Workers shout with glee as they bulldoze thousands of leftover Girl Scout cookies instead of giving them to the homeless

1,100 cases of the coveted confections were smashed to bits as bulldozer operators hooted 'Goodbye Girl Scout Cookies!'

The 13,200 boxes of fresh cookies could have been donated and California charities are up in arms

'Food is wasted all the time' says Girls Scouts USA headquarters







There is certainly no ‘waste not, want not’ badge for Girl Scouts of America, at least not in Southern California where over 13,000 boxes of the organization’s famous cookies were bulldozed to bits in a warehouse as bulldozer operators gleefully yelled ‘Goodbye girl scout cookies!’

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So-lon samoas: Over 13,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies were bashed to bits in a California warehouse

Do-si-dump: The 1,100 bashed boxes of cookies were trucked off to the dump rather than given to the area needy

After the May incident, when the cookies were sent off to a landfill, leaders of area food banks are up in arms about the so-called service organization's wastefulness.

Bitter Charity: Bruce Rankin of the West Side Food Bank in Santa Monica is astonished at so much precious, wasted food

Bruce Rankin, Executive Director of Santa Monica’s West Side Food Bank, watched footage from CBS 2 in Los Angeles, and was shocked as two heavy-duty construction vehicles repeatedly trounce through huge mounds of bright purple cookie boxes.

Gleeful garbage men: A voice voice yells 'Goodbye, Girl Scout cookies!' in the footage taken last May

Rankin’s organization serves young children, the working poor, the disabled, and other needy groups in Sothern California. They’re supplied through food donations, but must purchase around half their food to meet demand.

Sans giving: The crushed cookies were traced to the Girl Scouts Council of San Gorgonio

‘We would gladly accept the cookies,’ Rankin said, still awed by the video he’d seen. ‘They would probably disappear as fast as any product we have here.’



The cookies, which were well within their expiration dates, were traced to the San Gorgonio Council of the Girl Scouts in Redlands, California.

Finger pointing: San Gorgonio Girl Scouts rep Chuck MacKinnon blamed their supplier, ABC Bakery in Richmond, VA

A representative from the council, Chuck MacKinnon, avoided saying he was unaware the cookies had been destroyed.



‘We didn’t know that was the way they were being disposed of,’ he said.



MacKinnon, on seeing the video, reacted with simple if not terribly regretful words.



‘To look at it, it’s a waste of food.’

Thin mints happens: A Gril Scout's USA rep told reporters, 'food is wasted all the time'

MacKinnon pointed the blame at his supplier, ABC Bakery in Richmond, Virginia and said it was they who destroyed the cookies.



Basically, he said, his council had bitten off more than they could chew.



One percent of unsold boxes, MacKinnon said, can be returned to the bakery at no charge and he and his council had ordered far more than they could sell.



That one percent totalled 13,200 boxes of cookies, the very cookies seen in the video.

Not this year: The San Gorgonio Girl Scouts claim that just last year they donated 100,000 boxes, but evidently that didn't happen this year

ABC Bakery has not commented on the cookie smashing footage. However, a spokesperson at the Girl Scouts of the USA headquarters in New York was less than apologetic.



‘It’s a shame what happened in Riverside,’ said representative Michelle Tompkins, ‘but food is wasted all the time.’

MacKinnon, meanwhile, promised San Gorgonio Council will be taking steps to avoid a similar debacle in the future by placing smaller orders.



The San Gorgonio Council of Girl Scouts also claims they have donated unsold cookies in the past, saying 100,000 boxes were given out last year alone.



It remains unclear, however, why these particular boxies were, instead, smashed to bits.



