Why this Toronto millennial dumpster dives for groceries

A Toronto millennial is dumpster diving for most of her groceries, and this is why she’s opting to go binning before buying.

Julia Pak, 37, has been pilfering through trash bins, finding food, makeup, and the occasional electronic (like a brand new Samsung refrigerator) behind grocery stores, pharmacies and strip malls throughout Toronto for about 20 years.

“At first, when I started doing it, I was doing it for my own reasons, I was poor at the time,” Pak told CTV News Toronto. “I just kept on doing it on and off since then because why would I pay for something if I knew I could get it for free.”

She typically unearths fruits, vegetables, and other food items – excluding dairy and raw meat during the summer – and takes her finds home or donates them to her local community fridge.

Some of the finds Julia Pak found dumpster diving in Toronto. (Courtesy of Julia Pak)

While there were times Pak said she relied on dumpster diving, she now mixes in buying groceries each month. 

“Mostly I balance it out, so I spend money on milk and stuff nowadays,” she said, adding she typically saves between $45 and $150 a month. 

Many Canadians are seeking ways to save at the grocery store as concerns surrounding elevated prices show no sign of slowing, after seeing exorbitantly priced chicken breast and “shrinkflation” tactics plaguing packaged items.

A Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for June revealed Canadians are still seeing higher grocery prices, with grapes, for example, taking the steepest price jump skyrocketing 30 per cent from May to June.

While it showed an inflation rate of 2.8 per cent year-over-year, CPI noted “Canadians continued to see elevated grocery prices (9.1 per cent).”

“We’re seeing the food inflation drop slowly,” Sylvain Charlebois, a professor and director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, told CTV’s Your Morning July 19. “As consumers, we should expect more deals but we shouldn’t be expecting food prices to drop.”

Pak said she isn’t diving as a way of dealing with inflation, but more so to prove that it is another viable option to find food and other goods.

@torontotrashpanda Why im making #dumpsterdiving ♬ original sound - TorontoTrashPanda

“I wouldn’t say that it’s for everybody, but if you are having a hard time, I understand that you might see this as an option – and that’s part of the reason why I started creating these [TikTok] videos,” she said.

Pak only recently started posting on TikTok about her finds throughout the city – sharing where she is, where the dumpsters are in that area and what she finds. She also shares tips on when is the best time to go diving (typically at night), and what to look out for.

“I’m just pointing out that it’s one option in terms of many but I would never advocate that somebody go into a store and steal,” she said. “But if you’re in need of food, definitely this is a viable option.”

IS IT LEGAL TO DUMPSTER DIVE?

In a 2009 Supreme Court of Canada decision, R. v. Patrick, it was decided individuals do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their garbage, noting if bags are “within easy reach of anyone walking by” the trash would be considered abandoned. However, if garbage is placed at or within reach of the property’s lot line, like if it’s placed on a porch or inside a garage, it would not be considered abandoned.

In Toronto, a spokesperson for the Municipal Licensing and Standards told CTV News Toronto in a statement there are no explicit bylaws for dumpster diving in the city.

However, sifting through garbage on private properties is considered trespassing.

“If it’s on public property, they can’t really charge you with trespassing,” Pak said. “I’ve never once been hassled or whatever for trespassing.”

HOW SAFE IS IT?

David Miller, a Carleton University professor for the department of chemistry specializing in food safety, told CTV News Toronto there are a lot of variables to consider about whether a food item is particularly safe to eat or not.

“It really does depend on you really looking at it with some knowledge, rather than learning the hard way,” Miller said.

Take an onion with some blackish mold on it, for example. Miller said if it’s not soft and you can cut it off from the outer layer, then you can use it. However, Miller said an orange with black mold inside would pose quite a bit of risk. Miller pointed to Eat or Toss, an online data base, as a resource to answer various visual types of questions about when something is safe to eat.

“There’s both a risk from fungus itself, some people are allergic to it – the common fungi that grows on fruit and vegetables – but also because they make poisons, and sometimes you might get enough to make you sick,” Miller said.

Miller said to would avoid meats and milk, but that dried goods from the trash should be fine so long as the packaging is in tact.

With files from CTV News’ Natasha O’Neill