My neighbour once threw out a bunch of vinyl records into our communal staircase disposal area. I scooped them up then sold them all on discogs. Some of them were worth a small fortune and my neighbour had no idea of the resale value. Dumpster diving can get you some real gems if you know what to look for
my neighbour threw out his entire CD collection including the shelf… i saw a few of my other neighbours pick through and keep some. i don’t have any cd player (and no car no laptop) so didn’t think to look
I think this is a wonderful lifestyle! This type of community looks out for one another and minimize tonnage of wastes. I believe the capacity to give and receive is one of the crucial components to be happy.
I rent a place in a condo and I am just amazed by the stuff that the residents throw into the dumpster. I got two working chairs, baby chair, baby table, shoe rack, plant rack, small BBQ pit, small back osim massager, nice world map poster, tennis rackets all free...
Is the same with my HDB estate in bukit batok, ppl throwing away good condition coffee table, tv rack and chairs. Ends up free furniture for my reale unit and sale in carousell.
Same! I’ve salvaged items from my condo disposal and carousell free items. My condo residents are so wasteful they just throw so many useable items. a broken iwatch under warranty that apple accepted and replaced with a functional iwatch, cast iron cookware, designer clothes. I’ve realised many material needs are free, I now ignore the stigma attached with dumpster diving
Yea!!!! Whoever threw that away was too lazy to check the warranty. Condo dumpster diving is the best . So many household items . the cleaners hoard the good stuff for themselves , they help themselves to free bicycles etc
@@plinb8 yes very true, I often see them taking out items from the crates and recycle bins. Plus the annual tagging of bicycles results in a lot of bicycles being removed...which are eventually sold or disposed off.
I'm a Filipino tourist in SG way back 2019 and stayed there for 3mos. I kid you not I got tons of food, chocolates, and school supplies to take back home, my family was confused where I got the money to buy everything. The most expensive thing I got from Olio was a Gucci Handbag (mint condition) and some jewelry! I also got to explore the whole country when I do pickups/meetups on HDB flats on locations tourists won't consider even going. The most bizarre I picked up was a sourdough starter 😊
@@hannesRSA The point is that, as much as possible, they're minimizing their impact to the cycle of consumerism. By taking something that somebody else does not want anymore, they're helping the environment and their wallet. This is why what this Filipino did is still freeganism.
This video brings so much awareness , of the extreme opposite spectrum of excessive consumerism , such that even if not going full time freeganism , cutting down the excessive buying leading to waste is good enough for the environment and leaving enough behind for the nextgen
Thanks to the production team and for the host to try freegan lifestyle, and thanks for giving the audience the chance to experience it with you. Kudos to Hanzhong, David and all the guests in this episode, for your effort and care for the community. The production team did a wonderful job in making this episode entertaining too. I don't do dumpster diving, but I do try to refuse, reuse, repurpose, and recycle as much as I can. 🥰
The rescue food community really interesting for me Instead of throwing away the vegetables and fish that still edible or still in good condition, they rescued it and share it to their community It reduce so much food waste
Wonderful! In the US it's amazing how many (fixable) things are thrown away; not to mention wasted food. i recycle, use or fix & sell what i've found for 50 years and saved oodles of money : ))
Yeah, try taking from me... ... the entire brand new looking bottle of tonic drink... ... infected by TB, the solid teak wood looking so nice... ... white mites... ... See the point? Whatever a god discards, it is discarded for GOOD reason. Take... ... and be prepared for the consequence. Hahahahahaha... ...
I like the community aspect, salvaging game and bartering system. It seems more fun and awarding than wastefully getting whatever you want when you want it with minimal social-interaction or effort.
Inspired by this video a lot! My fav section in supermarkets in KL 🇲🇾 is Reduced to Clear, 50% off section ; Food cooked in afternoon on the same day will be 50% off after 7pm / bottled milk about to expire in 4-5 days / poultry packed a day earlier / dried food about to reach its expiry in 2-3 months.. sometimes even up to 70% off ❤❤❤ ... I wish 🇲🇾 has this brilliant community, apps too ❤
Thanks for sharing about your experiences in Malaysia! Would you consider kickstarting a sharing community in your neighbourhood with sharing apps mentioned in this episode?
My neighbor said in Hawaii, his neighbors would exchange food that they planted. So now he always give me free food. When I have extra stuff I don’t want, I give it to him.
Yeah, there's no real need to dumpster dive anymore, unless you don't have a community to get free shared items from. Conversely, dumpster diving is a good way to get unlimited amounts of stuff to give away, and start a community from there.
@@freeganinsingapore Thank you for sharing your freegan insights! I'm really going to reconsider how I handle my supplies, considering how I tend to overbuy stuff that I end up not using. I've always thought people would feel offended if I tried to give it to them, but I think it's really who I give that matters more!
having studied in australia.. i noticed there was alot of really good furniture/items to be thrown which is a real big waste. This happens when students were going back to their home country for good or if renters finish their rental period and have to move and just want to reduce the things they bring
I was only in Singapore for three short years, but felt a huge connection with SG and still have an active interest, despite being back in the UK. I was saddened to see that even in Singapore, people had developed the "UK curse", where perfectly good produce would be thrown away because it wasnt the right shape, size etc. In the UK recently, supermarkets introduced "wonky vegetables", where previously un-sellable produce is sold cheaper (we are talking odd shaped carrots, bell peppers that didnt quite ripen and are say half green/half orange). There is nothing wrong with them, but many people are obsessed with how these things look - and then cut them into small pieces to make a sauce/stir fry!!! Madness. Some supermarkets even offer a whole box of vegetables for £1 (S$1.70) because they need to be used that day/by the next day. If you are organised and can do something with them - its a huge saving. I am a consumer for sure, but hate waste...so while I would never "dumpster dive", this concept of basically swapping "things" is admirable - it saves waste, which is something we should all be doing these days. Brilliant episode and shows that even in a very expensive city, you can save money.
this is not a UK curse, even people who haven't even been the the UK or heard much about it are super ungrateful and throw away many products as if money falls from the sky. and these are not exactly wealthy people but everyday yous and mes. ungrateful society, I've been here for 25 years btw
@@daschund7680 While I enjoy buying things as much as the next person, I tend to buy less - but better quality things. I hate the "disposable shopping" that is normal these days - buy clothes for super cheap and then throw them away after two washes and buy more. Buy less, buy good quality and things last longer - not just for clothes.
