Sometimes the best place to go shopping for deals is just behind the store — in the dumpsters.
What's happening?
In a post to r/DumpsterDiving, a Redditor shared their find behind a Dollar General store. The image shows a crate brimming with snack packs, pudding cups, Jell-O boxes, and chips, all rescued from a Dollar General dumpster before they could be wasted.
The poster described grabbing the items just before a waste pickup, celebrating the find as a win for their wallet and the planet.
"Awesome haul, was just about to buy some potting soil so perfect timing!" they wrote.
"It's like finding buried treasure whenever you go dumpster diving," said a commenter, congratulating the poster.
Why is food waste important?
While a win for this individual shopper, their ability to do this is actually a signal of a broader food waste problem. Without the dumpster diver finding these items, they all would have ended up as waste in a landfill.
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As some commenters mentioned, there are many stores that have similar wasteful practices.
"5 below and Walgreens are real winners for me when I go treasure hunting. Walgreens tends to throw away food at least 1 month before it goes bad," they wrote.
Each year, Americans throw out around 119 billion pounds of food, according to Feeding America. When that food decomposes in landfills, it releases a harmful gas called methane, which is more harmful than carbon dioxide.
Companies spend money to produce and package products that never get eaten, while consumers ultimately bear the cost through wasted resources and rising prices.
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Absolutely 💯 Is Dollar General doing anything about this?
Dollar General has made strides toward sustainability in recent years, including expanding its recycling program and working with Feeding America to donate surplus products from participating stores.
Still, based on the sheer amount of food available at this dumpster site, more consistent policies are needed to ensure food close to expiration gets redirected to shelters, pantries, or composting facilities instead of dumpsters.
What's being done about food waste more broadly?
Other retailers are taking action. Kroger, for instance, has worked with the Arkansas Foodbank to donate food, and Trader Joe's handed out unsellable but safe food during power outages.
Consumers can join in, too, by supporting stores with strong donation programs, meal-prepping to reduce waste, and composting at home to keep organics out of landfills.
As the Redditor's discovery shows, one person's trash really can be another's chance to do good and have a good snack, too.
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