Diving for compost

If Freegans can do it, why not gardeners? Dumpster diving, that is. The someone’s-trash-is-another-person’s-treasure idea has applied to artists, the homeless, the thrifty, the waste-conscious, and a number of loose dogs, rats and raccoons. Now, a few compost fans are taking on the activity, as well, according to a column by Dan Rodricks published this month in the Baltimore Sun. He interviewed Lizzy King, a West Virginia woman who Dumpster dives behind a local supermarket three times a week in search of garbage for her compost pile. Her main goals are to save money, grow her own food and reduce waste.

Rodricks points out that some sort of municipal composting system—one in which “every taxpaying household would be entitled to, say, 200 free pounds of the stuff a year” could make Dumpster diving unnecessary. At least for gardeners.