The first time Christen Malone picked food out of a dumpster was when her daughter, now 4, was an infant. The baby was a car napper. She would fall asleep and Ms. Malone, a marketing consultant who lives in Beechview and has a cottage in Chautauqua — both were fully furnished for under $2,000 — would pull up behind a Giant Eagle, pick through the trash, throw some produce in the trunk of a luxury car and go on with her day.
Dumpster diving is particularly fruitful in the winter, she says, when milk, eggs and other perishables are kept cool without refrigeration. She marvels at how much food is wasted on a daily basis, discarded for a dent in a box or one bad fruit in a container. In cold weather, Ms. Malone is likely to visit a dumpster every day. In the summer months, a few times a week. According to her “dumpster etiquette,” the best time to go is during store working hours, being mindful of no trespassing signs. She’s not there to break the law. She just wants to score some unloved produce.
Trash shopping was a natural extension of Ms. Malone’s #thriftyyinzer lifestyle, where she buys as little as possible new and is always evangelizing about reusable finds. A Goodwill enthusiast, she also serves on the organization’s executive board.
Ms. Malone calls herself a “sustainable freegan.” So let’s start there.
PG: What does that mean?
A: I kind of break it into two parts. The sustainable portion is really just reusing what I can or using products and food to the last bit, being mindful of unnecessary waste. (And) right now everybody's pinching their pennies. You just want to do more with your money.
And the freegan aspect is kind of taking it to the next level. Some of the things I do, beyond dumpster diving, is a neighborhood ‘Buy Nothing’ group or just neighborhood groups in general. People are always willing to part with things. They don't want to schlep them to Goodwill or wherever. Trash picking is really just diverting things, perfectly good things, from the landfill and being able to use them.
PG: The trash picking is interesting to me, because my family came here as immigrants in 1990. And our first apartment was completely furnished from the trash.
A: I actually have a list of local trash nights in my neighborhood. The number one thing I tell people with trash picking is it probably is best just to stay local. And people say, ‘Well, I don't want to run into my neighbors.’ And I am here to tell you that nine times out of 10, if someone sees me taking something out of their garbage, they're encouraging, or I've had people say, “Oh, hey, I see you grab that chair. I have the other one in my garage.”
PG: This kind of raises the question, how much stuff do you actually need? If you're picking from different neighborhoods on what I assume is probably a weekly or biweekly basis. Don't you have enough stuff?
A: Yeah, I do. So I thrift for other people. There's always something in my driveway. A lot of times, even if I rescue something, I'll post it on my neighborhood free group. Usually, if I'm able to get it back to my house, I can usually offer like to drop it off. So especially if it's something that's really cool or unique or old, you don't want to see that go to waste.
PG: It does seem like this contributes to a sense of community, people taking care of one another.
A: It really is. I was cleaning out my house and people would come by, “Oh, I'm here for the chair.” And I'd say, “Oh, do you want a squash and like three loaves of bread? It’s from the dumpster, but I cleaned them really well.”
PG: Do people typically say yes to that?
A: Yes. I don't do that as much anymore, because there are a couple free fridges in Pittsburgh that are just, you give and you can take.
And then I'll drive around to my friends that understand the dumpster lifestyle and leave strawberries and oranges on their porch.
PG: How many of you are there?
A: Off the top of my head, there's probably about eight people that I talked to on a regular basis that go dumpster diving on a regular basis. We keep trash grabbers in our car, just if the mood strikes for a dumpster.
PG: I heard you say on a podcast that mending is a big deal. Right? So what are the tools — with the claw (grabber) being one and a needle and thread being another — of your thrifty life?
Probably my number one and I'd say the least utilized tool of the trade is a sweater shaver. There's a couple of different variations of them out there. I use like a manual one: it looks like a tee and has a strip on the end of it. Things like that can really prolong the life of your clothes. Washing less — I'm a big proponent of if I wore something for like half a day, just giving it a spritz of Febreze hanging it up.
PG: You have to tell me the story behind the pictures: why are you wearing this beautiful dress going dumpster diving?
A: We were on a little thrifty group outing. And I found a dress for, it wasn't more than $2. I would not have spent more than $2. I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I should get in the dumpster in this.” And the girls are like, “Oh my gosh, that's the perfect idea.”
So the next week (my friend) and I were texting and... actually we were trading dumpster produce, and she's like, “I could just come over and take dumpster photos. Have you scouted any dumpsters?” I'm like, “Actually, yes, I have.”
We just went for it. And it was funny when someone came out of their house (and said), “Wait, we know you from social media.” So, I felt like I really went full circle at that moment.
Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com
First Published: August 1, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: August 1, 2022, 10:11 a.m.
