How do you fix something when you don't even realize that it's broken? That's one question that YouTuber Joey Salads explores in a recent video showing how much food we waste on a daily basis. You may remember Joey as the guy who raised awareness about child safety with a video on just how easily kids will walk away with strangers. Well now he's back, and partnering with Collab and The People's Operator to spread awareness about another pressing issue people all too readily ignore: just how much food Americans choose to throw away, when there are people going hungry in their area every day who don't have access to it themselves.
The images from this video are harrowing. Joey literally digs through the trash — first in a local McDonald's, and then in a neighborhood Dumpster. He only pulls out one bag from each of the cans, but one bag is enough to make a huge statement on the mounting issue of food waste in this country. If you thought that you were exempt from this, you can see for yourself just how quickly a little of this and a little of that add up to a whole lot more, especially when Joey is laying it right out on a table for people to see.
Here Is The Food Wasted In A Fast Food Trash Bag
He found entire cheeseburgers in there, and enough fries to build a small dollhouse. And it's not like these things "go bad" within the 15 minutes people eat them and throw the rest away — anything from fast food places can be refrigerated and zapped back to life. (Believe me. They already have been.)
Here Is Some Of The Food Wasted In A Household Trash Bag
This isn't even the whole lot of it — I just found this one the most shocking. It's a BRAND NEW thing of Hamburger Helper, guys. I could see someone trying to justify every other wasted thing, but there's literally no excuse for this.
The People's Operator, a UK-based phone company, partnered with Joey specifically to shed light on these concerns. "We felt this would be a refreshing way to spread awareness for important issues like hunger which several of our partners are working on day in and day out in the US and across the world," said Felicia Martin-Hill, director of marketing. "Joey Salads has a strong history of creating content that really highlights issues within our society and vulnerabilities so we knew he was an excellent choice." They are committed to donating 10 percent of people's phone bills to the charities of their choice to propel this kind of very necessary change.
Joey says that the video was inspired by John Oliver's recent sketch on food waste. "Loved working with Collab and The People's Operator for a great cause," he says. "Instead of just 'making' content, I enjoy creating 'do good' content that creates social change."
"I'm very excited to see our partner Joey Salads collaborate with an organization like The People's Operator," says Eamon Brennan, the creative director of Collab. "We believe in the power of these influencers, and the content they create. I'm thrilled to see that power used to inspire social change."
Toward the end of the video, Joey sits down with a man on the side of the road who has had issues with food security, and his reaction when he shows him the pictures of all the wasted food is nothing short of heartbreaking. Here's the full video below:
Images: YouTube(3)