Not exclusive to UK, that's just how rich western countries run things. Waste, waste, waste. And seeing Singapore is at the top of South East Asia, they're going to do the same thing.
I admire how dedicated they are to saving the environment and minimising wastage however I’m equally disturbed by the potential un-cleanliness of food products especially the safety of fresh produce (specifically referring to dumpster diving). Also I’m so afraid of cockroaches, especially the thought of bringing them home. I feel like this is more trouble than it’s worth. ❤ For me personally, I’ll stick to minimising unnecessary consumption and better planning for the things that I need to buy. I feel like one of the things that stump people the most is not being mindful enough about their buying and I think being able to correctly estimating the actual amount of food that your household consumes goes a long way to reducing food waste in general.
My grocery store updated its entire floor plan and I took home the juice, soy sauce, and honey that were beyond the best buy date. I'm not dumpster diving for food though.
Had dreamt of something like this but only with skill where we can give what we know for free in exchange for food and stay. Truly scarring to have to quote just to make rent. I voiced so much and they took me down. Finding my way amidst this system. Only the waste and packaging aspect of this is bothersome otherwise a good concept of having what someone doesn’t need. Love what he says about focusing on the needs more than the wants. Truly what possibilities could happen when we look outside the box. What a wasteful peak of human kind. Mind boggling. At the end of the day every human needs so little yet look at the current reality. Thanks for sharing this.
I don't think I'll doing this ever. But it really puts into perspective how much food is wasted. I'm looking at my grocery list now and realized about 1/3 of the items aren't really needed.
Wonderful! But surely this can only work in rich, expensive, compact cities like Singapore, Melbourne, Frankfurt, Berlin, possibly London, Sydney, Tokyo, NY (coz each borough is large enough to be a compact community in its own right). But how would it work in poorer, cheaper countries like Thailand or Cambodia?
Like to suggest that the government encourages an extension of all RCs or RNs for residents to place their unwanted or still good items for exchange. Many do not have the time to send items all the way to salvation army etc or the know how to sell them on carousel.
it's not bad, if everyone is sharing and reusing items, the amount of garbage produced will be reduced significantly, but in the other hand companies might not like it lul
Actually, some of our biggest supporters are companies that give us the food or items that they cannot sell. For food, it's practically on a daily basis, because the owners are also aware of the amount of food waste that they generate, but they don't have the network or resources to distribute the food on their own.
The narrator should be more upfront. She is calculating the value of the free stuff she received and is crediting it as savings. However, if she was not intending to buy that stuff to begin with she isn't saving anything. So, just think of it as freebies not as savings.
I think Asia is slow to adapt. I have been a volunteer on Olio since its inception. I count myself as one of the very first few users of the app since way back before the pandemic. Of course you have to live in a place where it is used frequently. The food that restaurants or shops are going to throw out will be listed on there. It is good for the environment as those food would otherwise be bound for the bin. Europeans are more open to the idea of reducing waste, reusing, recycling and second-hand. Americans tend to have prejudice for people who take leftover food as they believe it is only the "lower income" people who do it. Asians tends to always have preference for buying new furniture or equipment (not second hand). It is not about being "cheap" or stingy. It is about saving environment as you can imagine the amount of items we throw out every day be it food and belongings.
Actually it was the freegan community in Singapore that popularised the use of the Olio app here. We helped the app to get the critical number of users to make it useful.
@@freeganinsingapore Have you seen the user base in London/Europe? I am not based out in Asia. I am based out in Europe. Olio was founded in the UK. I am not sure about the number of users out in Singapore or Asia. The last I search it was very low or close to nothing. I have used Olio and am a volunteer on Olio since the initial years it was founded.
@@freeganinsingapore I am not sure whether there is volunteer opportunity out in Asia, but I can give you some insight to how it works. You can start of as a squad captain by approaching restaurants or shops and come to an agreement with the restaurant/shops that volunteers will come every evening just before closing hours to collect the food waste. You can arrange a volunteer schedule through the app and volunteer will collect the food and distribute it in the community by listing it on the app. The volunteer get to keep 10% of the waste and distribute the 90%. Trust me for every store/restaurant, there is definitely a lot of waste everyday as there is no way for stores or restaurants to accurately predict how much food they should cook and prepare each day. They always tend to overestimate so that they don't run into circumstances where they run out of food to serve the customers for the day. Ideally the data they can from the food they are throwing out will help them in future estimation and planning, but the system of food management to reduce waste is never perfect.
@@freeganinsingapore Saying that. I am not a freegan myself, but I am a big believer we should not be building more waste in our landfill or throwing out food that requires a lot of energy to produce. Imagine each bread requires someone to plant the wheat, to fertilize the crop, to harvest the crop, to produce the bread before it arrives to you. We cannot keep plundering the earth in such an unsustainable manner. Hence, my believe in recycle, reuse, second-hand, do not throw food away.
