HAUL TALK 4909

Back Alley Buffet

The vegan ideal of forgoing meat, fish and poultry in addition to all products derived from those animals (milk, eggs, butter) is daunting enough. Now imagine that you must not only adhere to those rules, but also obtain everything you eat from a garbage can.

Such are the guiding principles of “Freeganism.” Freegans (a combination of “free” and “vegan”) oppose both over-consumption and capitalism while embracing a vegetarian diet. The movement's roots trace to the early ‘80s. Adherents — generally well-educated members of the middle class who are not homeless — organize online using sites like meetup.com and freegan.info to plan “trash tours” and share favorite trash spots. They compare their lifestyle to that of traditional hunter/gatherers, only instead of gathering wild berries and nuts, they're gathering slightly wilted lettuce and expired tofu dogs.

Freegans insist that much of the “garbage” they scavenge is, in fact, perfectly edible food that has simply outlived its printed shelf date or is otherwise discarded too hastily. In addition to food, freegans salvage clothing, bedding and anything else they can glean before the garbage trucks haul it away.

No word if WalMart will attempt to compete with this price model.

Source: CBS News

Not Your Average Pic-a-nic Basket

Never send a man to do a bear's job. Such is the thinking in Coquitlam, British Columbia, where city leaders have instituted a pilot project to test three different bear-proof trash bins. Residents in “high activity” bear areas of the city are required to store their garbage in wildlife-resistant trash bins. But until now, city officials were unable to recommend specific bins that met that requirement.

Samples of the three prospective bins, manufactured by BearSaver, Rollins Schaefer and Bear Necessities, will be deployed in the 372-home Coquitlam neighborhood of Westwood Plateau, which is surrounded by dense woods favored by bears. Residents and garbage collectors in the area will monitor the bins over the course of the year to determine their effectiveness and see how well they hold up to the punishment a full grown grizzly can deal out.

Careful with that arc welder, Yogi!

Source: Vancouver Sun