Dumpster diving.
Some do it to save money.
Freegans do it at supermarkets for political reasons.
The homeless do it for survival.
But for two organisations, FareShare and Secondbite, going in to a bin to forage for food is done to help those in need, by salvaging the food before it hits the landfill.
And their efforts haven't gone unnoticed - the organisations are battling it out in Melbourne this year at the Premier's Sustainability Awards on April 22, where they both have been selected as finalists in the Community category.
In one corner, we have FareShare: an organisation that works on providing nutritious meals to the hungry and the homeless using donated food not needed by markets, caterers, and retailers around Melbourne.
In 2009 FareShare saved 400 tonnes of food from going to landfill and distributed over one million meals to over 100 Melbourne charities.
FareShare also co-founded Feed Melbourne - a campaign to raise money for local charities to ensure they have the capacity to receive and store the fresh food that has been donated to them by farmers, supermarkets and manufacturers around Victoria.
And in the other corner we have SecondBite, a not-for-profit organisation that sources fresh, nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and re-distributes it to people who are homeless, living in disadvantaged circumstances or experiencing food security issues within the community.
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In 2009, SecondBite collected and redistributed over 700 tonnes of food before reaching the landfill with the help of more than 350 volunteers, such as Rotary and corporate supporters.
SecondBite also works with local governments, Social Ventures Australia (SVA) and other not-for-profit organisations to develop sustainable, long term solutions for people facing food security issues at home.
However, unlike most competitions, the loser is still a winner for raising awareness on environmental and social impact food wastage can have.
According to the organisers of the Premier's Sustainability Awards, many people are unaware that food waste sent to landfill has a significant impact on the environment, which often results in the production of methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Every wasted food that these organisations salvage not only helps those in need, but also helps break the environmental domino effect that starts long before the food ends up in the supermarket, on your table or in the garbage bin.
For example, by rescuing fresh beef before it is thrown away means the 50,000 litres of water used in its production wasn't a waste.
SecondBite said it helped save 630 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, which equates to taking 157 cars off the road for the year.
Consumers are becoming more aware of the impact of food wastage, with an increasing number of people using their scrap foods as compost instead of putting it in the bin.
There is also a growing trend of people growing their own vegetables to help prevent emissions caused by transportation of the vegetables and the emissions caused by driving to and from the supermarket.
In the US, schools encourage their students to raid their pantries and bag all foods that have been in the pantry for longer than a month for a food drive - food that will be donated to those in need, instead of throwing them out or allowing them to expire.
These may be small actions individually but together, they create a big change.
I do my form of dumpster diving in my friends fridges - when they are clearing out their fridge of left overs destined for the bin, I don't see it as waste but rather a potential meal for the night.