Dumpster Diving in Manhattan

New York City

By Christina Puzzolo
food waste, dumpster diving, freegan movement

"Dumpster Diving in Manhattan" is a project that maps locations to reclaim food in Manhattan.

Out of the 4 million tons of waste New York City sends to landfill each year, one third of this is food waste. This organic waste emits methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, while it decomposes in the landfill. In addition to its negative environmental impacts, food waste is also a major problem in terms of food insecurity. Approximately 1.3 million low-income New York City residents are food insecure, accounting for 50% of all food-insecure individuals in the state of New York. While there are food programs bringing assistance to those who need it, such as SNAP (Supplement Nutrition Assistant Program) and neighborhood soup kitchens, the city continues to waste tons of edible food.

Emerging from opposition to the wasteful consumption and related inequalities of capitalism, the freegan movement embraces alternative strategies for living under the current economic system. One of these strategies is food reclamation (commonly referred to as “dumpster diving”) to forage for food that has been disposed of. In New York City, a local freegan group has documented places to reclaim food in their Dumpster Directory. “Dumpster Diving in Manhattan” aims to make this directory information more accessible for those interested in food reclamation, as well as offer potential places to dive.

An interactive map was created to present both known and potential places to dumpster dive in Manhattan. Data on known locations was taken from Freegan Dumpster Directory. Potential locations were determined based on franchise food retail locations listed in the Dumpster Directory. It was assumed that if one franchise food retail store throws away edible food, then its other locations in Manhattan would probably do the same. Data on these potential food retail locations was taken from the New York State Open Data website.

Locations of soup kitchens and food pantries in Manhattan were included in the map so that those who would like to donate non-perishable or unexpired foods reclaimed are easily able to find places to do so.

The map also displays FRESH zones in Manhattan to call attention to areas of the borough that have been identified as underserved by full-line neighborhood grocery stores. The FRESH program promotes the establishment and retention of grocery stores in low-income areas where there is a lack of nutritious, affordable, and fresh food. Mapping these zones with dumpster diving locations presents the disparity of food availability between different areas of Manhattan.

Map users can search for an address to see which diving locations are nearest to them, as well as filter by location type. Additionally, people are invited to share successful diving locations to add to the Freegan Dumpster Directory, so that a larger data set can be compiled on locations that waste food.