This directory is maintained by a small-ish group of New York City freegans, so it’s fairly New York-centric. While we get to some of the neighborhoods frequently, others we don’t and we depend on input from users of these pages. All comments are based on one or more individual’s experience.
Please let us know if you know a store has closed, if their dumpsters are now locked, if there are great new locations you’ve found.
Also, let us know if you get flack from store managers or local divers that indicate a location is being over-dived. If this happens, we will drop it from the directory.
Send updates to ask@freegan.info
Please DO NOT reprint this list in commercial publications, but feel free to copy and distribute it individually.
PLEASE, respect the CARDINAL RULE of trashpicking — don’t make a mess! Open bags carefully and reclose them. Make it look like you were never there, so the place you are recovering waste from won’t chase away foragers in the future!
Oh, and don’t forget Food Not Bombs is in practically every city giving out food regularly. Check out this link to FNB Local Groups.
New York City
Staten Island
(Pretty sparse — if you know more locations, please let us know!)
Bronx
(Sorry, nothing for Bronx yet — if you know locations, let us know!)
New Jersey (fairly near the NYC metro area)
Long Island NY (also fairly near NYC metro)
Other US
Albany, NY
Buffalo, NY
Charlotte, NC
Charleston, SC
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Marietta, OH
Indianapolis, IN
Lansing, MI
Minnetonka, MN
Tulsa, OK
Boulder, CO
Fort Collins, CO
Denver, CO area
Grand Forks, ND
Arizona
San Francisco, CA
Orange County, CA
Seattle, WA
Tacoma, WA
Vermont