Some food waste by businesses is a choice, like when stores throw out or destroy perfectly good products that aren't selling well. Some is inevitable, such as when a freezer breaks and the contents thaw before the situation can be addressed.
But in some cases, we're left with an overwhelming sense that more could have been done — such as in the case of one dumpster diver's find.
What's happening?
The Redditor shared their story on r/RumpsterDiving, along with a picture. The photo shows a dumpster at night, lit up with a flashlight. The container is full of meat: bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and more come right to the lid of the dumpster and continue out of the range of the light.
"Freezers went out at a store nearby," the original poster explained. "Dumpster is filled to the bottom, over 6ft tall front opening."
Thawed-out meat wouldn't be safe to eat or sell, and it's reasonable to throw it away — painful as it might be. But according to the OP, that wasn't the case here. "All still in date and frozen," they claimed. "Filled up the back of my car (still had to leave a bunch behind), split it among 6 families."
"That is sickening to see so much people starving," said one user.
"People are hungry… and look at this. How can people treat others like this?" asked another. "Donate it, don't waste it."
Similar situations have been reported on Reddit before.
Why is this wasted meat important?
As some users pointed out, the meat in the photo is hundreds, or more likely thousands, of dollars worth, but the business threw it out without any attempt to salvage it. The company can do that because losses like these are already accounted for in the sale prices of items — and that practice means higher prices for everyone.
Meanwhile, all that destroyed meat represents acres of land, gallons of water, and tons of energy that have simply gone to waste — not to mention the planet-warming gases from all those animals and from the trucks and trains that transported the products. It's tons of environmental damage for nothing.
Why would the company do this?
While still-frozen meat is certainly safe to eat or donate, the food was on its way to thawing out and becoming a health hazard. Many businesses have strict policies in the case of broken freezers and refrigerators to prevent any mishaps — and those policies may not leave room for employees to make a judgment call and salvage the meat.
Still, there are other options to keep the food from completely going to waste. Major stores like Kroger and Trader Joe's have found themselves with fridges and freezers out, as the OP claimed was the case with the store responsible for this waste, and found ways to make sure the food didn't end up in the trash.
What can be done about food waste?
Even if the food isn't fit to be donated or sold, it can still be composted. Home composting tutorials often recommend against using meat due to smells and the possibility of attracting pests, but many larger composting operations can handle it just fine.
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