All too often, truckers bring food to grocery stores only to find perfectly edible food rejected due to reasons like a delay in delivery, a cosmetic problem in packaging, or an error in the order. Truckers dump food into landfills when the food could feed the hungry. But in Indianapolis, truckers have joined forces with the Indy Hunger Network, and a Food Drop program has been implemented that connects truckers with food banks 24 hours a day, so that the products can be put to good use.
At this time, the program solely serves the Indianapolis area, but there is hope that the concept will catch on in other cities and states. In just six months during 2017, over 90,000 pounds of food were saved from being thrown out, and the rejected edible groceries were used to help those in need. This is good news.
Donations by truckers include non-alcoholic products, and food that that is edible and individually packed in tightly sealed containers.
As an added incentive for doing something good for others, truckers also benefit by saving expensive landfill charges, in addition to receiving tax benefits and help with unloading.
This concept is new in the United States—a country that is one of the worst offenders of wasting food in the word, adding approximately 35 tons of expended food per day.
In France, it is now illegal for grocery stores to destroy perfectly good food. And like France, the Indianapolis Food Drop program hopes to see the concept ultimately grow and be implemented worldwide.
The idea seems simple—there is absolutely no good reason to waste edible food when so many around the world go hungry. So one can ask, why is the massive waste still happening?