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Jeff Ferrell, garbage guru

Sociology professor sees treasure in other peoples’ trash.

Jeff Ferrell, garbage guru

Sociology professor Jeff Ferrell says the Dumpster-diving culture is led by immigrants and those motivated by ethical and political beliefs.

Jeff Ferrell, garbage guru

Sociology professor sees treasure in other peoples’ trash.

As an expert in Dumpster diving, sociology professor Jeff Ferrell has managed to land in the middle of the cultural zeitgeist.

“Dumpster diving is the intersection of two major issues we’re dealing with today — sustainability and the down economy,” says Ferrell, who was tapped to deliver the AddRan Distinguished Lecture in March, which included a $2,000 honorarium.

Ferrell, author of Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving, Trash Picking and Street Scavenging, has become something of a media darling recently, being interviewed by the Associated Press and “NBC Nightly News” among others. He even did a television pilot titled “Waste Deep” where he and friends build a house using found materials — think Ty Pennington meets the garbage man. Independent producers pitched it to the Discovery Channel about a year ago.

“Right now it’s important to get these ideas out, not just to students but to the greater community,” Ferrell says.

The ideas include Ferrell’s research on underground groups he believes make a city dynamic — not your typical economic development types, but skateboard punks, street musicians, graffiti artists, bicycle activists and the homeless. He’s spent years doing his own field research, living the lifestyle of these groups, most recently the subculture of dumpster diving.

“I had some sense of it — that people could live from a Dumpster, but I wanted to experience it myself,” he says. “I found this entire world filled with all types of people, from the homeless to good-old-boys driving pick-ups and salvaging metal to the under-employed who come to the dump after work in their Wal-Mart uniforms. They’re there because they can’t feed and clothe their family on $7 an hour.”

He says other subgroups in the Dumpster-diving culture include immigrants and those motivated by ethical and political beliefs. He noted the Freegan movement came out of a group of vegans who believed they could have an even smaller carbon footprint by eating refuse that was already being thrown out by society.

“They voluntarily commit to living only from what they find in the trash,” he says.
Another group he has studied, Food Not Bombs, aims to take food that’s destined for the dump and use it to prepare meals for the homeless.

The fact that so many people can survive on garbage, says a lot about the over-consumption of Americans, he added.

“All the things they find are things that are not worn out, but things that no longer confer status because the fashion has changed,” he says. “Thanks to advertising, we’re totally driven by wants, not needs.”

Most days Ferrell hops on his bike or occasionally drives his ’94 Ford pickup for a 10-mile loop, perusing west Fort Worth in what he considers the ultimate treasure hunt. On a recent afternoon, he scored camera equipment, a small heater and vintage wooden finials.

“I’ll have to come back with friends to pick that up later,” he says spotting a 1939 cast iron tub being trashed in a bathroom renovation.

“Because I Dumpster dive, I find I have 10 of everything,” he says. “As technology changes, people throw away their older stuff. Like when iPods came out, people threw away their CDs. If you stay just one step behind, you’ll be set.”

Indeed most of his home décor and wardrobe were found in the trash. Most of his finds are given away or donated to charities.

He says going through people’s trash can be a poignant experience. Outside an apartment complex, he picks up a torn photo show showing one half of a happy wedding couple in a horse drawn carriage.

“You don’t have to guess what happened here,’’ he says, noting the photo was probably being thrown out post-divorce.  “But you wonder what went wrong.”

He pockets the torn photo and a 1970s era school photograph of a young girl, plus a couple of hunting photos he’s found.

Then it’s on to the next Dumpster.

“I’ve always been a scrounger,” he says, sifting through cardboard boxes behind a camera store. “I’ve always loved going out and seeing what I can find. It gets to be a way of seeing the world. You’re only looking for what can be re-used.”

Contact Ferrell at j.ferrell@tcu.edu.