Wendy's developed an off-putting solution: Incorporate old, unsold burger patties into the restaurant's chili.
Daily Meal reached out to a Wendy's location and found that cooked burgers under heat lamps are subject to a timer.
Once that timer goes off, the burger can no longer be sold as-is (and presumably gets recycled into chili).
However, Wendy's staff claimed that they were not able to provide the exact time that burgers can sit out before they get pulled from the line-up.
Wendy's questionable chili recipe certainly leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to quality, but you can't deny that the practice is beneficial from a food waste perspective.
It's estimated that American restaurants throw out up to 33 billion pounds of food each year, per Move For Hunger.
Along with the negative impact on the environment, that level of food waste is unconscionable