Greggs worker filmed video of 'mountains' of food wasted every day
Greggs worker who filmed video of ‘mountains’ of food going to waste every day at the bakery chain was sacked when it became a massive TikTok hit
- Nicole Iwalowo was fired from the branch in Romford, east London, after her clip
- The 21-year-old said she felt ‘awful’ and ‘guilty’ seeing so much getting chucked
- Ms Iwalowo’s viral clip shows bagging up sandwiches doughnuts and yum yums
- There were six bin bags full of food loaded up on a metal cage during the footage
A Greggs worker has been sacked after filming ‘mountains’ of food going to waste every day.
Nicole Iwalowo was fired from the branch in Romford, east London, after her footage went viral on TikTok.
The 21-year-old said she felt ‘awful’ and ‘guilty’ seeing so much being chucked out after a month of working there.
Her video shows bagging up leftover produce including freshly made sandwiches doughnuts and yum yums.
There were six bin bags full of food loaded up on a metal cage during the clip shared on November 27.
Nicole Iwalowo was fired from the branch in Romford, east London, after her footage went viral on TikTok
The 21-year-old said she felt ‘awful’ and ‘guilty’ seeing so much being chucked out after a month of working there
Ms Iwalowo said: ‘There are people starving around the world and all of this is going to waste.
‘Everyday we waste food like that [while working at Greggs]. We do ‘good to go bags’ but that’s only like two bags and then everything else goes to waste.
‘That day I just felt the need to record it because I felt really bad throwing away so much food.
‘The sandwiches get made fresh everyday with fresh ingredients and that day we threw away [lots and lots of] sandwiches – it was about five bags full of baguettes, pasta and yum yums.
‘With the bakery, on a regular day, we waste [lots more] items a day as well.
‘The sandwiches weren’t expiring there were just too many – it’s the company policy that sandwiches are freshly made every day so they just have to get thrown away for some odd reason.
‘They should give it to charity or or just hand it out to homeless people. There’s a hostel near the store and lots of homeless people in the area.
‘I just feel bad, I didn’t even want to work there after that.’
Ms Iwalowo said: ‘There are people starving around the world and all of this is going to waste’
Her video shows bagging up leftover produce including freshly made sandwiches doughnuts and yum yums
Ms Iwalowo added that she was sent home from work the next day and fired a few weeks later.
But her post triggered thousands of angry comments and complaints to the bakery giant on social media.
The bakery chain’s official policy says it ‘hates food waste’ and ‘donating unsold food to those in need is our priority’.
This food is sent through partnerships with charities and sold at discounted prices through outlets shops and the app ‘Too Good To Go’.
But the statement admits that not every store it owns has these partnerships in place.
It also states for stores where none of the partnerships have been put in place any unsold food is ‘returned and transformed into renewable energy’.
The popular chain claims that ‘all unsold food is one hundred percent diverted from landfill’.
There were six bin bags full of food loaded up on a metal cage during the clip shared on November 27
But in the 20 to 24 hours a week Ms Iwalowo worked at the store for a month, she claimed she saw bags of freshly made, unsold food going to waste daily.
She said: ‘I asked them about it and they always have the same answer which is – ‘you are aware that we do good to go bags’ but that’s only two bags.
‘Maybe because they don’t close on the shift they don’t realise how much food is being wasted or maybe they’re aware of it but just too scared to speak up.
‘They said they donate some to charity but I’ve never seen a charity truck come to the store so what’s to say that it’s going to any of the other stores and other staff said they never saw a charity truck either.
‘Staff aren’t allowed to take any leftover food home, again just because of company policy.
‘Apparently they used to let you take some home but people were selling it so now you have to pay for it or it goes in the bin.’
In the 20 to 24 hours a week Ms Iwalowo worked at the store for a month, she claimed she saw bags of freshly made, unsold food going to waste daily
Ms Iwalowo’s video went viral and has been seen nearly 450,000 times and liked by 6,000 accounts.
She said her manager immediately put her on probation and a month later was fired via a zoom meeting just before Christmas.
She said: ‘The next day at work they told me I couldn’t work.
‘They let me get dressed for my shift and everyone was staring at me and then the big manager told me to come into the meeting room and said ”you can’t come into work until further notice”.
‘On my video I wrote ”watch me get fired” and they said ”you were being a bit petty about that so you knew what you were doing”.
‘I thought it was a bit unfair, they could’ve given me a second chance and told me to delete the video.’
A Greggs spokesman said: ‘We have a number of initiatives in place to help reduce food waste across our shops including the redistribution of unsold food to community groups and charities.
‘We are continually working to increase the amount of unsold food given away to those most in need and remain committed to putting an end to food waste.’
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