There would have to be an “Unable to sue” clause.
There have been cases where people have claimed that donated food has made them sick when there has been no evidence of that happening.
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We also need to end corporate waste. Companies will go through so much product and toss out product that isnt selling or has cycled out; i.e holiday dinnerwar, furniture, electronices etc… They fill dumpsters upon dumpsters of usuable product and they damage it so people can’t dumpster dive and repurpose. Why is all of this going to waste when it could be donated to people who are less fortunate. There should be a program for that but instead our landfills are packed to the brim with brand new unused product. Such a shame.
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In all states this trend has been called Dumpster Diving and is practiced by people in poverty that seek gently damaged vegetables and fruits.
The major issue with this implemented program is that grocers and restaurants sometimes are asked to deliver to non-profits. They can’t afford to do this.
In other cases the non-profit is sent a request to pickup the products and sometimes the issue is space set aside for the products, or cost of reboxing
Agreed. Grocery stores and restaurants. They should be exempted of legal liability, but they should be required to donate any unused / leftover food.
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Being in retail I can tell you that it depends on the manufacturer or vendor. My company uses clearing houses for some stuff, meaning we sell it off and then it’s put up for sale in bargain bin stores or liquidators.
If the vendor demands it gets destroyed for credit, we have instructions to follow. Example: there were 2 kayaks returned in fairly new/good condition. At the time i was a Boy Scout leader and asked if they could be donated to the troop. The answer was no. The manufacturers instructions were to cut the nose of each kayak and ship the noses back for credit.
Books require the front cover be ripped off and returned for credit. The rest goes in the trash.
But yet pet food vendors want usable pet food donated to local animal rescue and just want signed donation paperwork.
So this not necessarily the end retailer that makes the final decision of what happens.
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There should be a program to encourage the freeze-drying of farm and grocery store surplus which should then be used as food assistance in homeless shelters, as a replacement to the EBT program, and the excess should be stored for times of emergency, both foreign and domestic. Additionally, stockpiles may one day become useful for space exploration efforts.
By freeze drying the food before it spoils, we would extend the shelf-life by years and make the subsequent logistics easier to achieve with little to no wasted food.
The government should buy the freeze dried food to incentivize participation in the program. Excess food stockpiles may also be sold to foreign countries to help fund the program.
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Good, Healthy food is being wasted. It can be distributed among communities where it is needed the most. Churches and food banks can help with the distribution.
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This sounds like more of a personal charity project, working out arrangements between those who make food and those who provide food to those in need.
Plastic hulls, not rebuildable. Also not worth a job loss
The Reason it is not practiced today is “Heath Department Regulations” and Liable. Most counties have regulations that prevent expired food from being given away. If it’s expired, it’s unedible is the philosophy. so 2 things have to change, the health department regulations & the ability to sue when eating free food
This is an awesome idea! I really hope something like this comes true.
They already do… or they donate what the programs take.
Harvesters and programs like them have more food donated every month than people coming to ask for it.
People don’t think it’s Good Enough because it is near or just passing expiration, in some cases. But often it is overstock, or misorders that see a store loaded with say, 500 lbs of balogna they know they won’t be able to sell before it expires, so they donate it… and 250 families can get 2 lbs of the stuff along with farmer-donated fresh vegetables, and so on.
People just need to start taking advantage of the programs so they will start asking for more of what the stores are disposing of.
I wouldn’t mind tax money going to some government funded box truck program that actively goes around collecting food from restaurants to take it to a central distribution hub.
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There are programs that do this already from the manufacturers. I wouldn’t want to mandate it but how about just removing the law or regulations that make it illegal. That it can be a write off for those who do at a lesser percentage to avoid scamming.
I know that, where I live, Dollar Generals throw the almost expired foods in the dumpster. They do not even let the employees take it home, yet, the managers do. (This is not my experience, only what I have heard from numerous employees at different locations. ) I feel like, all of that food should be accounted for and if they are going to take it off the shelves, then donate it to a food bank. If they can inventory it to “throw it out” then they can inventory it to donation.
yes!
great idea, business can still write off as loss, have to make sure it gets to the people that need it.
This is a great idea, however I believe there may have to be an agreement that no one (company, person, family, etc) is held liable in case of food spoilage or allergic reaction. ?