Check out this haul from a grocery store dumpster:
NPR recently posted an interview with dumpster diver and food-waste gleaner, Maximus Thaler, who shed quite a bit of light on who his sources are.
"'Most of the dumpstering I would do was at Trader Joe's," he said...'They — more than any other grocery store — they plastic-wrap their food a lot," so the chucked goods are still safe to eat.'"
Dumpster diving obviously comes with its side of risks, but this interview with Thaler demonstrates that a lot of big retailers--not just Trader Joe's--are throwing food away. Our research in founding PareUp, which included interviews with store managers, store staff, and heads of sourcing for food recovery agencies, supports this. And, instead of necessarily faulting the stores for waste, our conversations show that inefficient business practices on the parts of both non-profit food agencies and for-profit retailers are key factors.
Stores who partner with food banks and food shelters do their best to ready their food for donation, however what's selected and chosen is at the discretion of the agency. Weight minimums leave small and medium-sized businesses with <50 pounds or less out of pick-up rotation, and furthermore, a lot of foods that grocery stores sell cannot be repackaged, transported, and redistributed safely--this means that they're heading to the trash.
Here at PareUp, we're trying to fill the gaps of the current system, which is leaving $40 billion of edible food behind, by connecting businesses directly with consumers via our app.
