Tiny Spark: What's in the Dumpster? Exploring Food Waste and Hunger in America

Podcast interview with FREEGANS author Alex V. Barnard.

Freegans by Alex BarnardSome 40 percent of the food we produce in the United States is chucked out — and not just moldy bread. Peek into dumpsters and garbage bags nationwide, and you’re bound to find food that resembles what you just bought at the supermarket.

Alex Barnard has seen it himself. “I’ve never eaten better than when I was dumpster diving,” he says. “Sadly, that’s because of this incredible wealth of waste at every point within the food system.”

Barnard, a doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley, spent eight years researching food waste, which included regular dives into dumpsters and foraging in trash bags of major retail chains across New York City. 

Listen here.

Published in: Tiny Spark