The Knight Trashers, a new club on campus, bring attention to how unconventional meets practical. The club centers around the concept of dumpster diving and provides students opportunities to get involved in the pillars of community, sustainability, and responsible stewardship. It aims to reclaim thrown away food, clothes, and items and distribute them to food pantries and other places that are in need, according to the club’s callout meeting.
The club, headed by co-presidents Katie Thuet and Daysun Brown, is what they said they feel very passionately about.
“Instead of doing anything crazy or illegal,” Thuet said, “I dumpster dive. It’s like a treasure hunt, it’s fun.”
The club also has a staff representative, Elizabeth Brown, San Damiano Scholar Recruiter, and a Vice President, Sam Sarvak.
The club consists of multiple cohorts that aim to focus on a certain aspect of the club. These committees include the diving crew, food reclamation, education and hospitality. Each section is headed by a board member of the club.
The diving crew, headed by Thuet, consists of student volunteers who locate and go to the dumpsters. You can choose to participate in the dive, or drive to the site of the dive. Those that participate in this cohort are asked to wear closed toed shoes and pants to keep safe while in the dumpster.
The food reclamation committee, headed by Sarvak and Brown, focuses on what the club actually does with the food found in the dumpsters.
“Once we have the food, we obviously have to do something with it. A lot of the food we rescue will be given back to the community through Knightro’s Pantry,” Sarvak said. Students in this section can also volunteer to drive any perishable food to the food pantry on the days after the dive.
The education committee, headed by Thuet and Sarvak, offers students the opportunity to spread awareness on campus about food waste and loss, as well as tabling on campus. Some topics they tackle include fast fashion and food loss prevention.
The hospitality team headed by Brown and Sylvia Vanderburg, helps plan and host on-campus events they aim to create. Currently, The Knight Trashers host “Free Coffee Fridays,” where they brew and give away coffee they found on one of their dives.
While dumpster diving is not legal in all 50 states, it is legal in Indiana according to whatisnotlegal.com. The site says that diving can become illegal when it applies to private property, and that’s when legality issues could come into play.
“Poverty is a big animal, and as broke college students, you can give your time and dumpster dive,” Sarvak said, “you can do something beautiful with something that other people look down upon.”
The Knight Trashers will host multiple events this semester that students will be able to attend. They are kicking it off with, “Mocktails and Movie Night,” located in the Private Dining Commons from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 14.
