Retreiving Perfectly Good Food From The Waste In London Towne - Is A Crime

Photo: Zepsis on Flickr

Legally, raiding bins is a grey area. The rubbish still belongs either to the shop that owns it or the company that's due to collect it – taking it is "theft by finding". But the police left us alone.

FROM THE GUARDIAN

But the circumstances that made it possible for me to live this way also made me angry. Even if the businesses and homeowners couldn't reduce the amount of waste, they didn't have to dispose of their surplus as rubbish. FareShare, the food redistribution charity, say they could redistribute 15 times more surplus food than they currently do. Short-life housing schemes have waiting lists hundreds of names long.

But instead of exploring such schemes, many organisations put huge effort into stopping people who want their rubbish from taking it. Bins are locked. ...

Several skipping spots that were reliable sources of meals have been sabotaged – a large branch of EAT, for example, used to throw away sacks of sandwiches, wraps, salads, yoghurts and fruit every day. It still does, but now the shop assistants open every packet before putting it in the bag, emptying yoghurt over salads and sandwiches to make them inedible. At New Covent Garden, skippers have been handed fliers carrying the Metropolitan police's logo telling them that taking waste would be considered theft.