, many Freegans don't use these modes of transport with tickets.

Instead, they rely on their own legs, ridesharing, a hare on a freight train or, if necessary, their own biofuel cars.

5. Housing

Unlike food and clothing, a home cannot be simply hauled out of the trash can. However, most freegans view abandoned buildings as just another form of trash that should be used profitably. For them, squatting (moving to unused buildings) is a kind of protest against owners who leave buildings empty in areas where housing is urgently needed.

Others work in exchange for providing free housing. Such an opportunity exists for those involved in the farm, in the management of apartments, childcare, as well as as a companion or housekeeper for an elderly person.

6. Work less

Freegans not only refuse to spend their money on goods and services, but also do not want to spend their time on paid work. In their view, having a job of any kind contributes to the overall damage that companies do to the world. Refusal to work for money is part of their protest against the economic system and its injustices.

However, this does not mean that freegans never work. Among them there are those who find it too difficult to meet their needs without a salary, for example, in the health sector. But because these people consume very little, they can get by with the minimum. That is, spending fewer hours at work, doing more other things that worry them.

And some do not work for money, but exchange their skills for what they need. There are even advocates among them outside the dollar economy known as the "time bank." Under this system, you donate an hour of your work in order to get an hour of work from someone else in return.

Finally, many freegans volunteer time to do important things: they run free shops and distribute food to those in need.

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