After unsuccessful legislative reform, German radicals defy the law to dumpster-dive at grocery stores

I've always been fascinated with dumpster diving: my first feature sale to Wired (21 years ago!) told the tale of Darren Atkinson, the most successful high-tech diver I know.

In Germany (where 18 million tons of food are thrown away every year), a subculture of anticonsumerist activists have turned dumpster diving into a political act, defying a law that treats trash as private property and dumpster diving as theft.

Senior dumpster divers are giving masterclasses to young, would-be divers, explicitly linking the activity to a wider anticapitalist project and supplying intensely practical advice (watch out for broken glass because dumpster-borne pathogens are gross; don't make noise lest the neighbors call the cops; if you think the food is spoiled, leave it because there's plenty more; don't hop fences or gates because that is a pretense for a trespassing bust).

The legal prohibition on dumpster diving was challenged by Hamburg's city-state justice minister, Till Stephens (Green Party), but the national legislature voted down his reforms, citing hygiene, the slippery slope to theft, and other thin excuses.

Where Stephens failed, a young radical lawyer named Max Malkus may succeed: he's representing "Caro" and "Franzi," two pseudonymous divers who were convicted to theft in January. Malkus is running an appeal, arguing that the law is unconstitutional (Malkus dives himself).

Recently, though, prosecutors elected to discontinue one case of garbage theft, partly thanks to the efforts of lawyers like Max Malkus. The 29-year-old believes dumpster diving is legal -- for personal reasons, because he himself dumpster dives, but also for professional ones, since he represents other divers as well.