@@zizi1005 When I first joined Olio in 2016, there were only about 2,000 users here. They were mostly people who had heard of Olio overseas and wanted to try it here. But because there were so few active users, people who wanted to give away food couldn't find anyone to take the food so they didn't actively use it to give away food. This led to the problem that people who wanted food, couldn't find anyone to collect from. It was not uncommon to hear people who said that they tried the app, but the nearest person to collect food from was in India. This changed around 2018, when the practice of food sharing became more common in Singapore, thanks to freeganism. Many people were unfortunately misusing one of my Facebook groups to give away food. Over 3 months, the freegan community helped shift all these people onto Olio. This increased the number of users from 2,000 to 20,000. Olio's head office, seeing the spike in users, sent a representative to Singapore to find out why Singapore was the only country that Olio use grew organically without the need for any marketing. I met her when she was here to explain how we did it. After that, they put in some funding for marketing. Currently, there are over 100,000 users here, which is fantastic for a city with a population of 5.5 million. Last year, Olio started the Singapore office. They have partnered with a food delivery app called FoodPanda to collect their unsold food using their Food Waste Hero system, I believe. The freegan community already does this with many businesses, but I suppose Olio's international presence makes it easier to partner with larger businesses.
Lol, he should be quite rich (with good savings) since he has a regular salary by being a guide, yet he does not spend .. got his food, clothes, household fittings , furnitures for free.
I don't think he's hoarding though; the amount given by one commercial shop is usually way too much for one person. Even after giving away the bulk of it, you are still left with plenty. Sometimes people don't realise how much goes to waste if there's nobody, e.g. freegans to collect it
We also pay via fees and charges, both real and hidden. We have among the most sophisticated systems in the world for charging for road usage, and owning a car is 3 to 4 times more expensive than elsewhere in the world. Our public housing embeds land costs, which can get inflated, and runs the risk of adding to an already-unbearable cost of living. HDB grants offset some of this burden, but it’s unclear whether these go disproportionately toward those who need help the most.
Giving unwanted stuff to those who need help the most may sometimes do more harm than good, because they find it demeaning, and robs them of their dignity. This, we learned, from our years of experience from trying to give these things to those who need the most help. Nowadays we simply invite anyone, rich or poor, over or underprivileged, to try out this lifestyle for themselves.
I have so so so much things (many brand new!) to give for free. But when I put it up for free on Carousell, people are asking to meet at a convenient place instead of picking it up at my place (minutes from MRT). End up I think it’s not worth it to go out to give something free, I just throw things away instead. Sigh…
even worse. many people are ungrateful and unappreciative. Multiple occasions when i gave away free good condition high quality stuff and there is a long queue of people wanting it. they book a place and time to collect and then i send them reminder, yet they never turn up also never tell they not coming and dont reply. Many hours later will give excuses like they stay very far and ask to meet again. other group of people take and dont bother to leave good review. very disappointed with human.
Such a good work. I know someone who is working in a hotel / restaurants - they have been throwing a lot of food wastes. There could be more work done. 👍
The only free I can think of is my printer. My dad saw a neighbor was on the way to throw it in the trash, and he asked if its still working. The neighbor told him it is still working, but they just upgraded to a new printer. He brought it home, and I saw it. It was dusty, but I decided to wipe it. I put it in my room and bought new inks (nervous it is not working). we have our own printer, but I decided to keep this one. Months later, our printer broke. But, my printer still works. I have printed so many things with it. School? paper? clubs? church? did it all thanks to that printer. It was broken once. the blue just didnt come out. I refused to let it go and watched youtube video. Turned out I can clean the printer thing(idk what it is), and blue is working well again✨
wow, I didn't know that the average spending per person per month is $3000. My family earns a decent amount and that include 450 for parents and 450 for housing loan. Remaining 2k, we spend on all other stuff like food, transport, bills and things we want (not need). and out of that 2k, 750 is spend on investing which we treat it as expenses until our retirement age. So actual spending as an entire family is $1350 only on average.
Is there a freegan group in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia? I have a lot of items people throw out or left behind by my tenants. I pack & give away to struggling single mums group.
I don't live in Singapore but have visited twice. So I guess that's why UA-cam recommends videos like yours. What about the fuel/transport costs that it takes to go to these places with free stuff? And the time taken to go get them. It's great and all but I wonder what are the costs in terms of effort taken to save the money? Where I live, food (fruits/veggies) and water are the cheapest items that money can buy. The TV, clothes and maybe meat are worth the effort. I wish we had something like this here, still. Unfortunately we have one of the most unequal societies on earth - with extremely poor people and super wealthy all living within kilometres of each other. We also have tons of dumpster divers and beggars who try their like everywhere - from fast food outlets to supermarkets to asking private individuals for stuff. Freegans here would be super poor people.
We don’t have to work normal working hours because we don’t need so much money. Hence we have more free time than others, some of which goes to activities such as these.
@@freeganinsingapore The world waste a lot of food as it is and there's truly a lot of people that are starving and I applaud you guys for doing what you're doing and hopefully that the stuff you guys rescue can also help the poor or destitute in Singapore
They don’t trade their lifetime for more money to then have it circulated back and therefore i think they live a more unhinged life . Can’t imagine having the time if you need to service too many loans ..
@@dd-dd2coI retired in 2019. My savings and investments are sufficient for my daily expenses, which are very low. However, if I need funding in any particular year for whatever reason e.g. travel, etc., I will take on ad hoc projects, such as ghostwriting, copywriting, etc or part-time work, to earn what I need for the year.
it's better than going to bed hungry, but probably not a great thing for those who can afford it. It may work in countries where there is universal healthcare, not so much in countries do not. Freeganism appears to be a new concept, i wonder if there are long term study on health impact from Freeganism for extended amount of period. There are things that kills you slowly, just becuz someone isn't feeling it hard the day of, it doesn't mean they're not damaging themselves slowly.
