A Critique Of On Dumpster Diving By Lars Eighner

A Critique of On Dumpster Diving

According to Mayberry (2009) Lars Eighner, a graduate of the University of Texas, became homeless in 1988 and again in 1995 (p. 351). Some of the accounts from Travels with Lisbeth (1993), a book by Lars Eighner, depicted what he went through and what he found during his homeless state. A homeless person must eat and sleep but may not know where or when this might happen next. The human will to survive enabled Eighner to eat food from a dumpster, reach out to other for handouts, and sleep in places other than a bed with covers.

To Survive One Must Eat

The majority of the population enjoys a breakfast from the comfort of his or her home. There are those that have no home and no idea where their next meal may

As depicted by Mayberry (2009) Lars Eighner began dumpster diving for food a year before he became homeless the first time in 1988 and again in 1995 but prefers the term scavenger, which he feels is a “sound and honorable niche” (p.351). It is not clear from this excerpt why he started scavenging for food long before he became homeless nor what led to him become homeless either time, however one could surmise that it was from lack of resources to purchase food to eat and living expenses. Pearce (2013) continued to state on a phenomenon that “one may in fact still have housing but may not be able to afford much more than the monthly payment”, consequently if one continues to pay for the housing, he or she may have less available in terms of food and end up relying on other sources of food as Lars Eighner did by scavenging dumpsters (para. 12). Eighner went on to state how he was able to discern edible foods from non-edible such as eating yogurt past the expiration date if it was still sealed, however with all the precautions he took still got dysentery at least once a

Eighner (1991) stated “Except for jeans, all my clothes came from Dumpsters. Boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, medicine, books, a typewriter, a virgin male love doll, change sometimes amounting to many dollars: I acquired many things from the Dumpsters” (p.6). The availability of these items could sustain a homeless person for an indefinite amount of time.

Numerous people may not realize what he or she discards may in fact be of use to someone in a homeless condition, therefore education for the public to instruct them to donate more items should be considered. If collaboration could be made between the local refuse plants and the homeless shelters to help educate the public, more usable items could be donated rather than discarded as trash. This could be as simple as a correspondence attached to the monthly bills for all the residents of a