ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on street scavengers of North America and their shared culture. Although there is literature focused on scavengers in other countries, there are significant differences in activities and O’Niell and Pacheco-Vega suggest the specific nuances of scavenging necessitate a country-specific analysis. Street scavenging is a dirty and potentially dangerous job. The daily activities engaged in by scavengers and freegans may range from rummaging in the trash on the curb to climbing inside dumpsters; both activities subject them to dangers ranging from exposure to diseases to illness from rodents and other small animals to eating rotten or contaminated food. Street scavenging occurs on the fringes of society, in other words, in the alleyways, along back streets, and in desolate places of inner cities. Reasons for entering the street scavenging culture are often the result of barriers to formal economy.