@@Steven-xf8mz There's an article in the ST today about how the consumption of ultra processed food that we consume is killing us slowly. Being freegan has given me access to lots of fresh vegetables and fruits which now make up the bulk of my diet. I think this helps to keep me healthy. That, and not having to work, so there's far less stress in my life.
@@freeganinsingapore there is definitely some truth to what you are saying. I am not so sure if what you're recommending is the key to longevity. I do acknowledge that we are all different and we must find our own ways to live. Best of Luck!
Can't say they are 100% free when you still need to travel to get the staffs but unless they are nearby and you use bicycle. Living not free but cheaply is what I would say.
Try to raise a family as freegan. I'll bet most these guys are single. This works in a small community of trusted donors. In canada, we have food banks for the poor. Donated food that is redistributed. There are donation boxes for clothing and larger items. They are resold, reused, or donated for charity programs. But these programs require government, institutions, private and public, logistics, and warehousing assistance. The SG model is a grass roots community program.
Farms are usually located in the hard-to-reach places. To collect these, we need a vehicle and a willing volunteer to go collect. We always have difficulty finding people willing to go the distance to collect.
@@freeganinsingapore Singapore isnt that big, its a pity , all that wastage. I hope you find a volunteer willing to go. It would be a worthwhile " field" trip too.
@@lindc1070 We did a calculation before. It costs about $18 in petrol to go to the farm each time. If you do it daily, it's over $500 a month, and this doesn't include the time taken to make the trip and do the distribution. Given the cost of private transport in Singapore, most people who have a vehicle to do this need to have a job to sustain the vehicle, and as a result, don't have the time to volunteer to do this daily. There is also the environmental aspect. Food waste in farms tend to be composted and fed back into the soil, which causes lower environmental damage compared to food waste in businesses, which are incinerated and sent to the landfill in Semakau. Hence, we weighed the pros and cons and realised that given limited resources, it's more effective to rescue food from businesses than from farms. Naturally if we had unlimited resources, we could do both. But we work with what we have. There are food rescue groups that rescue from urban farms and those not located in far-off places though.
Just collect whatever is enough to last for a day or two, don't take the whole cart back home thinking of you are the only one who can not afford to pay for a meal in Singapore but can afford to live in a big house. Please leave some for other real freegans who are actually poorer than you , homeless and cash less in life.🤔
It's interesting that this has made it to Singapore. I'm from California. Freegans generally are the worst sort of people here. 😂 It's refreshing to see a different take on that.
Has the influx of homeless people and drug addicts in your state caused tensions between them and the freegan community? Like for example inflating competition over dumpster diving etc.
That’s because the target audience (and the producer) are not freegans. 😅 Must give some supporting numbers, otherwise members of the audience can’t relate.
@@randomdigressyeah, there are some people like that. But hoarding is a mental disorder. People like that can’t help themselves. They will hoard stuff, whether free or not.
im not a freegan but im all for reducing waste and saving the environment! So this video is awesome!
Lies again? Free Meals
The fact his job is a nature walk guide really gives an idea how healthy his mind would be
Nd doing this freegan stuff
true
My neighbour once threw out a bunch of vinyl records into our communal staircase disposal area. I scooped them up then sold them all on discogs. Some of them were worth a small fortune and my neighbour had no idea of the resale value. Dumpster diving can get you some real gems if you know what to look for
my neighbour threw out his entire CD collection including the shelf… i saw a few of my other neighbours pick through and keep some. i don’t have any cd player (and no car no laptop) so didn’t think to look
I think this is a wonderful lifestyle! This type of community looks out for one another and minimize tonnage of wastes. I believe the capacity to give and receive is one of the crucial components to be happy.
agree
The hand needs to be open to give and receive 😊
"I learn to focus on my needs, rather than my want" -> love this!
I rent a place in a condo and I am just amazed by the stuff that the residents throw into the dumpster. I got two working chairs, baby chair, baby table, shoe rack, plant rack, small BBQ pit, small back osim massager, nice world map poster, tennis rackets all free...
Is the same with my HDB estate in bukit batok, ppl throwing away good condition coffee table, tv rack and chairs. Ends up free furniture for my reale unit and sale in carousell.
Only those who have tons of $$$$$$$
Will continuously spend unwisely and waste
Same!
I’ve salvaged items from my condo disposal and carousell free items. My condo residents are so wasteful they just throw so many useable items.
a broken iwatch under warranty that apple accepted and replaced with a functional iwatch, cast iron cookware, designer clothes. I’ve realised many material needs are free, I now ignore the stigma attached with dumpster diving
Yea!!!! Whoever threw that away was too lazy to check the warranty. Condo dumpster diving is the best . So many household items . the cleaners hoard the good stuff for themselves , they help themselves to free bicycles etc
@@plinb8 yes very true, I often see them taking out items from the crates and recycle bins. Plus the annual tagging of bicycles results in a lot of bicycles being removed...which are eventually sold or disposed off.
I like how he started saying free and showing a bunch of free stuff. Amazing
I'm a Filipino tourist in SG way back 2019 and stayed there for 3mos. I kid you not I got tons of food, chocolates, and school supplies to take back home, my family was confused where I got the money to buy everything. The most expensive thing I got from Olio was a Gucci Handbag (mint condition) and some jewelry! I also got to explore the whole country when I do pickups/meetups on HDB flats on locations tourists won't consider even going. The most bizarre I picked up was a sourdough starter 😊
Wow real gucci?
@@hannesRSA The point is that, as much as possible, they're minimizing their impact to the cycle of consumerism.
By taking something that somebody else does not want anymore, they're helping the environment and their wallet.
This is why what this Filipino did is still freeganism.
