For the uninitiated, freeganism is an anti-consumerist movement in which members refrain from participating in the conventional economy, live on minimal consumption of resources and employ alternative strategies, including dumper-diving, to sustain their day-to-day living.

In 2006, a Wesleyan student produced a documentary entitled “Operation Ivy: Dumpster Diving at Elite Colleges” that examined the proliferation of freeganism at Harvard and Yale. Today, however, the relatively niche movement has expanded onto every Ivy League campus.

At Princeton in particular, two students, Alex Barnard ’09 and Sean Gleason ’09, are paving the way for freeganism and hoping others join their just cause.

The Daily Princetonian reports:

“Freeganism is about living outside of capitalist consumerism, trying to live a lifestyle where there is no exchange of capital,” Gleason said. “When you look at the co-op, it’s about not exchanging capital for certain services.”

Salvaging discarded furniture is also a form of freeganism, Barnard said, noting that last year he observed several Princeton community members picking up furniture thrown out by students during move-out.

[…] “We as freegans choose to dumpster-dive because we try to make the best of living in a capitalist world,” Barnard said. “We want to change the world so we don’t have to dumpster-dive.”

Do you buy it, OTR?

Are freegans freedom fighters building a better tomorrow one dumpster-dive at a time, or are they simply anti-capitalist freeloaders?