How Dumpster Divers Became Sustainable Heroes, One Small Step

Garbage bags fulls of lettuce, 100+ worth of vegan soup, dozens of edible bagels heres what we found (and found out) dumpster diving in NYC on this weeks episode of One Small Step. Subscribe to NowThis Earth: Sign up for our newsletter KnowThis to get the biggest stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox: Dumpster divers not only find usable goods, but they post on social media to bring attention to waste and create change within the retail system. At a time of historic income inequality, food insecurity, and a global pandemic, the retail practice of throwing out usable goods and edible food is unjust and unethical, as well as bad for the environment. According to ReFed, retailers generate 10. 5 million tons of surplus food per year. Of that, only 20 is donated, 30 goes to landfills, and the remaining 44 is composted, used as animal feed, or turned into biogas. This food is often tossed when the product isn t sold before t