The United States of Wastfulness

I work in a place with a bakery. I learned last night that EVERY day they throw away trash bags full of bread. GOOD bread. One of the janitors has a good rapport with my coworkers. I spoke with him and he said, "Yes, everyday it's like this." He leaves it out on a counter so people can take it home. "I feed my family with this bread."

In the United States of America we throw away so much food. We throw it away because it doesn't look uniform, perfect. We throw away food because some of us have too much of it. We throw away food because it's the end of the day and it didn't sell.

There are actual people starving across the street, and we're putting full loaves of bread in the trash.

The bakers make sure to only place bread in the trash bag. That way they are following company policy of throwing away day old bread, but allowing others to salvage it. I made toast this morning with a cranberry walnut loaf the janitor showed me. "It's perfectly good bread."

It was.