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'I LVE EATING OTHER PEOPLE'S RUBBISH'

DUMPSTER-DIVING MIGHT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING TEENAGE TEARAWAYS WOULD DO, BUT IT’S THE NEW WAY TO EAT FOR FREE. HERE, ONE ‘FREEGAN’ EXPLAINS WHY SHE DINES ON WHAT OTHERS LEAVE BEHIND

By Ella Parmley

Under cover of darkness, Star Khechara quietly pulls herself up onto a rubbish skip and looks around before diving in.

A few minutes later she emerges triumphant, clutching a selection of fruit, vegetables and chocolate which will provide her with her evening meal.

But Star, 32, is not homeless or destitute. In fact, she is a nutritionist and model – and one of hundreds of people around the country embracing ‘freeganism' as an alternative way of living.

Devotees believe in trying to save the environment by surviving on discarded food.

Supermarkets generate 1.6 million tons of food waste a year, throwing away five per cent of their food every day which ends up buried in Britain's landfill sites.

Such is the growing popularity of freeganism that there's an online magazine dedicated to it, and even an online freegan cooking show providing tips and recipes.

"Most people would turn their noses up at the thought of looking through supermarket skips, but you'd be amazed at the amount of good food that's thrown away every day," explains Star.

"By using it to feed myself, I'm helping to cut down on terrible food waste."

Star became a vegetarian at 18, after reading about battery farming.

At the same time she moved out of the home she shared in Plymouth with her mother, into a flat with two fellow A-level students.

With all of them struggling for money, one of Star's flatmates suggested they give freeganism a try after hearing about its popularity in America.

A few days later, the three housemates embarked on their first freegan expedition to a local supermarket skip.

"It was very exciting," says Star. "The bins smelt, but not as bad as I thought they would. We found bags of potatoes, and lettuces and apples still in their packaging. Most of the sell-by dates were that day.

"We also found lots of chocolate bars still in their wrappers which were out of date that day, so we took them home and made chocolate crispy buns."

For Star, the experience was a real eye-opener. Disgusted at how much good food was being wasted on a daily basis, she decided to become a full-time freegan.

Now, she buys basics such as soya milk and tinned food, but sifts through skips three nights a week searching for perishables including sandwiches, cakes, bread, fruit and vegetables.

She calculates this saves her at least £30 a week on grocery shopping.

"The argument is simple," she says. "Every day, perfectly good food is thrown away because its sell-by date is up, or the packaging is damaged. By being a freegan, I'm doing my bit for the environment and saving myself money at the same time."

Star doesn't just take food home with her. Her bedroom is kitted out with furniture she's found in skips and bins. She's also found chests of drawers, rugs, a pine bookshelf, a tape recorder and rattan blinds still in their packaging.

When Star married her boyfriend Martin in a low-key ceremony in 2003, she even persuaded him to join her skip-diving expeditions.

"Martin was cool when I told him how I lived my life," she says. "He didn't come out with me to find food, but he did enjoy finding furniture in skips. We once found a greenhouse that had been dismantled, so we took it home and rebuilt it."

Star and Martin are now separated, but she has dated casually since then and says other men are intrigued by her lifestyle too.

"It's who I am and it's important to me," she explains. "I wouldn't dream of bringing it up on a first date, but I'm confident enough to tell guys all about it if I really like them."

Star says that local supermarkets in Plymouth have now started destroying food by pouring bleach over it, or locking up their skips to stop freegans getting at them, fearing they could be sued if someone gets food poisoning.

So Star and the friends who skip dive with her now have to travel further afield to large rural supermarkets to source their free food.

Technically, they run the risk of being charged with stealing or trespassing every time they forage in skips – but to date, no supermarkets have taken action against them.

Star believes she should be rewarded rather than punished for doing her bit to cut down on food waste.

"I know what I'm doing is against the law, but it shouldn't be," she says. "The food has been thrown away by supermarkets and shops. It's only going to be thrown onto refuse sites, so why shouldn't we use it?"