Two students snuck behind a deserted State College strip mall at 10:30 p.m. Sunday and headed straight for the Dumpsters.
Rooting through the garbage and even jumping into a large container, the pair attacked the unwanted contents inside, hoping to find anything from a good meal to a used typewriter inside.
Chris Byrnes (junior-film) and Andy Mazur (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) are freegans: Students who free themselves of being wasteful and spending money and instead support themselves by "urban foraging," better known as "Dumpster diving."
Freegans are "people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources," according to freegan.info, which is headquartered in New York.
Byrnes and Mazur spoke fondly about rummaging through local Dumpsters, including Goodwill's and one located behind Weis Market, 560 Westerly Parkway, while strolling through their apartment filled with eclectic findings -- electronics, clothes, shoes, furniture, books and many other useful items.
"A third-world country could be supported off of the things Americans throw away," Mazur said, proudly opening a cabinet to display a recent score: sealed bags of Milano cookies. On the kitchen table, he also pointed out a box he found filled with grilled stickies from The Diner, 126 W. College Ave.
However, some students think freeganism is excessive.
"We are a wasteful society, but I think there are more effective ways to reduce waste and make their point, rather than Dumpster diving," non-freegan Lori Shero (senior-actuarial science) said.
Local Weis representatives would not comment on the freegan activity occurring in their Dumpsters, but Byrnes and Mazur said they consume the grocery store's leftovers on a daily basis.
"Everything other than housing can be found in a Dumpster," Byrnes said.
Byrnes said he has not purchased food since December of last year and finds enough food in one night of Dumpster diving to last a whole week. Mazur said he occasionally buys apple cider from the farmer's market.
John Floros, food science department head, said the men are "running a risk."
"The most important thing is to not harm themselves," Floros said. "If the food seems packaged well, and they cook it long enough, it makes it somewhat safer."
One night, Byrnes and Mazur said they found more than 10 garbage bags filled with bread and pastries in a Dumpster behind Panera Bread, 148 S. Allen St. Panera management was unaware of the existence of freegans or any "urban foraging" taking place in its Dumpsters.
"People think it's weird eating food out of the garbage, but everything we eat is either sealed or vacuum-packed, with a few exceptions," Byrnes said.
Byrnes said they decide whether or not to eat the food by smelling it, getting a "feel for it" and also by looking at the package's expiration date.
"You can't always see or smell if it's bad," Floros said, adding that human instinct is not the best way to judge the food's condition.
The word "broken" is written across many of the items Byrnes and Mazur have found, but Byrnes said sometimes they aren't even broken or just simply need some fixing up: He now plays a keyboard he found in a past Dumpster dive that just needed new batteries.
"Americans could all do much more to conserve," non-freegan Kaitlyn Smith (sophomore-advertising) said. "We've become very materialistic as a society, but we work hard."
The assumption that people have to buy things doesn't sit well with Byrnes. He said if he doesn't find toothpaste while Dumpster diving, he will do without it until he finds more. He also said he's had the same toothbrush for the past two years.
Byrnes showed off his three closets filled with assorted free clothes and said he rarely has to do laundry because he has so much to wear.
"One time in high school, my economics teacher told me there was no such thing as a free lunch," Byrnes said. "That made me mad, so I decided I should prove him wrong."
