A Dollar Tree employee shared the distressing aftermath of a "frozen reset" on Reddit. The post sparked a discussion about baffling store policies and food insecurity in the U.S.

What's happening?

The employee sought help in r/DollarTree after the reset left boxes upon boxes of marked-down food slated for the dumpster, including frozen veggies, chicken sandwiches, and ice cream. 

The original poster asked: "I don't know any food banks around me and I don't have that many people who would benefit from these. Anyone else dealing with this?"

"Can you not just Google local food banks? Or churches that feed the homeless?" one person commented. However, another commenter suggested that donating the food wasn't so simple. 

"Company policy expressly forbids giving away or donating unsold or out of date items," they wrote, to which the OP replied: "I know it's just it saddens me that we can't do good with the items that are being discontinued that are still within date."

A third person was shocked to hear the news. "Wait, here in Los Angeles, someone comes one a month to pick up items that are expired/ non sellable," they wrote.

Why is this concerning?

Tens of millions of people in the U.S. live in food-insecure households, making the premature disposal of food especially disheartening, as a fourth commenter pointed out. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that around 30-40% of the food supply ends up as waste, making it the largest category of waste entering landfills. Unfortunately, rotting food produces methane. This powerful heat-trapping gas is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat that warms the planet, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Food waste not only represents empty stomachs that could otherwise be filled but also wasted resources — from land and water to labor and energy — and a threat to future food security. 

Is Dollar Tree doing anything about food insecurity?

Last year, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar (which has since been sold by Dollar Tree) announced a partnership with No Kid Hungry, an organization committed to ending childhood hunger. 

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The campaign, headed by Share Our Strength, received $350,000 to help provide 3.5 million meals. The company also has a grant program to improve access to food. 

Based on the experiences of Dollar Tree employees in the Reddit thread, direct food donations appear to be limited and store-dependent. Liability concerns seem to be at play, as frozen foods can become unsafe to eat if they are kept outside certain temperature ranges.

In the past, social media users have lauded Trader Joe's and Kroger locations for springing into action to coordinate giveaways during power outages, preventing unnecessary waste. 

How can we prevent food waste more broadly?

Many grocery retailers, including Whole Foods and Walmart, have composting programs to minimize methane production from discarded food. You can join a community composting initiative or start your own at home. 

Meanwhile, the r/DollarTree subreddit may have offered a potential solution to this store's waste troubles — no donations required. "Get your manager to look into TOO GOOD TO GO," one of the members wrote. 

Too Good to Go is an app that allows individuals to score perfectly good food at massively discounted rates instead of it being thrown away.

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