On Dumpster Diving, Stigma

Rhys Green
Mrs. Parkinson
English IIIB
5 April 2016

      With the writing of On Dumpster Diving Eighner helps to remove the stigma associated with people living in poverty who Dumpster dive. Eighner writes "take what you can use and let the rest go by" (724) the stigma of Dumpster diving is that whatever they find in the dumpster they keep no matter how useful it is, but with this statement Eighner shows the audience that those who Dumpster dive only take what they need to survive and nothing more. Another stigma associated with Dumpster diving is that the divers take whatever food they find and eat it without taking any precautions. Eighner challenges this notion when he explains that "eating safely from the Dumpsters involves three principles: using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly"(714). This comment on the strategy of Dumpster diving shows the audience that it is a much more calculated activity than previously thought. Dumpster diving doesn't live up to its stigma of being a messy, haphazard endeavor. It surprisingly falls short based on the fact that it seems very purposeful and safe.