Portrait of a Dumpster Diver

By Ann Swindell | March 19, 2010 at 12:05 pm

The first time David Vosburg went dumpster diving, he wore all black clothing and parked behind the restaurant for an hour waiting for the trash to be taken out. “I just remember sitting there in my car, watching and waiting with NPR on in the background, freaking myself out and thinking, ‘What happens if the cops show up?’” he said. “And when I actually went to ‘get the goods’ (which was bread), my heart rate kicked up and my palms got cold and sweaty. It was a total adrenaline moment. I’m pretty sure I sped home like I’d robbed a bank.”

That first time had Vosburg hooked.

Vosburg had initially heard about dumpster diving shortly after moving to Chicago to work as a media coordinator. The Indiana native had attended Asbury College in Kentucky before moving there. After overhearing a conversation about it, his curiosity got the best of him. “It was a mix of [that] and this deeply embedded desire to make the best use of what is available to me,” he said. “Even though I was on a tight budget, dumpster diving was definitely not a necessity. I think I saw it, and still do see it, though my philosophy is more nuanced now, as a kind of raw reclamation of the wastes of excess.”

Over the past two years, he has gone dumpster diving multiple times, occasionally with friends. “A friend of mine was interested in going dumpster diving with me, but was a little nervous about it,” he said. “I tried to reassure him that it was no big deal, fast and painless.”

At this point Vosburg been diving for about sixth months. He took him to a store where he knew they would be discarding food. “We hopped out and walked over to the dumpsters,” he described. “We flipped one open, and all of a sudden the back door of the store opened. Standing there, rather surprised, was an employee with the trash bag containing our anticipated loot. I believe I said, as cheerily and unsuspectingly as I could, ‘Hi!’ She just kind of nodded, and we stepped out of the way. She threw it into the already open dumpster and walked back inside, watching us the whole time. After the door shut, we proceeded about our mission. When we got back in the car, I busted up laughing. My friend just said, ‘Never again. That was the most embarrassing thing ever.’ I guess there are times you just have to be honest about what you’re doing, and willing to be seen as weird for doing it.”

Vosburg has found that he can live an entire year without having to buy bread by only going diving once every month or two (he freezes what he finds). His system is uncomplicated. “I dive at places where I know they’re discarding so it’s pretty straightforward,” he said. “I show up and usually bring my own bags in case I have to do separating, and then flip open the dumpster. It’s a quick process. It’s best if you know what you’re looking for, and you’re pretty much committed to whatever’s being thrown out. People view dumpster diving itself as reprehensible or dirty, when in fact most of the food I retrieve is better protected than it was in the store. Its eye opening to see just how much food is pitched for reasons that are more cultural than anything else, like day-old bread.”

Vosburg says he doesn’t expect everyone to take up dumpster diving, but it’s the perspective that it brings that he does hope to share. “I think it’s important to keep in perspective that it’s closer to how so much of the rest of the world, outside and inside the United States, has to live in varying degrees,” he said.

As a 24-year old man with a full-time job who can more than afford to purchase food at any grocery store, Vosburg’s dumpster diving points to the larger choices he’s made in his life. He intentionally lives in a low-income neighborhood, and diving has taught him a lot about American social realities. “It’s actually been harder to dumpster dive in my immediate vicinity. Not too surprisingly, there is more [food] in wealthier areas. It is a powerful reminder more than anything else.”

Vosburg doesn’t plan on stopping his dives any time soon. Besides nabbing bread, Vosburg has also enjoyed brie, produce and even Odwalla drinks. He occasionally finds books in the dumpsters that he takes home to read, too. There are, however, drawbacks to diving. As he reminds would-be divers, “Divers can’t be choosers, and sometimes that means eating blueberry bagels twice a day for a month.”