freegan

[free-guhn]

noun

1. a person who buys as little as possible and makes use of recycled or discarded goods and materials, in an effort to reduce waste and limit environmental impact.

freegan

/ ˈfriːɡən /

noun

1. a person who, through opposition to capitalism and consumerism, attempts to live without buying consumer goods, recycling discarded goods instead

Other Word Forms

• freeganism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of freegan¹

First recorded in 1995–2000; free + (ve)gan

Word History and Origins

Origin of freegan¹

C20: from _free + ( _ve ) _gan

Example Sentences

The word "freegan" was originally coined as a joke.

Read more on Salon

Six years later, a pamphlet called "Why Freegan?" turned the joke into a manifesto, defining freeganism as "an anti-consumeristic ethic about eating" and the "ultimate boycott."

Read more on Salon

Walker and co-founder Joe Green, a tech entrepreneur in the Facebook orbit and big booster of psychedelic research, say they want to create the togetherness of intentional communities like co-ops, communes, or Burning Man without the anticapitalist politics or freegan cuisine.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

So for Jean, who tends to the fridge in Kingsbridge, in the Bronx, community fridge are rooted in the same big-picture ideas that animate their freegan lifestyle: reducing food waste, fighting climate change, rejecting the concept that nutritious food should cost money – any money.

Read more on The Guardian

He mourns the loss of a time when people appointed apartments with the discarded lamps and night stands they found on the street, even as a freegan movement thrives in New York despite whatever preferences his own neighbors have for the bland efficiency of West Elm.

Read more on New York Times