Scrape leftovers from dishes into garbage containers.

“Scrape leftovers from dishes into garbage containers.” is a core task performed by Food Preparation Workers. Among the occupation's 31 rated tasks, workers place it 1st by importance (#31 most important). About 95% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Dispose of waste or debris. in Performing General Physical Activities

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware. · importance 4.7
• Assist cooks and kitchen staff with various tasks as needed, and provide cooks with needed items. · importance 4.6
• Distribute food to waiters and waitresses to serve to customers. · importance 4.6
• Take and record temperature of food and food storage areas, such as refrigerators and freezers. · importance 4.5
• Carry food supplies, equipment, and utensils to and from storage and work areas. · importance 4.5
• Remove trash and clean kitchen garbage containers. · importance 4.4
• Store food in designated containers and storage areas to prevent spoilage. · importance 4.4
• Weigh or measure ingredients. · importance 4.4
• Operate cash register, handle money, and give correct change. · importance 4.4
• Vacuum dining area and sweep and mop kitchen floor. · importance 4.3
• Inform supervisors when equipment is not working properly and when food and supplies are getting low, and order needed items. · importance 4.3
• Prepare a variety of foods, such as meats, vegetables, or desserts, according to customers' orders or supervisors' instructions, following approved procedures. · importance 4.3
• Wash, peel, and cut various foods, such as fruits and vegetables, to prepare for cooking or serving. · importance 4.3
• Distribute menus to hospital patients, collect diet sheets, and deliver food trays and snacks to nursing units or directly to patients. · importance 4.3

See all tasks on the Food Preparation Workers page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-2212,
  title  = {Scrape leftovers from dishes into garbage containers.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-2212}
}