Stores across the country stock more food than they can sell each day, but every day the surplus ends up in the trash. This waste is infuriating to environmentalists and hungry customers, but it may be even more infuriating to the employees who are forced to enforce the policy.
One Dunkin’ Donuts employee took to the internet to express his frustration over the situation.
what’s happening?
Employees shared their experiences on the complaints subreddit r/mildlyinfuriating.
“We have to throw out a lot of doughnuts that aren’t sold on Valentine’s Day,” they say.
Photo credit: Reddit
Photo credit: Reddit
An accompanying photo shows a fridge full of dozens of trays of doughnuts — chocolate doughnuts, glazed doughnuts, doughnuts drizzled with powdered sugar and doughnuts topped with pink icing and sprinkles — all destined for the trash.
“It’s a shameful waste to have to throw it away and it’s sad that it’s mandatory,” said one Reddit user.
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Sadly, this isn’t the first time that employees have been forced to throw out perfectly good doughnuts: Another Dunkin’ Donuts was the subject of trash-diving social media posts, and competitor Krispy Kreme has done the same. Even local bakeries and grocery stores have attracted attention for the practice.
Why is food waste important?
First of all, this is delicious food that was just sold earlier in the day, so if the business wants, they can donate it to help feed many hungry mouths.
Second, overproducing a product incurs costs for companies that are reflected in the price of the good, so ultimately consumers pay the price for this choice.
Third, throwing away food is the same as throwing away all the effort, energy and materials that went into making it – all that investment of earth’s resources and pollution has been wasted.
Is Dunkin’ Donuts doing anything about this?
Because each Dunkin’ Donuts location is a franchise, owners have some discretion over how they manage their waste. The company offers an opt-in program on its website that encourages franchisees to donate their doughnuts at the end of the day or send them for composting.
What measures are being taken to address food waste more broadly?
Stores that want to reduce food waste can compost it, as all Dunkin’ Donuts locations do, or turn it into animal feed. If it hasn’t expired, they can even sell it at a discount using an app like Too Good To Go, which has recently become popular among bakeries, so the store can make a small profit and the customer can get a discount.
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