A TikToker recently discovered a massive pile of fresh fruit casually tossed in a dumpster.
"This kind of waste makes me furious!!!" one user responded to the clip posted by Deal Sniffers (@dealsniffers).
@dealsniffers I went out to Arizona this past weekend to visit a couple friends. They know that I am an avid dumster diver, so we decided to go dumpster diving in Arizona to see what we could find. This is what we found behind one of the Sprouts grocery stores. With as many people in this country who are food insecure, I find it disgusting and beyond just utterly wasteful, that these grocery store chains are throwing away pounds upon pounds of fresh fruit and are then locking up the dumpsters so nobody can access it. #dumpsterdiving #dumpsterfinds #sproutsfarmersmarket #dobetter ♬ original sound - Deal Sniffers
Dumpster diving is usually a positive, happy topic on this platform, interspersed with warnings and proactive tools and activities for reducing waste in the United States and abroad.
But the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency estimate 30%-40% of the U.S. food supply is wasted annually, amounting to roughly 60 million tons of goods; the contents of the dumpster in this video is a speck of sand on a vast stretch of beachfront.
It's easy to point the finger at the business, whether it's a grocery store or restaurant, but companies have to comply with legal and operational standards that complicate the potential for philanthropy.
This is where the dangers of dumpster diving come into play. Food safety standards administered by the Food and Drug Administration require strict handling, storage, and expiration protocols.
Cross-contamination, sell-by dates, logistics, and inventory management can coalesce into wastefulness. These protocols often result in edible food going to the bin when it could be used to fill bellies.
On the other hand, if those fruits were contaminated or spoiled, eating them may have become unsafe.
There are several factors at play, but the issue boils down to a systemic failure: a modern civilization that can't get its act together.
For aspiring dumpster divers, there are legal ramifications to consider, let alone health risks in food-related retrieval. Avoid dumpsters on private property and follow local ordinances and municipal codes.
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More tax incentives 🏦 "There should be systems in place for this," one commenter said.
Another wrote of the convoluted system: "I used to work in food insecurity… it's more complex. There's no infrastructure: how to transport; buildings with refrigeration to store it; how to distribute… with perishables, it's really difficult."
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