Gleaner Zine

laser printed on recycled paper
2023

LEAN
NEAR RAGE
RARE NAG
GLEAN

Edition I green string: 10 copies
(pictured)

Edition II pink string: 5 copies

Edition III teal string: 15 copies
with hand painted linoleum prints.


ONGOING LIST OF FREE
GLEANING/SCAVENGING RESOURCES

Food
foodnotbombs.net
freegan.info
nycfridge.com
trashwiki.org

Stuff
Local Neighborhood +
Buy Nothing/Free Store/Mutual Aid 
freecycle.com
Materials for the Arts (has barriers to entry)

Trash Community
#Donate Don’t Dump
Nasty New Yorkers 
@thetrashwalker
Precious Plastic 

Events
Give and Take Project
Stop ‘N’ Swap by GrowNYC

Textile/clothing
fabscrap.org
@wornnottornexchange.nyc

Pratt 
Pratt Envirolutions 
Pratt GiveTake
Pratt Food Pantry
Pratt Library Free (check in the basement and in the lobby)




suggestions for additions are welcome

Part manifesto, part cry for help this zine, this is part of Trash Books, series I began this Spring. Trash Books started as a way to evaluate my own consumptive waste while working to root my practice in gleaning and creative reuse. All copies have been freely distributed. 

all I know so far...

Accept mistakes

Progress>Perfection. Contradictions are everywhere and interesting. I also think of every mistake as a reminder of life, or an invitation for reinvention. 

Ask for what you don’t have

It is fun to share resources! The less we buy the less we support toxic supply chains. I found this talk by Amanda Palmer inspirational in the benefits of asking for help. 

Focus on the local

One of the best things about using trash as material is that there will always be more, and there are lots of people not saving discard. Intervening locally, creates new relationships and encourages continued saving. My mother has a relationship with her tailor where they give her shirt scraps to quilt with. 

Use your time generously

I am usually emotionally,materially or socially rewarded through this act. 

Take a dive in the dumpster

Know your trash days. Come after the store is closed, bring gloves and a headlamp if you have them. There might be a separate compost pile, jackpot! For closed bags, squeeze the outside to determine the value of the contents, then make a guess. Once inside, trust your body & use your senses to determine if it's worth saving. Clean up after yourself, close opened bags.

Stores waste tons of food per week. All that is thrown out is not necessarily rotten. The supply chain demands and the free market discards the surpluss or undesirable trends into the waste stream. Fruitful times are beginning/end of the month ot the end of college semesters. 

Sometimes stores lock trash, which is sad for us gleaners. Be alert, there are many laws still in place prohibiting trash picking/ trespassing. 

Look to the ground

Flowers, discarded paper, plastic, shoelaces, feathers, pins, glass...

Keep a clean recycling bin

Treating recycling with care imbues value in the material. 

Mind your mail

I love the inside of bank envelopes. But mail can also be a symbol for the paper we use everyday, from notes to printed slips, reciepts, groecery bags, use ur eyes and watch out for it. 

Practice exchange

What can I contribute? 

Share what you can

Your contributions are valuble. 

Try gratitude

When I find myself focusing on what I do not have, I look to what is in front of me. 

Agnes Varda, The Gleaners and I: Les Glaneurs Et La Glaneuse 2000