A TikToker just shared a video of the painful amount of waste taking place at his Starbucks location every day.
Starbucks has made a few efforts to be more eco-friendly, like offering used coffee grounds to customers to use as fertilizer and letting customers bring in reusable cups.
However, the chain has also come under fire for wasteful practices that result in thousands of baked goods ending up in the trash.
@aidanstockin #greenscreen I WISH i was kidding…. #waste #american #disgusting #wasteful #americaproblem #closing #starbucks #closingshift #fastfood #fastfoodfail #fail #hugefail #bigfail #flop ♬ USA - The Star Spangled Banner - American National Anthem (Instrumental) - Glocal Orchestra
TikToker Aidan Stockin (@aidanstockin) has seen this issue firsthand and posted a video in June to show viewers exactly what he's been witnessing.
"POV: You're closing at Starbucks," says the video over a recording of the national anthem. On the screen, Stockin dumps out box after box of individually-wrapped pastries into waiting shopping carts.
"All trash," he adds, running his hands over packages that fill the cart to its brim. The camera pulls back to show the "final damage." He's filled three carts this way, leaving behind dozens of empty cardboard boxes.
"I wish I was kidding," he says in the video description.
Stockin's video highlights one instance of a widespread problem. Food waste is incredibly common, and businesses are some of the worst offenders. Employees are often helpless to change wasteful policies and irresponsible management decisions and are stuck throwing away hundreds of pounds of food that could go to hungry locals or even to the employees themselves.
Food waste costs businesses money for the food they can't sell while denying hungry people what they need to survive. Meanwhile, businesses buy even more food to replace what's thrown away, wasting more resources and increasing pollution due to long-distance shipping.
"Starbies has enough money to let people take it for free," said one angry commenter in all caps. "They're losing profit from it either way."
"This should be illegal," said another user.
Stockin responded, "No I literally am so upset."
Thankfully, many businesses do make an effort to salvage food that they can't sell but that is still good to eat. The Too Good To Go app helps connect shoppers with discounted, delicious meals.
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