Summary Of On Dumpster Diving

He further proports that 'can scroungers' blatantly 'tear up the dumpsters' and disregard perfectly good items for other homeless people. Eighner sees 'can scroungers' at the bottom of his elitist list because of the obtrusiveness to the practice of common scavengers. Furthermore, Eigher declares, "a true scavenger hates to see good stuff go to waste, and what he cannot use he leaves in good condition in plain sight."

In Lars Eighner’s short essay “On Dumpster Diving”, he describes his experience of being homeless and the art of dumpster driving. Eighner prefers being referred to as a scavenger rather than a dumpster driver. Eighner stated “I like the frankness of the word scavenging. I live from refuse of others. I am a scavenger.” (383) He describes scavenging as a full time job, that requires a lot of effort. He believes that if one follows certain guidelines and rules, with doing so this could possibly help one to become efficient. One rule is knowing good place and time to look for food and other items, that could be useful. Another rule is knowing how to eat safely from a dumpster . Eighner said

In today’s society, there is an abundance of waste. This is clear in observing how people live, we often throw out items because we want something better. Lars Eighner, author of "On Dumpster Diving," writes about his experiences being homeless and how he survived on the waste of others. This provides insight on how the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure," is true. Jeremy Seifert, who directed the documentary Dive!, also talks about how he survives off of other people's waste, but this was a decision he made. As they tell of their experiences, Seifert and Eighner both come to the conclusion that society is wasteful. While both individuals provided good information, I believe Seifert presented the better argument. Both of

Eighner himself has lived on the streets as a homeless man. He allows the reader to join him in his own personal life stories in order to show the severity of his past situation. Eighner tells of the embarrassment and shame that comes from scavenging through trash to stay alive. He writes of the woeful feelings that a homeless person possesses in their time of wander. “He can wipe the egg yolk off the found can, but he cannot erase the stigma of eating garbage out of his mind” (Eighner 144). With much passion, he speaks of the homeless as victims of a undeserved life. However, according to Linderman, the life of a dumpster diver can be quite satisfying.

The tone of “On Dumpster Diving” is straightforward. In the beginning of Eighner’s essay, he goes straight into talking about dumpster diving, and he does not beat around the bush. For example, in the beginning of his essay, Eighner says, “Long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters, enough so that I wrote the Merriam-Webster research service to discover what I could about the word “Dumpster,”’’ (p 1). Eighner describes dumpster diving as his profession. Eighner says, “Eating safely from the Dumpsters involves three principles: using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always the question “Why was this discarded?”” (p 10).

Eighner states, “I have learned much as a scavenger... beginning with the practical art of Dumpster diving and proceeding to the abstract.” He begins here as introduction to his text, just before he states that it's, “an urban art.” Showing his views about the activity more as a craft than something gross. Later on, Eighner proceeds to say, “But in the case of discards from student apartments, the answer may be that the item was discarded through carelessness, ignorance, or wastefulness.” Eighner explains that dumpster diving isn’t all bad because there can be use of someone else's trash. As the old saying goes, “One's man's trash can be another man's treasure.” Eighner’s purpose of this text is point out that even though dumpster diving may sound gross there is a plus side to it.

He mentioned “eating from a dumpster is what separates the dilettanti from the professionals.” Eighner went by three principles, common sense, knowing the Dumpsters and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question “Why was this discarded.’ Canned goods are known to be the safest of foods to be found in Dumpsters. However, some can cause fatal diseases like botulism. Raw fruits and vegetables seem perfectly harmless, except for the rotten ones of course. Hard candy are also quite safe, since most of them are hard and a method of food preservation. So are carbonated drinks the more fizz the better. Eighner also began to scavenge by pulling pizza out of the Dumpster behind a pizza delivery shop. He knew exactly what time the shop closed and went to the Dumpster as soon as the last employee left. He always seemed to have plenty simply because of bogus calls, or customer

Lars Eighner was an average successful man in the 1960s until one day, his life took a turn for the worst. Eighner became homeless after losing his job and he stayed homeless for the next three years of his life. On Dumpster Diving is his account of being homeless and how in order to survive, he had to partake in dumpster diving. When hearing the word, dumpster, any person's first thought is most likely to be of the pungent smell and revolting things that may be lurking inside the big metal beast. Eighner uses many different rhetorical strategies when introducing his viewpoint, on dumpsters, to the audience. He gives us the insider’s view in the life of a homeless, dumpster diver, through his own experience. The life of a scavenger and their ability to survive, along with the wasted resources in American economies, are the main subjects within this piece. Eighner uses ethos, logos, and pathos to introduce this to the audience.

Perception and reality are two different things, reality is ‘the thing itself’ and perception is what we ‘see’ of this reality. Eighner discusses how Americans perceptions on hobos are completely wrong; as it is a reality of a lifestyle. Eighner states "From time to time I have heard a wino or hobo give some corrupted credit to the original and call them Dipsy Dumpsters." (19) As the perception people 'see'. Eigner explained that before he became homeless he began dumpster diving. As he writes about the reality of dumpster diving, he explains not everything we see is true. Eighner explains that a yogurt cup is shown an expiration date and people have the need to throw it out because it says that date and it's our perception to throw it out when the reality is that it's still good after the expiration date. (22)

As discussed in “On Dumpster Diving,” students will throw out food around breaks as a result of not knowing when it will spoil or if it already has. Therefore, they will throw out items that are unlikely to spoil in any reasonable time. “The student does not know that, and since it is Daddy’s money, the student decides not to take a chance” (Eighner, 5). There is a number of reasons why students throw out items. “But in the case of discards from student apartments, the answer may be that the item was thrown out through carelessness, ignorance, or wastefulness” (Eighner, 5).

The word dumpster is a proprietary word belonging to the Dampsey Dumpster Company. Dumpster diving is when a person is digging (searching) through a dumpster full of trash or other items. Eighner wasn’t dumpster diving his entire life; however, he started about a year before he became

Have you thought about how much food is wasted? Just think about your supper last night did you throw any food away if you did have you ever thought about where it goes or what happens to it? Many people don’t realize that there is a lot of food that is thrown away every year. Not only do people in their homes throw away food but grocery stores also throw out a lot of food too. “Most people believe that grocery stores should donate their food instead of throwing it away but the reason why many stores don’t donate their food is because many stores either don’t want to get sued or many grocery stores don’t know that they should be donating it.” ( Jacobs)

Now, there is another angle. There are animals that love the dumpster. It is their den, they find carcasses and rotten delicacies. These could be rats or even vultures. They do not complain, neither do they listen when other animals request for clean air. In fact, some of them are skunks; they bask in their own fart.

Dumpster-diving does have its benefits, but the dangers that come with it ay prove to be too much. Josh Corlew pays zero for groceries and his furniture didn’t cost him anything either (Conlin) He instead goes shopping in the garbage. Alexi Ahrens was able to turn

By the mid-1700s it was common practice to dispose of waste into pits rather than throwing the garbage into the streets. One of our founding fathers even implemented the first organized waste removal service in Philadelphia in 1757. Like today’s garbage men, pairs of two would travel the streets and pick up any trash that could dispose.