In Berlin, Searching for Food in the Dumpster Is the Next Big Thing

In many ways, the growing foodsharing movement makes perfect sense in today's urban economy; it's good samaritanism, it reduces waste, and perhaps the most compelling reason: the food is free.

The new German website foodsharing.de (currently with over 8,200 people registered to share) alerts members about the location and content of "food baskets," according to Reuters. The article notes:

It is not poverty that inspires a growing number of young Germans like 21-year-old student Benjamin Schmitt to forage for food in the garbage, but anger at loss and waste which the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates at one-third of all food produced worldwide, every year, valued at about $1 trillion.

Benjamin Schmitt, a supporter of the foodsharing movement, searches food in a dumpster behind a supermarket in Berlin on January 31. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Benjamin Schmitt (L) and Helena Jachmann, supporters of the foodsharing movement, sort food found in a dumpster behind a supermarket in Berlin on February 4. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Benjamin Schmitt (L) and Helena Jachmann, supporters of the foodsharing movement, inspect food they found during one tour in dumpsters behind a supermarket in Berlin on February 4. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Women take food sorted out from waste bins of an organic supermarket at a distribution point of the foodsharing movement at the indoor market Markthalle Neun (indoor market nine) in Berlin on January 31. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)