Stockholm

From Trashwiki

Dumpster dived food in Stockholm: cauliflowers (both organic and not), broccolis (both organic and not), grapes, potatoes, oranges, kiwis, mandarins, apples, zucchinis, light zucchinis, cashews, organic tomatoes, Romaine lettuce, rutabaga.

Stockholm, Sweden, is full of valuable trash and rejected stuff. Dumpster diving can be very successful at times, even though dumpsters are tend to be locked in most places, but there are nice exceptions letting you survive in this mega-city without spending a single cent on buying a meal (recent figures show that each Swede throws 100 kg of edible food every year), while waste rooms (grovsoprum in Swedish) are great for getting a free non-edible stuff.

[edit] "Grovsoprum"

Those who live in apartments in Stockholm have a chance to sort out all of their trash. A good solution to this is a so called grovsoprum - these are waste rooms where you leave all the things that are too big for usual trash bins (there are also containers for recycled things like glass, metal, paper, plastic, and various packages). Even though containers with recycled stuff do not attract freegans, other stuff being put in these rooms often is very valuable, including different electronics (often still working), clothes, sheets, pillows, blankets, furniture, books, etc. - basically everything what people have in apartments. If you are lucky you might find, for example, a laptop still in working condition. It is not only about bulky or high-tech items, though, - if you are in need for AA or AAA batteries, for instance, and you have an access to a good grovsoprum, just go down there and check thrown away remote controls and other similar devices - they often contain good batteries.

Swedes, as well as Finns, Norwegians and Dans, throw away a lot. Nonetheless, to take stuff from a grovsoprum is officially prohibited, although it is not known if anyone ever got in trouble because of taking something from there. Another thing, though, is that a grovsoprum is always locked, and only people who live in nearby houses can unlock the door. Therefore, it is possible to get there if you yourself live in Stockholm in one of the apartments, or you have friends living there who can provide you with an access to grovsoprum.

A building that contains a grovsoprum.

A locked door to the grovsoprum - only people who live nearby have keys to it.

A rejected stuff. People throw away almost anything; very often many of electronic devices still work.

Just emptied grovsoprum, otherwise filled with thrown away furniture, electronic devices, pillows, clothes, etc.

[edit] Dumpster diving places

There are at least a few usually (but not always) good places: for instance, the backyards of Ica and Konsum in Skärholmen, or Lidl containers in Fruängen (Hägersten). There are plenty of smaller places, though, where one can usually get a certain rejected produce only, for example, Ica Kvarnen in Huddinge throws away plenty of bananas almost every day (as of Nov.2008).

Beware of Lidl, though: there was a case in Solna (it is a municipality in Stockholm County, located just north of the capital Stockholm) when Lidl employees poured a corrosive liquid, the equivalent of chlorine, on food that would be discarded, in order to keep homeless people away from dumpster diving (this case was filed for police investigation, and the managing director of Lidl Sweden called the incident "extremely regrettable").

Some examples of dumpster dived food in Stockholm area:

A variety of produce that can be found in a dumpster includes even nuts.	It is very convenient to have a bike (or a freight bike which is even better) when dumpster diving since one can attach quite some load to it.	Radishes, organic chives, pomegranate, parsley, 5 zucchinis, 5 persimmons, paprika, 5 bananas, 3 potatoes, apples (~2,5kg).	4 endives (chicory), grapes (lots), 1 grapefruit, 1 melon, plums, 2 pears, organic chives, 10 apples, juice concentrate (gives 48 l).
Cashews and walnuts (~2kg), organic cashews (~1kg), raisins (~5,5kg), berberis berries (~1,7kg), potatoes (~1kg), muesli (1 kg), Hot Taco Spice Mix (around 400g, for 40 servings), herbal salt, lettuce (250g), light soy sauce, orange marmalade, vitaminized syrup.	Snacks anyone?	Cashews and walnuts (~2kg), organic cashews (~1kg), raisins (~5,5kg), berberis berries (~1,7kg), potatoes (~1kg), muesli (1 kg), Hot Taco Spice Mix (around 400g, for 40 servings), herbal salt, lettuce (250g), light soy sauce, orange marmalade, vitaminized syrup.	Eating a vegan parsnip soup made from dumpster dived vegetables.
1 cauliflower, lettuce, bread (lots), crispbread, tomatoes, 2 apples.	Arabic coffee (1,5kg), potatoes (~1kg), melon, pineapple, tomatoes, spinach, apples, bananas.	Yes, one can be fastidious even when dumpster diving.	4 endives (chicory), grapes (lots), 1 grapefruit, 1 melon, plums, 2 pears, organic chives, 10 apples, juice concentrate (gives 48 l).

In this amateur film one can see how a freegan in Stockholm found food for 440 USD:

[edit] Really really free market

Stockholm has lots of different kind of activists, and it is no surprise that there are "Really really free market" (RRFM) activists who once in a while organize so called "market days" where various goods and services (wanna cut your hair? etc.) are provided for free to anyone who needs it.

"Market day" in a park in Stockholm organized by local "Really really free market" (RRFM) activists (and connected to climate issues in this case). Hanging clothes are free for anyone to take.

Free books for everyone! (Stockholm, Sweden)

[edit] Links

• Ongoing documentation of dumpster diving in Stockholm (pictures)
• Bortskankes.se - a website for those who want to give away (or find) stuff for free (in Swedish)