This video brings so much awareness , of the extreme opposite spectrum of excessive consumerism , such that even if not going full time freeganism , cutting down the excessive buying leading to waste is good enough for the environment and leaving enough behind for the nextgen
The funny thing is, this freeganism is really only possible in a society of excessive consumerism.
Thanks to the production team and for the host to try freegan lifestyle, and thanks for giving the audience the chance to experience it with you. Kudos to Hanzhong, David and all the guests in this episode, for your effort and care for the community. The production team did a wonderful job in making this episode entertaining too. I don't do dumpster diving, but I do try to refuse, reuse, repurpose, and recycle as much as I can. 🥰
Thanks to this video, I am now a part-time Freegan 😊.
Yup. It is great to see someone understanding the importance of wastage and substability living
Yea..it's possible..I too live on only $10-20 per month..I just buy 5 packs of flour and make my own bread 🍞 and mantou every day...
The rescue food community really interesting for me
Instead of throwing away the vegetables and fish that still edible or still in good condition, they rescued it and share it to their community
It reduce so much food waste
This is a wonderful way to not only reduce waste but also create community ❤
In today's world whereby wastage is wonton, it is heartening to see people sharing stuff and reducing the amount of waste 🥰!
wanton*
Wonderful! In the US it's amazing how many (fixable) things are
thrown away; not to mention wasted food. i recycle, use or fix &
sell what i've found for 50 years and saved oodles of money : ))
respect the effort and motivation behind such a lifestyle 👍
Yeah, try taking from me... ... the entire brand new looking bottle of tonic drink... ... infected by TB, the solid teak wood looking so nice... ... white mites... ...
See the point?
Whatever a god discards, it is discarded for GOOD reason. Take... ... and be prepared for the consequence. Hahahahahaha... ...
I am UK resident . Recently discovered- “ too good to go “ & I m hooked . So impressed & glad re: how much I save money & food from wasting .
honestly freegan sharing and frugality are the way of the future. prices arent going down when people are willing and having to pay them.
I like the community aspect, salvaging game and bartering system. It seems more fun and awarding than wastefully getting whatever you want when you want it with minimal social-interaction or effort.
Inspired by this video a lot! My fav section in supermarkets in KL 🇲🇾 is Reduced to Clear, 50% off section ; Food cooked in afternoon on the same day will be 50% off after 7pm / bottled milk about to expire in 4-5 days / poultry packed a day earlier / dried food about to reach its expiry in 2-3 months.. sometimes even up to 70% off ❤❤❤ ... I wish 🇲🇾 has this brilliant community, apps too ❤
Thanks for sharing about your experiences in Malaysia! Would you consider kickstarting a sharing community in your neighbourhood with sharing apps mentioned in this episode?
Nice. Singapore in this aspect is not as big.
@@hangchong would love to :)
Where?
Hi which app is this ?
My neighbor said in Hawaii, his neighbors would exchange food that they planted. So now he always give me free food. When I have extra stuff I don’t want, I give it to him.
In status conscious Singapore, these guys are heroes
I'm not that hot about the dumpster diving, but idea of building a sharing community is amazing!
Yeah, there's no real need to dumpster dive anymore, unless you don't have a community to get free shared items from. Conversely, dumpster diving is a good way to get unlimited amounts of stuff to give away, and start a community from there.
@@freeganinsingapore Thank you for sharing your freegan insights! I'm really going to reconsider how I handle my supplies, considering how I tend to overbuy stuff that I end up not using. I've always thought people would feel offended if I tried to give it to them, but I think it's really who I give that matters more!
I'll be sure to remember to give more the next time I visit Singapore... This seems like an amazing community.
having studied in australia.. i noticed there was alot of really good furniture/items to be thrown which is a real big waste. This happens when students were going back to their home country for good or if renters finish their rental period and have to move and just want to reduce the things they bring
minimizes so much waste.. this is a great movement
I was only in Singapore for three short years, but felt a huge connection with SG and still have an active interest, despite being back in the UK. I was saddened to see that even in Singapore, people had developed the "UK curse", where perfectly good produce would be thrown away because it wasnt the right shape, size etc. In the UK recently, supermarkets introduced "wonky vegetables", where previously un-sellable produce is sold cheaper (we are talking odd shaped carrots, bell peppers that didnt quite ripen and are say half green/half orange). There is nothing wrong with them, but many people are obsessed with how these things look - and then cut them into small pieces to make a sauce/stir fry!!! Madness. Some supermarkets even offer a whole box of vegetables for £1 (S$1.70) because they need to be used that day/by the next day. If you are organised and can do something with them - its a huge saving. I am a consumer for sure, but hate waste...so while I would never "dumpster dive", this concept of basically swapping "things" is admirable - it saves waste, which is something we should all be doing these days. Brilliant episode and shows that even in a very expensive city, you can save money.
this is not a UK curse, even people who haven't even been the the UK or heard much about it are super ungrateful and throw away many products as if money falls from the sky. and these are not exactly wealthy people but everyday yous and mes. ungrateful society, I've been here for 25 years btw
@@daschund7680 While I enjoy buying things as much as the next person, I tend to buy less - but better quality things. I hate the "disposable shopping" that is normal these days - buy clothes for super cheap and then throw them away after two washes and buy more. Buy less, buy good quality and things last longer - not just for clothes.
Not exclusive to UK, that's just how rich western countries run things. Waste, waste, waste. And seeing Singapore is at the top of South East Asia, they're going to do the same thing.
I admire how dedicated they are to saving the environment and minimising wastage however I’m equally disturbed by the potential un-cleanliness of food products especially the safety of fresh produce (specifically referring to dumpster diving). Also I’m so afraid of cockroaches, especially the thought of bringing them home. I feel like this is more trouble than it’s worth. ❤
For me personally, I’ll stick to minimising unnecessary consumption and better planning for the things that I need to buy. I feel like one of the things that stump people the most is not being mindful enough about their buying and I think being able to correctly estimating the actual amount of food that your household consumes goes a long way to reducing food waste in general.
