Replating: A good idea?

by Martha Edwards (Subscribe to Martha Edwards's posts)
Aug 30th 2007 8:34PM

Here's a new concept I hadn't heard of before: Replating. It's a new movement in which people leave their leftover food atop a garbage can for homeless people to eat. If there's no recycling bin nearby, I often leave an empty bottle or can next to the garbage can to save the garbage pickers the effort of sifting through the receptacle to get it, but this is a whole other story. Is that even safe?

It makes sense to give your unwanted foods to those who are hungry but it seems like there should be a better way than leaving it on top of the garbage can. Still, if it works and it's keeping hungry people fed, I'm all for it. What do you think?

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rian 8-30-2007 @ 11:09PM

There are at least a couple of problems with replating that I can see:

1. The food can spoil, causing the homeless person to develop food poisoning.
2. Most cities do not have the sort of trash can with the top over it that is in the photo above. Seriously - I have been to many, many cities across the USA, and I can only recall seeing those trash cans in a couple of them. (Don't ask me which cities - my memory isn't THAT good.)
3. To my knowledge, homeless people are more inclined to sift around in dumpsters as opposed to trash cans looking for food. When then?

A_Str8 9-04-2007 @ 10:37AM

Of course food can spoil and this can cause sickness, but it seems better than the alternative. If someone takes food left on te top of a garbage can, it's pretty likely that if it wasn't there, that person would have looked for it in the garbage can.

Here in Philly, I've seen plenty of people going through garbage cans and I don't recall ever seeing anyone going through a dumpster. Our garbage cans do not have the tops like in the picture.