Food waste can be a touchy topic for many. Businesses create policies about excess food that are designed to maximize profit and limit liability, which can be at odds with workers' consciences and society's needs. One pizza chain employee just shared a frustrating example from their workplace on Reddit.
What happened?
The post appeared in the r/Dominos subreddit and featured two photos, one of which included an employee in a Dominos hat. "Does anyone else's store waste this much dough?" they asked.
Their first photo shows a towering stack of blue plastic trays, each one presumably full of pizza dough. The second photo shows the side of the employee's face and head — just enough to demonstrate that the stack of trays behind them is taller than they are.
"Not very often we waste dough, but today we had so much, the stack of trays was taller than me," they said, adding a crying emoji. "Makes me feel so guilty."
Why does wasted pizza dough matter?
When food goes into the trash instead of feeding people, all the resources used to grow the ingredients and all the energy to prepare and transport them go to waste. This drives up costs for businesses, which then charge more for their other items to compensate. Meanwhile, people go hungry when they could be fed.
"It sucks when you can't give it to anyone," said the original poster in a comment. "I understand for stuff that could [actually] make you sick, but we had loads of fries too we had to chuck out which you could have eaten."
Waste also creates a greater burden on the environment. It means more wild habitats turned into farms, more water diverted for crops, more pesticides sprayed, more methane from livestock entering the atmosphere, and more pollution from power plants and shipping networks to process and move it all.
What is Domino's doing about food waste?
According to the Domino's website, the company has programs in place to recycle unused dough into a useful product.
"Much of our excess dough is recycled through ReConserve, where it is dried and ground to produce a high-energy component for livestock feed," the company claims. "This partnership alone has allowed us to divert more than 4,100 tons of waste in 2022."
However, the U.K.-based original poster said that's not what happens at their store.
"You bake it before tossing it?" a commenter asked.
"Yes! Makes it 10 times lighter for putting in the bin bag," said the original poster — and that means their location is wasting the energy to run the ovens, too.
What can I do about food waste at restaurants?
If you'd rather support a more eco-friendly brand, look for a pizzeria like Detroit's PizzaPlex, which has designed a menu around eliminating waste.
You can also check apps like Too Good To Go to get great deals on food that would otherwise be thrown away soon.
Finally, compost your food scraps if you can; your garden and the planet will thank you.
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