Steph Miller's first dumpster diving experience was shocking, but not for the reasons you might expect.
Dumpster divers have a code: leave it clean after you are done there, never contribute to the waste or mess, and only take what you can use. Photo: Unknown
One night a few years ago I found myself among a group of punks and Greenpeace workers in a car going what they called “dumpstering”.
At the time, I thought these people were crazy. I’d never imagined finding food in bins that I would actually be willing to eat.
The experience was shocking for a number of reasons, but not for those I expected.
We ran into a whole bunch of different people dumpstering with us; travellers and backpackers, and everyday people I would never expect to see in a bin sifting through rubbish. When I spoke to these people, particularly the backpackers and travellers – they told me their countries would never waste as much as we do.
The food in the bins were sometimes not even expired, things were thrown out because of a dent, a tear, overstocking, or other cosmetic reasons.
The dumpster divers had a code: leave it clean after you are done there, never contribute to the waste or mess, and only take what you can use. Whoever finds something first has first dibs, but a lot of trading happens between dumpster divers; they spread around and swap what they score which each other.
That night and all the delicious meals we made for days afterwards have stuck in my mind ever since. I just couldn’t believe that no one seemed to want to do anything about preventing all of this good food from going to landfill.
Last year, while studying film production at Victoria University, the opportunity came to shed some light on the subject. I was lucky enough to be partnered with an amazing group of talented people that all excelled in their areas and helped me to bring Wasteland to life.
When my pitch was accepted I had a momentary freak out: I had to somehow find interesting people to be part of the film. Dumpster divers don’t exactly want to advertise the best spots or how they do it or who they are.
I’d met Nobbs a few years ago through some mutual friends in Auckland, where I was living at the time. We were both regulars at punk gigs but weren’t particularly close friends at the time – we just knew of each other.
He’d also moved to Wellington, and we arranged to meet up with him. As soon as we got talking I felt instantly at ease about the film. I knew I’d found someone that fit the exact vision I had for the story of Wasteland.
Nobbs is the best kind of person to tell a story like this and as we spoke my image for the film shifted and morphed into the kind of quirky personal journey. Not only are all of his experiences and ideas genuine, but he is also a lovable interesting character. He is an extremely intelligent and caring individual. Through the process of making Wasteland, the crew and I became good friends with Nobbs.
In the beginning, the crew was a mix of nerves, doubts and excitement. I originally worried if they would be willing to climb through rubbish bins with Nobbs and I at all hours of the morning. Before we really explored this lifestyle most of the crew couldn’t imagine doing something like this – just as I had felt years ago.
As soon as the crew’s eyes were opened to the food waste problem in New Zealand, Wasteland became a passionate project for everyone involved. There was a real sense of importance in not manipulating our audience and being respectful to our subjects – I really feel like we managed to let the facts speak for themselves. We all had a sense of purpose about the film, and we were all on the same page about what we really wanted to say.