Dumpstring; problem eller lösning? En kvantitativ undersökning av dumpstring ur ett klimat- och resursperspektiv

Sammanfattning: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that up to 17% of the world's produced food goes to waste (UNEP, 2021). In Sweden alone, a total of 1,3 million tonnes of food waste was generated in 2018, and 20-25% of the country's total carbon footprint was derived from food waste (Andersson & Stålhandske, 2018). Dumpster diving refers to the act of 'diving' into bins and containers for items that have been unnecessarily discarded (Jakobsson, 2015; Rombach & Bitsch, 2015). Although it takes place in many western urban environments (Vinegar et al., 2016), its impact is largely unaccounted for in both research and statistics. This study aims at investigating dumpster diving in a food waste context. The primary focus is on quantifying how much food dumpster-divers can find and to what extent different eating habits can contribute to reducing one’s climate impact from food waste. The results shows that a small group of six dumpster-divers over a one-month period saved enough food to compensate for both their own and eleven other people's food waste. Due to the high environmental footprints of meat and animal products, those who also dumpster meat and dairy tend to reach comparably higher climate and resource benefits from dumpster diving than those who don’t. Finally, the study also discusses the legal and cultural aspects of dumpster diving, and whether it could be used as tool to decrease food waste in Sweden.