A dumpster diver tried to make the best of a bad situation after making a shocking discovery.
On the r/DumpsterDiving subreddit, the Redditor shared a photo of a large skip outside their local Target filled with packages of frozen foods, including brand-name meals, fruit, and pizzas.
"Unbelievable waste. Grabbed as much as I could but sad to walk away from all this," the dumpster diver wrote.
"This had to be from a HVAC malfunction. If not it should be criminal. Nice score for you though!," one person commented.
The original poster agreed, replying: "seems the freezers went out, grabbed a ton of the frozen fruit, so many smoothies in my future!"
Regardless of the cause, food waste is an ongoing issue around the world. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the country's food supply is tossed annually, amounting to 133 billion pounds of food and $161 billion dollars wasted.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food waste is the "single most common material landfilled and incinerated in the U.S." The agency also reported that 85% of air pollution from food waste in landfills comes before it ever hits the trash, through production, transport, processing, and distribution.
Commenters were outraged by the quantity of the frozen food items in the dumpster.
"This should all be given away. Food should not be a commodity. Its a shame that we create so much waste, and yet people go hungry," one person wrote.
"I'll never understand why they don't have a backup plan to donate instead of trashing," another said.
A third added: "I'm just wondering why this didn't go to a food bank? That could feed hundreds of people."
There has been progress on preventing food waste through a variety of organizations and plans. The USDA teamed up with the EPA to cut food waste and loss in half by the year 2030.
Companies are also getting in on the progress. Walmart recently partnered with Denali, an organic-materials recycler, to speed up their "de-packinging" process to separate food from its packaging that was on track to be disposed of using Denali's technology.
Albertsons is focusing on donating to food banks and nonprofits, as well as composting, and Aldi went viral for turning their unused grapes into an in-demand dessert.
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