A food service worker shared a frustrating end-of-shift experience on Reddit: trays of perfectly good cookies, headed straight for the trash, with no option to take them home.
What happened?
A Redditor who works at Subway posted a photo in r/mildlyinfuriating showing rows of chocolate cookies in a display case.
The caption read, "Cookies my manager told me to throw away at the end of my night shift. Wouldn't let me take them home."
The post struck a nerve.
"Who does food waste possibly benefit? It should be illegal," one commenter wrote.
Another shared a similar experience, saying, "I worked in the bakery of a Harris Teeter for a few months in my youth. The amount of food we trashed every day was absurd. Such a wasteful society."
It's a scene that plays out at bakeries, stores, and restaurants across the country every night, as this example from Dollar General illustrated.
Why is discarded food concerning?
The USDA estimated up to 40% of our country's food supply goes to waste, costing Americans an estimated $162 billion annually. ReFED reported that roughly 63 million tons of food gets thrown out, incinerated, or otherwise discarded each year in the U.S., the equivalent of 115 billion meals. The food service industry accounts for a major portion of that annual waste.
When edible food hits a landfill, it breaks down and produces methane, a gas that traps heat in the atmosphere even more strongly than carbon dioxide.
Is the company doing anything about this?
The original post didn't name a specific employer, so it's hard to say what policies were at play here. But the situation is common in food service. Many businesses enforce strict disposal rules out of fear that donating food could expose them to lawsuits.
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That fear is largely misplaced. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects businesses from civil and criminal liability when they donate food in good faith to nonprofits. The law covers restaurants, retailers, and caterers, but many managers still default to "throw it out" since they haven't been told about these protections.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 What can be done about food waste more broadly?
One Reddit commenter pointed to a practical fix, writing, "Too Good To Go is an app that allows stores to sell their food for cheap because it's about to be expired. Show your boss that app. He can make a little money and not waste food!"
You can also ask your local bakery or cafe whether they donate unsold food at closing. If they don't, share information about the Good Samaritan Act or Too Good To Go with the manager. If your workplace throws away good food nightly, try connecting your manager with a nearby food bank that accepts prepared donations.
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