In a viral video, an anti-waste influencer called out Starbucks for throwing out several pounds of food and utensils instead of donating them.
In the TikTok, Anna Sacks (@thetrashwalker) pulls up to an unoccupied storefront in New York’s Upper West Side—one of the city’s most expensive neighborhoods—that she says used to be a Starbucks.
There were several black trash bags in front of the locale and Sacks’ “spidey trash senses were tingling,” giving her an inkling that the bags might actually contain untouched food items.
She was right.
When she opens up the first bag, Sacks finds packaged and still-cold egg bites and croissants that don’t expire for another three months based on the packaging. Sacks, who shares that she’s a vegetarian, loaded up her tote bag with the egg bites and said that even tho the items are thawed out, she’s going to refreeze them for consumption later.
“I’m gonna have eggs for days,” Sacks says.
She also finds a sack of whole coffee beans that she loads up on. The other bags had unused Starbucks cups, napkins, gift cards, brownies, tea bags, granola bars, and bagels.
“This is why I think we need to have legislation for stores closing for protocol because this entire trash bag shouldn’t happen,” Sacks says.
While Sacks was able to recover some of the food items and told friends to stop by, she pointed out that there was a church across from the Starbucks. “They probably would have taken everything.”
“Starbucks needs to recognize that when they close stores, this wastefulness is not acceptable,” Sacks says.
The video has more than 2.7 million views and about 6,000 comments.
@thetrashwalker Starbucks store closing #nyc #donate #donatedontdump #dumpsterdiving #haul #food #shopping #recycle #climatechange #reuse #foodie #starbucks #free #zerowaste #eco #sustainable #ecofriendly #coffee ♬ Healing, sleep and meditation-Reiki – Red Blue Studio
The Daily Dot has previously reported on Starbucks wasting food that is still edible. In two separate videos, creators shared the amount of food that Starbucks throws out each day.
In 2016, Starbucks pledged to donate “100%” of the unsold food that was still safe to eat from its then 7,600 U.S. locations. The chain projected it would reach a 100% donation rate and have all locations participating in the donation program by 2021, USA Today reported. By 2020 only 60% of locations were participating, the New York Post reported.
Commenters were irked by Starbucks’ wastefulness.
“This is shocking. couldn’t another Starbucks store that’s like probably 3 blocks away use those cups and stuff,” the most popular comment read.
“Used to work at a Starbucks, we would toss SO MUCH food in the trash at end of day. I would take as much as I could home bc it was insane,” a person shared.
“Oh! I let out a massive gasp when I saw them coffee beans,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Sacks via Instagram direct message and to Starbucks via email.
