Germany
From Trashwiki
"Containern", as dumpster diving is called in Germany, is just easy - no chemicals and nearly no trouble with police. It is somehow tolerated, and some vendors from local markets even leave purposely a completely excellent produce so that dumpster divers would have a better and safer meal.
For some dumpster diving in Germany related info check following links (all in German, though):
- how to get food for free (not only in Germany)
- Good explanation for beginners
- Very detailed info about getting food for free
- autoorgawiki: Umsonstökonomie - Dinge und Material umsonst besorgen (getting things for free)
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[edit] Cities
[edit] Legal note
First of all, dumpstering in Germany is illegal. You have to know this, and you mustn't be suprised if police comes to check your identity. The best way to deal with these situations is to be conversative: talk to them, explain what you are doing, why you are doing it and ask what is bad about that.
There are known cases of store employees coming out and angrily asking to stop dumpster diving, however, when talked very politely to, they leave dumpster divers in peace (see for more info here, in German).
If you get accused of dumpstering, it might be a good idea to answer "Oh good, I always wanted to tell people why I do that", and you can talk to the supermarket administration about that, do demonstrations while other people are shopping, etc. See more info on workshops for creative anti-repression.
- In December 2008 a Dumpster Diver actualy got arrested for dumpstering. [1]
[edit] Stuff
In living areas it is quite common to walk the street and find some furniture in good shape on a sidewalk. Some really cool people even include user's manuals and spare parts. A sign that reads "zu verschenken" (which basically means "for taking away") might be attached.
Good stuff doesn't stay very long, and it usually takes one or two days for the city-recyclers to come and clean it up, so be quick.
[edit] See also (in German)
- Anarchopedia: Containern Secret and open dumpstering
- Building dumpstering networks Find other people to dumpster together
- A container blog Short stories about free-shopping and such
- Gewaltfreie Materialbeschaffung
- Basic info on German Wikipedia
- A campaign to stop produce destruction
- Kritisches zum containern Theoretical debates about dumpstering and its social impact