Yes me too. I won't go to that extent for food due to hygiene issues too.
definitely wouldn't recommend dumpster diving for food in particular yes
My grocery store updated its entire floor plan and I took home the juice, soy sauce, and honey that were beyond the best buy date. I'm not dumpster diving for food though.
love rozz's voice and energy!!
actually love this phenomenon
I like that Daniel the Freegan lives in a Landed House in Singapore. :)
The freegan lifestyle is not just for HDB dwellers like HanZhong, but also for those who stay in landed houses.
Had dreamt of something like this but only with skill where we can give what we know for free in exchange for food and stay. Truly scarring to have to quote just to make rent. I voiced so much and they took me down. Finding my way amidst this system. Only the waste and packaging aspect of this is bothersome otherwise a good concept of having what someone doesn’t need. Love what he says about focusing on the needs more than the wants. Truly what possibilities could happen when we look outside the box. What a wasteful peak of human kind. Mind boggling. At the end of the day every human needs so little yet look at the current reality. Thanks for sharing this.
It is actually easy to do this ESPECIALLY in rich area full of consumerism....
Inspiring- we have so much. Love the community.
Love this! Wish the US had more of this
Using good food that has been thrown away is never freeloading it’s literally saving waste ❤
It's always good to live life simple & economical way with basic necessities
May God bless you good people. Great lifestyle - helping others and youself and controlling wastage. Great community!
didnt know there is such app, thanks to this program
Great lifestyle, great!
Regards.
Mrs. Ragone
I don't think I'll doing this ever. But it really puts into perspective how much food is wasted. I'm looking at my grocery list now and realized about 1/3 of the items aren't really needed.
this is what kind of knowledge i need right now
These folks are amazing 👏
Love him! Go extra mile for the environment! Not a lot of people can do so much for the environment nowadays most kids are spoiled
Wonderful! But surely this can only work in rich, expensive, compact cities like Singapore, Melbourne, Frankfurt, Berlin, possibly London, Sydney, Tokyo, NY (coz each borough is large enough to be a compact community in its own right). But how would it work in poorer, cheaper countries like Thailand or Cambodia?
The dinner with rescue food was my favorite.
I'm not a freegan but I try to seek out free blessings on apps, or give things I don't need on the apps as well.
I wish there is also community like this in indonesia 😭😭 I want free too
Wow what an awesome idea💡
I respect the willpower to go freegan, if I have the same willpower, I will be now retired.
I love the term Freegan 😂 you should put that in the Urban Dictionary so you can get the word of the day.
Respect. Smashed the like, we can all waste less =)
indeed sharing is caring movement.
Love this ❤
Like to suggest that the government encourages an extension of all RCs or RNs for residents to place their unwanted or still good items for exchange. Many do not have the time to send items all the way to salvation army etc or the know how to sell them on carousel.
Actually love this!
Fascinating, this is why i take advantage of free things. Why waste?
walaowey! so good leh
Whoa I like this idea!
Inspiring😱😱!!
it's not bad, if everyone is sharing and reusing items, the amount of garbage produced will be reduced significantly, but in the other hand companies might not like it lul
Actually, some of our biggest supporters are companies that give us the food or items that they cannot sell. For food, it's practically on a daily basis, because the owners are also aware of the amount of food waste that they generate, but they don't have the network or resources to distribute the food on their own.
@@freeganinsingapore Do you get food from hotel and restaurants. Theres so much wastage there.
Everytime I want to buy something it comes back to: do I want it? Or do i really need it? Try not to waste as much as possible..
The narrator should be more upfront. She is calculating the value of the free stuff she received and is crediting it as savings. However, if she was not intending to buy that stuff to begin with she isn't saving anything. So, just think of it as freebies not as savings.
I think Asia is slow to adapt. I have been a volunteer on Olio since its inception. I count myself as one of the very first few users of the app since way back before the pandemic. Of course you have to live in a place where it is used frequently. The food that restaurants or shops are going to throw out will be listed on there. It is good for the environment as those food would otherwise be bound for the bin. Europeans are more open to the idea of reducing waste, reusing, recycling and second-hand. Americans tend to have prejudice for people who take leftover food as they believe it is only the "lower income" people who do it. Asians tends to always have preference for buying new furniture or equipment (not second hand). It is not about being "cheap" or stingy. It is about saving environment as you can imagine the amount of items we throw out every day be it food and belongings.
Actually it was the freegan community in Singapore that popularised the use of the Olio app here. We helped the app to get the critical number of users to make it useful.
@@freeganinsingapore Have you seen the user base in London/Europe? I am not based out in Asia. I am based out in Europe. Olio was founded in the UK. I am not sure about the number of users out in Singapore or Asia. The last I search it was very low or close to nothing. I have used Olio and am a volunteer on Olio since the initial years it was founded.
@@freeganinsingapore I am not sure whether there is volunteer opportunity out in Asia, but I can give you some insight to how it works. You can start of as a squad captain by approaching restaurants or shops and come to an agreement with the restaurant/shops that volunteers will come every evening just before closing hours to collect the food waste. You can arrange a volunteer schedule through the app and volunteer will collect the food and distribute it in the community by listing it on the app. The volunteer get to keep 10% of the waste and distribute the 90%. Trust me for every store/restaurant, there is definitely a lot of waste everyday as there is no way for stores or restaurants to accurately predict how much food they should cook and prepare each day. They always tend to overestimate so that they don't run into circumstances where they run out of food to serve the customers for the day. Ideally the data they can from the food they are throwing out will help them in future estimation and planning, but the system of food management to reduce waste is never perfect.
