Susan Gianstefani: Living off the bins is just a form of recycling

The Freegan View

I've been a freegan most of my adult life. My family's main source of food is things the shops throw away. When we started looking in the supermarket bins we couldn't believe the sort of things they'd throw out. Wine, sweets, luxury chocolate biscuits; anything you'd find on the shelf you'll find in the bin. It's good stuff – I've had food poisoning from food I've bought but never from food I've taken from a bin.

Things like eggs, bread and milk get thrown out way before they reach their use-by date, because their display dates are often earlier, which is a real shame. We live off the bins because we can, but we'd rather they were empty because nothing was being wasted. Anything that stops the shops wasting food is a good thing.

Some shops have started marking the price down when food starts going off, rather than just chucking it out, which is a good move. It's all about being responsible with resources.

When we waste things, other people go without. There are those who would accuse us of being scroungers, and there's an element of jealousy that we get by for free. But when people throw away quality things, taking them from the rubbish tip is recycling, and recycling is something we all need to do, to make the world a more sustainable place.

I've lived the freegan lifestyle for 23 years, but sadly, nowadays, the bins of the major supermarkets are like Fort Knox; it's very hard for people to get in.

In London in particular, thereare so many homeless people and the major stores don't want their bins being raided, so they have made them much more secure. There must be thousands going hungry while that perfectly good food is just locked up in a bin.

Susan Gianstefani, 43, lives with her husband and 17-year-old son in a mobile home in south London.