One dumpster diver in northern Arizona turned an unexpected retail discard into a small act of generosity after finding 30 unopened cartons of cookies and a large stash of chips in a store dumpster.
Rather than letting the haul go to waste, the diver shared the food with their mother, a church that had been helping them, and other people.
Here's what to know
The story appeared in a post to Reddit's r/DumpsterDiving community, where the original poster said a discount-store dumpster held countless sealed boxes of Chips Ahoy, Oreos, and other packaged snacks. Although the photo was blurry, the amount of food recovered was clearly substantial.
OP wrote, "My ma absolutely loves chips ahoy but rarely gets to buy them since we're absolute brokies. I've got 10 cartons stuffed into my backpack [and I'm] going to give them to her in a couple of hours. Bet she will be excited."
Readers fixated on how much still-packaged food had apparently been tossed out.
"Throwing away Chips Ahoy is criminal," one wrote. Another raised a question that many shoppers ask when they see stories like this, writing, "Why do stores throw food away? Are the items past their expiration date?"
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The OP later added that they were going to bring half of the boxed items to the church that was helping them, in addition to other unhoused people.
More background
In this case, the exact reason the snacks were discarded was not explained, so it remains unclear whether the products were nearing a date label, were part of damaged inventory, or were removed for some other reason.
Still, food donations are not always straightforward. Even unopened products should only be redistributed when they are safe for human consumption. But when food is still safe, throwing it away also wastes the money, energy, water, and packaging used to make and transport it.
Retailers can and should build better systems to keep safe surplus food out of dumpsters. That can include discounting products before they reach a sell-by date, partnering with food banks and shelters, and training workers on what unopened food can be donated safely.
One commenter pointed to that kind of option in practice, adding, "I shop at Winco and I've seen employees loading baskets of food into a homeless shelter van and (or) a food bank van."
Where can I learn more?
Similar stories highlight how often usable food and other goods still end up in store dumpsters. They also look at dumpster divers and retailer policies many believe are too wasteful.
• Behind a grocery store, a dumpster diver found an unbelievable food haul that others were glad to see saved.
• At a nearby CVS, one dumpster diver recovered a massive haul of candy and questioned why it was trashed.
• A Dollar General employee's photo of a 'wasteful' store policy ignited arguments over what counts as food.
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