@@freeganinsingapore Saying that. I am not a freegan myself, but I am a big believer we should not be building more waste in our landfill or throwing out food that requires a lot of energy to produce. Imagine each bread requires someone to plant the wheat, to fertilize the crop, to harvest the crop, to produce the bread before it arrives to you. We cannot keep plundering the earth in such an unsustainable manner. Hence, my believe in recycle, reuse, second-hand, do not throw food away.
@@zizi1005 When I first joined Olio in 2016, there were only about 2,000 users here. They were mostly people who had heard of Olio overseas and wanted to try it here. But because there were so few active users, people who wanted to give away food couldn't find anyone to take the food so they didn't actively use it to give away food. This led to the problem that people who wanted food, couldn't find anyone to collect from.
It was not uncommon to hear people who said that they tried the app, but the nearest person to collect food from was in India.
This changed around 2018, when the practice of food sharing became more common in Singapore, thanks to freeganism. Many people were unfortunately misusing one of my Facebook groups to give away food. Over 3 months, the freegan community helped shift all these people onto Olio. This increased the number of users from 2,000 to 20,000.
Olio's head office, seeing the spike in users, sent a representative to Singapore to find out why Singapore was the only country that Olio use grew organically without the need for any marketing. I met her when she was here to explain how we did it. After that, they put in some funding for marketing. Currently, there are over 100,000 users here, which is fantastic for a city with a population of 5.5 million.
Last year, Olio started the Singapore office. They have partnered with a food delivery app called FoodPanda to collect their unsold food using their Food Waste Hero system, I believe. The freegan community already does this with many businesses, but I suppose Olio's international presence makes it easier to partner with larger businesses.
No matter how much you have, if you give away anything with good intent, you feel like a million dollars.
So true.
Lol, he should be quite rich (with good savings) since he has a regular salary by being a guide, yet he does not spend .. got his food, clothes, household fittings , furnitures for free.
good choice for a husband. HAHAHAHA. u need to be a freegan to be with him though.
I think such people would need to seek help first before they go into a relationship, his hoarding behaviour stems from insecurities.
I don't think he's hoarding though; the amount given by one commercial shop is usually way too much for one person. Even after giving away the bulk of it, you are still left with plenty. Sometimes people don't realise how much goes to waste if there's nobody, e.g. freegans to collect it
We also pay via fees and charges, both real and hidden. We have among the most sophisticated systems in the world for charging for road usage, and owning a car is 3 to 4 times more expensive than elsewhere in the world. Our public housing embeds land costs, which can get inflated, and runs the risk of adding to an already-unbearable cost of living. HDB grants offset some of this burden, but it’s unclear whether these go disproportionately toward those who need help the most.
Giving unwanted stuff to those who need help the most may sometimes do more harm than good, because they find it demeaning, and robs them of their dignity.
This, we learned, from our years of experience from trying to give these things to those who need the most help.
Nowadays we simply invite anyone, rich or poor, over or underprivileged, to try out this lifestyle for themselves.
I like rozz hair style, like cool sia
I have so so so much things (many brand new!) to give for free. But when I put it up for free on Carousell, people are asking to meet at a convenient place instead of picking it up at my place (minutes from MRT). End up I think it’s not worth it to go out to give something free, I just throw things away instead. Sigh…
even worse. many people are ungrateful and unappreciative. Multiple occasions when i gave away free good condition high quality stuff and there is a long queue of people wanting it. they book a place and time to collect and then i send them reminder, yet they never turn up also never tell they not coming and dont reply. Many hours later will give excuses like they stay very far and ask to meet again. other group of people take and dont bother to leave good review. very disappointed with human.
Quite a cool idea!
Such a good work. I know someone who is working in a hotel / restaurants - they have been throwing a lot of food wastes. There could be more work done. 👍
I give out a lot; I collect a lot too. It get get circulated & used.
The only free I can think of is my printer. My dad saw a neighbor was on the way to throw it in the trash, and he asked if its still working. The neighbor told him it is still working, but they just upgraded to a new printer. He brought it home, and I saw it. It was dusty, but I decided to wipe it. I put it in my room and bought new inks (nervous it is not working). we have our own printer, but I decided to keep this one. Months later, our printer broke. But, my printer still works. I have printed so many things with it. School? paper? clubs? church? did it all thanks to that printer.
It was broken once. the blue just didnt come out. I refused to let it go and watched youtube video. Turned out I can clean the printer thing(idk what it is), and blue is working well again✨
#SlavaUkrayina, excellent strategy to reduce waste and keep Singaporean quality and culture alive.
16:57 look at Barbara 's epic expression...
Waaw😮,amazing
wow, I didn't know that the average spending per person per month is $3000. My family earns a decent amount and that include 450 for parents and 450 for housing loan.
Remaining 2k, we spend on all other stuff like food, transport, bills and things we want (not need). and out of that 2k, 750 is spend on investing which we treat it as expenses until our retirement age. So actual spending as an entire family is $1350 only on average.
Is there a freegan group in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia?
I have a lot of items people throw out or left behind by my tenants.
I pack & give away to struggling single mums group.
start one like nike says just do it
@@TeohLieongChuan Who is this Nike you mentioned? I hope I could meet him.
Interesting
Thanks for the video, Hope this would happen in Canada where I live.
WOw my idol
Very nice❤❤❤❤❤
For food,what if someone put posion in food??
I don't live in Singapore but have visited twice. So I guess that's why UA-cam recommends videos like yours.
What about the fuel/transport costs that it takes to go to these places with free stuff? And the time taken to go get them. It's great and all but I wonder what are the costs in terms of effort taken to save the money?
