Seven years, no groceries – just bin meals

I decided I wanted to study environmental management, rather than economics. It’s around this time that I also first spotted a dumpster-diving video on social media. I remember seeing somebody clambering into a bin - and returning with loads of good food

- Charlotte Cripps, The Independent

We never wasted food when I lived at home with my parents in Slovakia. We grew our own vegetables and fruits, and made jams and pickles from leftovers. Our food waste went to my grandma's chickens over the road, or was put into compost bins.

We were environmentally friendly, but I'd never heard of “dumpster diving” back then—or considered trying to save the planet.

In my late teens, I spent a summer season working in mountain chalets in High Tatras, Slovakia, where I met others who were environmentally friendly and connected to nature. I decided I wanted to study environmental management, rather than economics.

It's around this time that I also first spotted a dumpster-diving video on social media. I remember seeing somebody clambering into a bin — and returning with loads of good food.

I started searching the internet for more dumpster-diving content on other social media platforms.

In America, dumpster divers were retrieving everything, including furniture, outdoor equipment and clothing, but in Europe, it was mainly food.

At first, I was totally shocked by the amount of good-quality food being wasted — and I wanted to go and see for myself whether it was true or not.

I had a place to study at a business school in Aarhus, Denmark, and as soon as I arrived, I found the closest supermarket — not to go shopping there, but to check out the bins. I cycled 10 minutes down the road late at night because I wanted to remain invisible.

I'd done a dumpster dive in Vienna a few months before, after finding a group of dumpster divers on Facebook, but it was my first time doing it in Denmark.

I was scared of what people would think. I didn’t know the rules — it was only my first day.