Where I live, food (fruits/veggies) and water are the cheapest items that money can buy. The TV, clothes and maybe meat are worth the effort. I wish we had something like this here, still. Unfortunately we have one of the most unequal societies on earth - with extremely poor people and super wealthy all living within kilometres of each other. We also have tons of dumpster divers and beggars who try their like everywhere - from fast food outlets to supermarkets to asking private individuals for stuff. Freegans here would be super poor people.
Did you end up giving anything instead of just taking? Just curious
He got that "freegan" look. They who know, know.
How do these freegans find time to go to the wholesale centres during weekdays?
We don’t have to work normal working hours because we don’t need so much money. Hence we have more free time than others, some of which goes to activities such as these.
@@freeganinsingapore The world waste a lot of food as it is and there's truly a lot of people that are starving and I applaud you guys for doing what you're doing and hopefully that the stuff you guys rescue can also help the poor or destitute in Singapore
They don’t trade their lifetime for more money to then have it circulated back and therefore i think they live a more unhinged life . Can’t imagine having the time if you need to service too many loans ..
@@freeganinsingapore What sort of jobs do you do? This is very interesting especially in a money grabbing society like Singapore.
@@dd-dd2coI retired in 2019. My savings and investments are sufficient for my daily expenses, which are very low.
However, if I need funding in any particular year for whatever reason e.g. travel, etc., I will take on ad hoc projects, such as ghostwriting, copywriting, etc or part-time work, to earn what I need for the year.
it's better than going to bed hungry, but probably not a great thing for those who can afford it. It may work in countries where there is universal healthcare, not so much in countries do not. Freeganism appears to be a new concept, i wonder if there are long term study on health impact from Freeganism for extended amount of period. There are things that kills you slowly, just becuz someone isn't feeling it hard the day of, it doesn't mean they're not damaging themselves slowly.
Life. Life kills you slowly. One day at a time. 🤣
@@freeganinsingapore life is a game where it doesn't reset. So as long as you're still alive, you still have a chance, no matter how small it may be.
@@Steven-xf8mz There's an article in the ST today about how the consumption of ultra processed food that we consume is killing us slowly. Being freegan has given me access to lots of fresh vegetables and fruits which now make up the bulk of my diet. I think this helps to keep me healthy. That, and not having to work, so there's far less stress in my life.
@@freeganinsingapore there is definitely some truth to what you are saying. I am not so sure if what you're recommending is the key to longevity. I do acknowledge that we are all different and we must find our own ways to live. Best of Luck!
Qk's fan club.
How about electric and water bill? Is it also free? 🤔
Can't say they are 100% free when you still need to travel to get the staffs but unless they are nearby and you use bicycle. Living not free but cheaply is what I would say.
Try to raise a family as freegan. I'll bet most these guys are single. This works in a small community of trusted donors. In canada, we have food banks for the poor. Donated food that is redistributed. There are donation boxes for clothing and larger items. They are resold, reused, or donated for charity programs. But these programs require government, institutions, private and public, logistics, and warehousing assistance. The SG model is a grass roots community program.
Veg farms in Singapore are throwing away veg due to over supply. How abt collecting these and distributing to those who need?
Farms are usually located in the hard-to-reach places. To collect these, we need a vehicle and a willing volunteer to go collect.
We always have difficulty finding people willing to go the distance to collect.
@@freeganinsingapore Singapore isnt that big, its a pity , all that wastage. I hope you find a volunteer willing to go. It would be a worthwhile " field" trip too.
@@lindc1070 We did a calculation before. It costs about $18 in petrol to go to the farm each time. If you do it daily, it's over $500 a month, and this doesn't include the time taken to make the trip and do the distribution.
Given the cost of private transport in Singapore, most people who have a vehicle to do this need to have a job to sustain the vehicle, and as a result, don't have the time to volunteer to do this daily.
There is also the environmental aspect. Food waste in farms tend to be composted and fed back into the soil, which causes lower environmental damage compared to food waste in businesses, which are incinerated and sent to the landfill in Semakau. Hence, we weighed the pros and cons and realised that given limited resources, it's more effective to rescue food from businesses than from farms.
Naturally if we had unlimited resources, we could do both. But we work with what we have. There are food rescue groups that rescue from urban farms and those not located in far-off places though.
@@freeganinsingapore makes sense, thanks for explaining
Can’t talk about singapore but world hunger basically besides corruption only still exists because logistics aren’t free.
TBH I love the reducing waste of this. SOOO much food goes to waste cause its " ugly" but still very good at the stores.
Unbelievable that it takes the regular folks to initiate these efforts. While govt with all the resources not sure what is done.
Just collect whatever is enough to last for a day or two, don't take the whole cart back home thinking of you are the only one who can not afford to pay for a meal in Singapore but can afford to live in a big house. Please leave some for other real freegans who are actually poorer than you , homeless and cash less in life.🤔
It's interesting that this has made it to Singapore. I'm from California. Freegans generally are the worst sort of people here. 😂 It's refreshing to see a different take on that.
Can u elaborate how they are bad . I'm curious!! I'm guessing why already but just wanna hear lol
^
Has the influx of homeless people and drug addicts in your state caused tensions between them and the freegan community? Like for example inflating competition over dumpster diving etc.
@@silverchairsgnope. There’s more than enough to go around.
@@jessicagomez8775 basically freegan don't contribute much to society.
Putting a value to the money saved from the freegan lifestyle doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the movement
That’s because the target audience (and the producer) are not freegans. 😅 Must give some supporting numbers, otherwise members of the audience can’t relate.
@@freeganinsingapore I can already see many people who just want to hoard free stuff invading the space 😅
@@randomdigressyeah, there are some people like that. But hoarding is a mental disorder. People like that can’t help themselves. They will hoard stuff, whether free or not.
I am a paygan - everything I own I paid.